[Movie] Warcraft (June 2016)

[Axphism]

Some people have much less standards and are pleased a lot easier then i am, i've come to accept this over the years. There is no excuse for paper thin characters and under developed ones with the rich lore WoW has to offer it's that simple.

You should become a movie director!

[DarkArchon]

You should become a movie director!

If was offered the position i would take it without hesitation the fact this movie never came close to reaching it's potential and wasn't a lore rich experience is a damn crime.

[Garthul]

If was offered the position i would take it without hesitation the fact this movie never came close to reaching it's potential and wasn't a lore rich experience is a damn crime.

Probably have more luck as the editor than as the director. I've no doubt that Duncan Jones included a lot of explanation in the 40 minutes that the editors cut out because they felt it didn't directly drive the plot.

[Sci Fi Samurai]

Just got back from seeing it. Honestly it was pretty good, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did.

I'm also not the sort to really listen to internet rant, so I don't check things like Rotten Tomatoes, etc. That might have had something to do with it.

It was a little cheesy at points, but I expected a lot more of that than there was. I was pleased to see that the movie had draenei in it (not a lot, so don't get your hopes up), and I felt really bad for them. :\

[Sargiean]

I was pleased to see that the movie had draenei in it (not a lot, so don't get your hopes up), and I felt really bad for them. :\

So did I, surprisingly. Actually felt worse than I expected to in a couple of scenes..

[DarkArchon]

Probably have more luck as the editor than as the director. I've no doubt that Duncan Jones included a lot of explanation in the 40 minutes that the editors cut out because they felt it didn't directly drive the plot.

Yeah i mean it's just mind numbing really. In the first 20 minutes of the film it's already going into battle skirmishes and people are already flying to Medivh to figure out things and how to stop Gul'dan shit like that shouldn't have been happening for at least another hour. This film really needed to hit 3hr15min + it was so rushed and the lore/storytelling suffered as a result.

7 minutes in and Orcs going through the portal...Like the fuck? We shouldn't even be past the opening story telling voice at that point.

[TirielWoW]

Yeah i mean it's just mind numbing really. In the first 20 minutes of the film it's already going into battle skirmishes and people are already flying to Medivh to figure out things and how to stop Gul'dan shit like that shouldn't have been happening for at least another hour. This film really needed to hit 3hr15min + it was so rushed and the lore/storytelling suffered as a result.

7 minutes in and Orcs going through the portal...Like the fuck? We shouldn't even be past the opening story telling voice at that point.

I'm sure you could have done it better.

[Shifthappens]

Want to understand the story better? Play warcraft games, else shut up with the whining.

[Faier]

Spoilering this whole post for obvious reasons.

I am 100% certain that due to the general pacing and exposition issue the entire film had that there was probably some internal disagreements over drafts of scripts. Due to this, I believe that Ogrim was originally going to be a Blackrock Orc (like he was supposed to be) but someone, some producer or executive or someone, I don't know, complained that making Ogrim of another clan and of split loyalty might be "too confusing" for audiences. So they made Ogrim a Frostwolf (stupid change but whatever no big deal really), but Ogrim turns on Durotan during the little 'peace talk', later citing he 'couldn't bring himself to betray his own people'. I believe this was originally supposed to be Ogrim being unable to turn against his Chieftain and that originally, it may have even been Ogrim who ratted them out (but this much is speculation). Of course this is nothing but a firmly educated guess but I'm quite certain, based on what I can gather, that this was a plot rewrite that they sort of sloppily changed. One reason for the change being sloppy could be because they made the decision to make Ogrim a Frostwolf (and therefore have no reason to be loyal to Blackhand) AFTER they began some of the 3-D rendering for the scene, meaning the best they could do was write in a sloppy "but I couldn't betray our people!" line to try and explain it. Also I'm sure a lot of the Medivh stuff went through some sloppy rewrites because his stuff is easily the weakest in the film (the whole scene with the black square thing was just fucking terrible, right down to the pitifully fucking generic-as-hell 'darkness is light' thing)

What you say makes sense. I think the story of the film is very well tied up. But I sure wish it had less Lore changes.

Ogrimm was fine as Frostwolf, but the he would also be fine as a a Blackrock. Durotan and Ogrimm meet at the portal area: "hey long time no see" they sit down and talk. Ogrimm could even laid out all that was happening to Durotan just as it is done to them by other orcs in the novelization. People would get it.

