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WARCRAFT: THE BEGINNING (2016) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

Warcraft-The-Beginning-movie-2016-poster

warcraft: the beginning (2016) movie

Genre | Fantasy

Classification | M

Running time | 123 minutes

Released | 16 June 2016

cast

Travis Fimmel ... Anduin Lothar
Paula Patton ... Garona
Ben Foster ... Medivh
Dominic Cooper ... Llane Wrynn
Toby Kebbell ... Durotan / Antonidas
Clancy Brown ... Blackhand

director

Duncan Jones

writer

Charles Leavitt ... (screenplay) and
Duncan Jones ... (screenplay)

cinematographer

Simon Duggan

music

Ramin Djawadi

film editor

Paul Hirsch

box office result

Worldwide $433,677,183

Australia $4,770,318

North America $47,365,290

the best dialogue

Anduin Lothar: Some see death as having some greater purpose, but when it is one of your own, it is hard to grasp anything good comes from it.

Medivh: If you truly love someone, you'll go to the ends of the Earth to find them.

Anduin Lothar: Sounds like a trap.
Garona: It is not.
Anduin Lothar: Could be.
Garona: It is not.
Anduin Lothar: Could be.
Garona: It is not.

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WARCRAFT: THE BEGINNING (2016) IMAGES

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WARCRAFT: THE BEGINNING (2016) STORY SYNOPSIS

Looking to escape from his dying world, the orc shaman Gul'dan utilizes dark magic to open a portal to the human realm of Azeroth. Supported by the fierce fighter Blackhand, Gul'dan organizes the orc clans into a conquering army called the Horde. Uniting to protect Azeroth from these hulking invaders are King Llane, the mighty warrior Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) and the powerful wizard Medivh. As the two races collide, leaders from each side start to question if war is the only answer.

WARCRAFT: THE BEGINNING (2016) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty | Review date 13 June 2016
Pop Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐

Film maker Duncan Jones has managed to avoid the trap of recent Fantasy genre entries, delivering an action adventure movie that has a solid story with some unexpected plot twists that keep the audience guessing as to who may or may not make it through Warcraft’s 123 minute running time. Based upon the Blizzard Entertainment computer game of the same name, Warcraft’s entry into cinemas may be a little too late to fully capitalise on the popularity achieved by the original mid-1990s PC games, but there’s more than enough in the film adaptation to satisfy casual moviegoers, with no need to have engaged in any kind of virtual gameplay.

The film opens with a short sequence that shows a fight between a lone Human and Orc, circling one another as they prepare to do battle to the death. Just as the two adversaries come together, the story jumps back in time to show how the Orcs and Humans came to be at war with one another. The Orcs leave their dying home world through a portal created by the magic of Gul’dan (Daniel Wu), the leader of the over-sized humanoid creatures, who relies on a mystical energy known as the fel to maintain his power. Arriving through the portal on the planet of Azeroth, the Orcs begin to destroy everything in their path to gain control of their new home world. Azeroth’s military leader, Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel), is called upon to battle the Orcs with the assistance of Azeroth’s magical defender Medivh (Ben Foster) and a wayward mage, Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer). Their first major battle with the Orcs results in the capture of a female half-cast Orc, Garona (Paula Patton), whose almost human appearance raises more questions than it answers.

Screenwriter Charles Leavitt, whose previous credits include In the Heart of the Sea and The Seventh son, along with Jones, who co-wrote the Warcraft script, incorporate characters, settings and concepts from the game that create a dense plot that demands the viewer to pay attention to events as they unfold in anticipation of later revelations. This will be a relief for fans of Warcraft, as the production team have taken care to ensure all elements of the production are faithful adaptations of the game with feature film production design embellishment thrown in for good measure. Even such simple things like character names require close attention, as neither the Human or Orc names are relatable in any sort of contemporary context. This may present a challenge to some viewers who don't wish to be intellectually stretched by a Fantasy film, but the writing team’s attention to such detail lifts Warcraft to a higher level not achieved by any feature film in this genre since the last Harry Potter movie.

Warcraft is heavily reliant upon performance motion capture, as all the Orcs are digitally animated. Mo-cap specialist Toby Kebbell, who plays Clan leader Durotan - who is fast becoming the equal of his Planet of the Apes alumni Andy Serkis for this type of work - delivers a strong central performance that helps the viewer accept the Orc visages and concentrate on what they say; not how they look. Other Orc performances include Sci-Fi genre character actor Clancy Brown, British actor Robert Kazinsky as Orgrim and Daniel Wu as the fel-wielding Gul’dan, who has the most impressive design of the creatures. Behind-the-scenes, New Zealand Cinematographer Simon Duggan helps Jones to achieve the film’s impressive visuals and does a great job of balancing live-action lighting and staging requirements with the CG heavy motion-capture process. Warcraft also has the benefit of Film Editor Paul Hirsch, the man responsible for editing Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Mission: Impossible. His experience definitely shows through in the assembly of the action sequences, with a focus on using the medium and close-up shots Jones has captured with his human performers to show what is happening. This approach certainly helps to balance the CGI scenes that, all too frequently, bring modern day Fantasy films undone. It is with relief that I say, Duncan Jones and his team have delivered an entertaining, balanced and, sometimes, thought-provoking tale worthy of further installments.