Warcraft reviews not looking great

[deadish]

Some of the trailers remind me of 90s FMV games.

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

I'm still gonna watch it. I've never really cared for what critics say.
I've always felt that if the overall consensus is that something is shit, there's a higher chance that I'll find it shit too.
So I try to go into a movie without listening to others opinions on it. Done wonders actually. Really made movie watching a lot more enjoyable.

EDIT: Screw it. I caved. I looked at quite a lot of reviews.
The consensus seems to be this. For people with no interest in Warcraft lore, or who've not played the games, the movie is pretty damn bad.
For people with lore interest, or who've played the games, the movie is pretty good.

Take from this whatever you want.

 

[mduncan50]

OT: Disappointing, because you'd think a Warcraft movie would be quite easy to do well after LOTR showed how to do fantasy right, and Duncan Jones is a solid director. Ah, well, maybe the next video game movie will do well.

I still haven't seen it yet, and I didn't have any expectations because video game movie, but it's still somewhat disappointing to hear it getting panned. Despite not being enthused by the trailers(which even Jones himself wasn't really hot on), everyone involved really seemed to care. It hasn't felt like a cash grab at any point, Jones really does seem to be into what he was doing, especially with so much attention to detailing.

When they're offering a free month of WoW for those that go see it, I have a hard time seeing it as anything but a cash grab on both sides of the coin.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Hey, low blow, Variety. I enjoyed Battlefield Earth.

...you are no longer invited to my Sweet Sixteen party.

Wait, I was invited? Damn.
I better not mention that I enjoyed other timeless classics, such as the Super Mario Bros. Movie, and APEX, among others.

Hey man, there's nothing wrong with enjoying trash if you know it's trash and enjoy it for what it is anyway. I mean sheesh I had a good time with freakin' Aeon Flux and boy that was a disaster, and I'm one of the most critical people my friends know.

 

[elvor0]

OT: Disappointing, because you'd think a Warcraft movie would be quite easy to do well after LOTR showed how to do fantasy right, and Duncan Jones is a solid director. Ah, well, maybe the next video game movie will do well.

I still haven't seen it yet, and I didn't have any expectations because video game movie, but it's still somewhat disappointing to hear it getting panned. Despite not being enthused by the trailers(which even Jones himself wasn't really hot on), everyone involved really seemed to care. It hasn't felt like a cash grab at any point, Jones really does seem to be into what he was doing, especially with so much attention to detailing.

When they're offering a free month of WoW for those that go see it, I have a hard time seeing it as anything but a cash grab on both sides of the coin.

Well...yeah. They want people who see the movie who haven't played the game before to be able to actually play it, I'm not sure what's so sinister about that. It makes perfect sense as a promotion.

 

[Hawki]

Hey, low blow, Variety. I enjoyed Battlefield Earth.

...you are no longer invited to my Sweet Sixteen party.

Wait, I was invited? Damn.
I better not mention that I enjoyed other timeless classics, such as the Super Mario Bros. Movie, and APEX, among others.

Hey man, there's nothing wrong with enjoying trash if you know it's trash and enjoy it for what it is anyway. I mean sheesh I had a good time with freakin' Aeon Flux and boy that was a disaster, and I'm one of the most critical people my friends know.

Or you could, I dunno, genuinely enjoy these films?

I'll add my voice to the choir to say that I do enjoy Battlefield Earth, not in a "so bad it's good" way, but more a "huh, that was fairly decent" kind of way. I'm well aware I'm in the minority, and I don't think it's so good that I feel compelled to expend that much time or energy defending it, but I think it's disingenuous to assume that anyone who claims to like what's generally regarded to be a poor piece of media is only doing so for the reasons of "it's so bad it's good."

 

[deadish]

Well...yeah. They want people who see the movie who haven't played the game before to be able to actually play it, I'm not sure what's so sinister about that. It makes perfect sense as a promotion.

So the movie is a 2 hour long ad for WoW that Blizzard manage to convince some idiot movie studio into paying over 100 million to make?

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I think the major issue the may have had, is that it takes a few incidents with very generic Humans vs. Orcs bullshit before the interesting guys like the Foresaken, the Tauren, the Draenei, the Worgen and to a lesser extent, the Night Elves show up.

That said I always felt that the opening shot of a Warcraft movie should have been a warrior in full plate hooning into Stormwind on his steampunk motorbike.

 

[Silence]

German reviews look slightly better: Consensus is "average, Plot is dumb and only understandable for fans, good picture".

So ... guess I am going to watch it at some point, because it's Warcraft.

 

[elvor0]

Well...yeah. They want people who see the movie who haven't played the game before to be able to actually play it, I'm not sure what's so sinister about that. It makes perfect sense as a promotion.