The whole Durotan, Draka, Thrall story arc is really great in the movie verse. Garona's also works very well here.

The lack of demons and demonic blood, was ok, even though I would've preferred it was there. I will discuss this in another post.
____

But the way the Guardian was handled was a mess (not the magic). Didn't get to detract from my enjoyment from the film, I just enjoyed the ride! The way they did it, there were some really great moments, that I grew really fond of. Still...
Khadgar as a Guardian initiate? Why? In the novelization the Kirin Tor make Medivh the Guardian at 11. Why? Everyone talks and knows about the Guardian. They trivialized the title, and what it means. Where is the mystery so well built in TLG book?

I get they want to make Khadgar a field mage instead of an academic, and for that he needed to be more than an apprentice to cast all those spells. They also wanted to make him a guy that does things his own way just like he does in WoD and stuff. But it could all be done without making him a "Guardian initiated" (so silly). And the journey of apprentice to mage would've also been interesting as an arc.

I really dislike how Medivh is introduced, but after that he's fine, you can see all the nuance.
I wish the golem was scarier at the end and fully became an infernal.

On the cube/Alodi thing. I liked the library scene and the cube scene is pretty cool. There were 2 things there:
the light/dark thing that was a bit weird. it makes sense if you think as opposites (discussed here) and not literally light/dark, but the movie never delves into that. An exposition when he discusses that meaning would've been great and then I would've loved it. The ding scene is simply amazing nevertheless.
The second thing was the loneliness thing, have friends and conquer darkness that is pretty much a message of the film, which is cool but could've been said in a way that sounded less cheesy. "the true guardians of this world are its people" I disliked that part a lot! Let the Guardian have his time now and save that for Warcraft 3 plz.

This revelation scene could've been handled in Kharazan, with or without Alodi. All these changes so they can include flying(??) Dalaran for 3 seconds, then the chamber of air for a nother 10 sec. If you gonna show Dalaran than do it properly, plz!

I would much prefer they stayed with TLG story, Khadgar getting to Kharazan for the first time, having a fun conversation with a very weird Moroes, having to organize the library, while studying the books, then going with Medivh to Stormwind and knowing the rest of the humans. Finding out about Medivh inside the tower with the visions (could even be Alodi). It would allow humans characters to be introduced one at a time, and they could've used that Dalaran VFX $$$ somewhere else.
Or he could even be on his way to Kharazan when he sees the attacks as it would make sense geography wise, and the beginning is the same in SW but the moves back to Kharazan.

This Guardian changes is my major gripe with the film actually. More than acting or pacing or anything (those I was mostly ok with). Still loved the film.

On a side note, since I criticized the presence of Dalaran in the film, I gotta say really don't mind Ironforge, it looked great, the scene was good, well tied up with the script. The only problem is that it eis short (even in the novelization). But Magni is amazing! I could watch a whole film with him. He's a perfect Warcraft dwarf, don't know how people can complain about him being CGI.

[DarkArchon]

I'm sure you could have done it better.

Thank you heather i know i would have and the movie probably wouldn't have been for another year yet because i would have made sure it was done right without settling! But let's be honest the bar wasn't set that high. This movie deserved a lot more then a CGI showing.

[bledgor]

Oh there was story, but it was presented as a hastily thrown together Fan Fiction rather than a cohesive story that provides characters with a story that spans beyond a single line of dialogue. I enjoyed the movie, but it severely suffered from lazy writing.

Lol, copying basically the first war and you call it fan fiction. People forgot how shitty/little there was to the first war. This movie did a decent job at explaining it. Yes it could have been better with acting/story development, but holy shit you guys must hate every single movie ever made with the bar you are setting. It was enjoyable, the plot was fine, the characters okay (another big thing is apparently 30-40 minutes of film was cut, that could make a huge difference) the CGI was amazing, the spells beautiful and the fights awesome.

Thank you heather i know i would have and the movie probably wouldn't have been for another year yet because i would have made sure it was done right without settling! But let's be honest the bar wasn't set that high. This movie deserved a lot more then a CGI showing.

If your ego was any bigger I think you would be claiming you could have made it the greatest movie of all time next. Going to be honest with you, what you think is awesome would have been utter shit to 99% of the population.