So the movie is a 2 hour long ad for WoW that Blizzard manage to convince some idiot movie studio into paying over 100 million to make?

It's a Warcraft movie, of course in some form it advertises that WoW exists. That doesn't make it all some conspiratory plan for which its sole existence is just to shift copies of WoW and nothing else. Of course they want to shift copies of WoW on the end of it, given you'd hope your movie is a success, you'd be a fucking idiot if you didn't plan for new fans for the game it's based on after your movie airs.

Even in an ideal world where this is a movie considered perfect across the board and was made with 100% pure intentions, you'd /still/ want to plan for it drumming up business for the game. It would be foolish not to.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Fun fact: Duncan Jones is not his birth name. He had it legally changed from Zowie Bowie as soon as he turned 18, because he knew he'd never be taken seriously as a director with a name like that. I'm not kidding.

Actually no, Duncan Jones IS his birth name (Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones, to be exact). He simply went by Zowie Bowie, as well as Joey and Joe, during certain periods in his life.

The part about going back to his birth name to be taken more seriously is probably right, although there are indications he also did it because he didn't want to coast on his father's name. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

 

[Glongpre]

And seriously, you want a game that has the culling of Stratholme to be a comedy? That would be... interesting.

No, but Warcraft has always blended serious storylines with levity. So that shit would be serious, but then you would cut to Jaina talking to someone in Dalaran and you would get some comedy there. Then you would cut back to Arthas burning his own ships and blaming the mercenaries.

There should be some lighthearted moments, it shouldn't be dark the whole movie because the games never were.

 

[mduncan50]

Well...yeah. They want people who see the movie who haven't played the game before to be able to actually play it, I'm not sure what's so sinister about that. It makes perfect sense as a promotion.

So the movie is a 2 hour long ad for WoW that Blizzard manage to convince some idiot movie studio into paying over 100 million to make?

It's a Warcraft movie, of course in some form it advertises that WoW exists. That doesn't make it all some conspiratory plan for which its sole existence is just to shift copies of WoW and nothing else. Of course they want to shift copies of WoW on the end of it, given you'd hope your movie is a success, you'd be a fucking idiot if you didn't plan for new fans for the game it's based on after your movie airs.

Even in an ideal world where this is a movie considered perfect across the board and was made with 100% pure intentions, you'd /still/ want to plan for it drumming up business for the game. It would be foolish not to.

So... it's a cash grab. Not sure what you're arguing here...

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Well...yeah. They want people who see the movie who haven't played the game before to be able to actually play it, I'm not sure what's so sinister about that. It makes perfect sense as a promotion.

So the movie is a 2 hour long ad for WoW that Blizzard manage to convince some idiot movie studio into paying over 100 million to make?

It's a Warcraft movie, of course in some form it advertises that WoW exists. That doesn't make it all some conspiratory plan for which its sole existence is just to shift copies of WoW and nothing else. Of course they want to shift copies of WoW on the end of it, given you'd hope your movie is a success, you'd be a fucking idiot if you didn't plan for new fans for the game it's based on after your movie airs.

Even in an ideal world where this is a movie considered perfect across the board and was made with 100% pure intentions, you'd /still/ want to plan for it drumming up business for the game. It would be foolish not to.

So... it's a cash grab. Not sure what you're arguing here...

Would that not apply to amy adaption of anything I mean could Game of Thrones be considered a cash grab to promote the books?

Or a Superman movie be a cash grab to promote the coimcs?

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

And seriously, you want a game that has the culling of Stratholme to be a comedy? That would be... interesting.

No, but Warcraft has always blended serious storylines with levity. So that shit would be serious, but then you would cut to Jaina talking to someone in Dalaran and you would get some comedy there. Then you would cut back to Arthas burning his own ships and blaming the mercenaries.

There should be some lighthearted moments, it shouldn't be dark the whole movie because the games never were.

That would sound like a really bad edit.

You cut from a complete and terrible tragedy to then a humorous comedy sketch? That would be a very innappropriate cut.

Its like when Wakka from Final Fantasy X after Rikku lost her home he said", "Boom just like happy festival fire works!!!"

 

[Falling_v1legacy]

I don't know. My introduction to the Warcraft universe was Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. I always felt like I was playing the darker parts of the Silmarillion or something. I went back to Warcraft I years later and found it light on story, but not too out of keeping from the Warcraft II tone. It's really only Warcraft III and most especially WoW where the universe really gets bonkers.

As someone who's played all three Warcraft RTS games, I can't really call any of them dark. WC1 basically has no story to speak of. WC2 has a bit more narrative, but it's not a dark story, and I can only think of two actual dark moments (a point where an orc burns human corpses, and the ending of the Horde campaign in Tides of Darkness). Warcraft III has by far the darkest moments and storyline (Arthas's descent and killing Terenas, the Scourge campaign in its entirety, the feeling of dread as the Burning Legion pops up more and more through the Horde and Sentinel campaign, etc.), but is it a dark game in of itself? No, I wouldn't say so. No more than Lord of the Rings is a dark story, even when it's based on a conflict where the stakes are life and liberty for the Free Peoples of an entire continent.