[DarkArchon]

Lol, copying basically the first war and you call it fan fiction. People forgot how shitty/little there was to the first war. This movie did a decent job at explaining it. Yes it could have been better with acting/story development, but holy shit you guys must hate every single movie ever made with the bar you are setting. It was enjoyable, the plot was fine, the characters okay (another big thing is apparently 30-40 minutes of film was cut, that could make a huge difference) the CGI was amazing, the spells beautiful and the fights awesome.



If your ego was any bigger I think you would be claiming you could have made it the greatest movie of all time next. Going to be honest with you, what you think is awesome would have been utter shit to 99% of the population.

That's very unlikely bud but thanks for trying. No movie is ever a single person's work. Has nothing to do with ego i trust my ability that i have a extremely good mind to strive for perfection to give the fans and non-fans what they deserved from this film. I wouldn't make idiotic calls like hardly using lore when we would have had one of the richest lore's in the world at are disposal.

[Axphism]

That's very unlikely bud but thanks for trying. No movie is ever a single person's work. Has nothing to do with ego i trust my ability that i have a extremely good mind to strive for perfection to give the fans and non-fans what they deserved from this film. I wouldn't make idiotic calls like hardly using lore when we would have had one of the richest lore's in the world at are disposal.

As far as I've been able to find/see, there's really not all that much available about the First War.

[DarkArchon]

As far as I've been able to find/see, there's really not all that much available about the First War.

One of the reasons why the overall choice for this story line was a horrid idea. If your gonna make a trilogy then you pick the absolute best story the WoW universe has to offer.

[tangocash]

One of the reasons why the overall choice for this story line was a horrid idea. If your gonna make a trilogy then you pick the absolute best story the WoW universe has to offer.

If you didn't like the movie or story then move on and stop raging. Why are you still here? Holy shit.

[Axphism]

One of the reasons why the overall choice for this story line was a horrid idea. If your gonna make a trilogy then you pick the absolute best story the WoW universe has to offer.

Well, the First War, the Shadow Council stuff, the Second War, Orgrimmar, the constant tensions between the Alliance & Horde. I'm sure they're going to have plenty of stuff with all of THAT for a trilogy.

[DarkArchon]

If you didn't like the movie or story then move on and stop raging. Why are you still here? Holy shit.

Could ask you the same thing? If you have nothing intelligent to say then piss off.

- - - Updated - - -

Well, the First War, the Shadow Council stuff, the Second War, Orgrimmar, the constant tensions between the Alliance & Horde. I'm sure they're going to have plenty of stuff with all of THAT for a trilogy.

Plenty of things to continue on obviously WoW has a vast lore but it's not the best story it had to offer.

But i will add that it's still a great story to tell the main thing is it was executed so poorly.

[daywalker02]

If was offered the position i would take it without hesitation the fact this movie never came close to reaching it's potential and wasn't a lore rich experience is a damn crime.

lol If you become one, do not forget us.....

[Faier]

Probably have more luck as the editor than as the director. I've no doubt that Duncan Jones included a lot of explanation in the 40 minutes that the editors cut out because they felt it didn't directly drive the plot.

That kind of change is usually imposed by the producers, not the editor. Producer > Director > Editor. That's usually how it goes when deciding what is in and what is out. They cut the movie down to turn it in an action flick. Having read (part of, not done yet) the novelization, I'm pretty sure that from those 40 min, only half had interesting content, the rest was just bad/useless dialogue. Any extra minute would've been great, though.

But I actually think the editing should be praised if you consider how much was cut. (it was much more than 40 min as many parts were removed in earlier cuts).
I know I've said this a lot, but the story is well tied up, despite being so large and full of characters. It provides the information you need to understand what is going on and what some things are. Many feel it is rushed, but it can be easily followed (and enjoyed) if you don't worry about things like memorizing all the characters and locations names, the whys (backgrounds), or how much time has passed from event x to y. I bet most of the people that really enjoyed the film were able to get past that, while those that didn't, were not. (There were others reason, obviously)

[DarkArchon]

lol If you become one, do not forget us.....

The whole reason would be for the community you would never be forgotten! My first question to the people responsible for this film would be how do you take longer then the 1st LOTR and still manage to develop paper thin characters and hardily tap into one of the best storytelling lores in history. These idiots got so concerned on CGI, doing cool shit and smashy smashy that they forgot WoW's greatest strengths they used one of the best lores in history and produced a film as deep as a sidewalk puddle.