Your mileage may vary on what you consider dark, but I consider Silmarillion dark in the sense of sheer amount of destruction, loss, and tragedy (fall of all the elven kingdoms, elf rulers, Turin Turambar, etc.) I read and reread the Warcraft II manual story elements because I didn't really have a computer that would run the game at the time, but the story context that it set up with the brutality of the Orcs and the end of the world feel for the Alliance all felt like a dark world. It felt more akin to the Diablo universe at the time than the WoW universe of the present.

 

[Glongpre]

And seriously, you want a game that has the culling of Stratholme to be a comedy? That would be... interesting.

No, but Warcraft has always blended serious storylines with levity. So that shit would be serious, but then you would cut to Jaina talking to someone in Dalaran and you would get some comedy there. Then you would cut back to Arthas burning his own ships and blaming the mercenaries.

There should be some lighthearted moments, it shouldn't be dark the whole movie because the games never were.

That would sound like a really bad edit.

You cut from a complete and terrible tragedy to then a humorous comedy sketch? That would be a very innappropriate cut.

Its like when Wakka from Final Fantasy X after Rikku lost her home he said", "Boom just like happy festival fire works!!!"

No, it is woven into the story. It is still a tragedy, it is still dark but it is never overbearing.

When I play Warcraft 3, it is a dark storyline but it is told in a way that isn't hitting you over the head with it. Could be because of the graphics, could be because of the animations, which are cartoony and often silly.

You want a completely dark Warcraft movie, ok that's fine. It would be pretty good, I am just trying to argue that the games were never 100% dark and gloomy, even though the storylines could make it be that way.

 

[Hawki]

I don't know. My introduction to the Warcraft universe was Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. I always felt like I was playing the darker parts of the Silmarillion or something. I went back to Warcraft I years later and found it light on story, but not too out of keeping from the Warcraft II tone. It's really only Warcraft III and most especially WoW where the universe really gets bonkers.

As someone who's played all three Warcraft RTS games, I can't really call any of them dark. WC1 basically has no story to speak of. WC2 has a bit more narrative, but it's not a dark story, and I can only think of two actual dark moments (a point where an orc burns human corpses, and the ending of the Horde campaign in Tides of Darkness). Warcraft III has by far the darkest moments and storyline (Arthas's descent and killing Terenas, the Scourge campaign in its entirety, the feeling of dread as the Burning Legion pops up more and more through the Horde and Sentinel campaign, etc.), but is it a dark game in of itself? No, I wouldn't say so. No more than Lord of the Rings is a dark story, even when it's based on a conflict where the stakes are life and liberty for the Free Peoples of an entire continent.

Your mileage may vary on what you consider dark, but I consider Silmarillion dark in the sense of sheer amount of destruction, loss, and tragedy (fall of all the elven kingdoms, elf rulers, Turin Turambar, etc.) I read and reread the Warcraft II manual story elements because I didn't really have a computer that would run the game at the time, but the story context that it set up with the brutality of the Orcs and the end of the world feel for the Alliance all felt like a dark world. It felt more akin to the Diablo universe at the time than the WoW universe of the present.

"Your mileage may vary" is probably the key thing to take away from it here, because I had a very different experience in all those examples. It's been ages since I read The Silmarillion, but I can't call it dark, because while dark stuff occurs, the style of writing is generally dispassionate and/or grandiose, to the point where it loses intimacy. Likewise, I can't call Warcraft II dark on any level bar the rare instances I mentioned before. On the Alliance side, there's a sense of...not quite adventure, per se, but certainly optimism. The idea that the races/factions can set aside their differences to fight a common foe (i.e. akin to Lord of the Rings). On the Horde side, there's a sort of "evil and loving it" feel - sure, the orcs do nasty things, but the game rarely, if ever explores what that entails. WC2 is a step up from WC1 in the story department, but it's a far cry away from the sense of despair and melencholia that Warcraft III would bring.

 

[loa]

This all looks exactly like a Prometheus comment section. Which I liked.
So there's a good chance I'll like this one too.

And seriously, you want a game that has the culling of Stratholme to be a comedy? That would be... interesting.

Have you not been paying attention?
It's the tales of grom freaking hellscream from the warsong clan.
It's edgelord grimdark to the max. Bruce killgores tales of hardcoria.

Warcraft has not a single serious bone in itself.
If you try to play that straight, it only becomes high comedy.
Like a gritty hollywood movie of axe cop that takes itself 100% seriously.