By Justin Jasso (@jjasso007)
It wasn’t long ago – well, over a decade – that massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) were developed and implemented into the world of online gaming. Games like Everquest and Ultima rose up online and changed the way video games were played. Then along came Warcraft and Final Fantasy XI, two of the biggest, and most successful, MMORPGs to ever exist. From the major success of these two games, endless titles of MMORPGs have been developed and are available to play. With such success, there comes new ways to try and make money on such a franchise. Blizzard Entertainment was the first to take that step. Brought to us by Legendary Entertainment and writer/director Duncan Jones, the first real game-to-screen for a MMORPG is now here. Ladies and gentlemen, and World of Warcraft (WoW) fans around the globe, your Warcraft has arrived!
I should warn you, this is where the levity and joy ends. I had the opportunity to watch and review the film early, yet couldn’t get through it without dozing off and being utterly bored out of my mind with the half-assed characters and low budget CGI, both in terms of the Orcs and the magic being used. So, from as far as I got, the Orcs are trying to leave their dying world of Draenor, taking a magic portal to travel to the world of Azeroth. All this is brought to us by evil Orc sorcerer, Gul’dan (Daniel Wu). The leader of the Frostwolf Clan, Durotan (Toby Kebbell) doesn’t necessarily agree with Gul’dan, but he agrees to be in the head party to breach the new world. Once the invading party is through, the first fight erupts with the Azerothians (is that what they’re called?) as the sorcerers are trying to close the portal before any more Orcs get through. What should be a fun to watch initial fight turns out to be ho-hum, not super exciting with terrible CG magic sequences. I feel they probably have better CGI in the game.
In terms of the characters, the Orcs look far too computer generated. Why can no one use the Peter Jackson model from the original Lord of the Rings and avoid the CGI? It looks SO much better with actors in costume. In terms of the characters, they are more archetypes than anything else. The only thing three dimensional about them seemed to be that it wasn’t a 1980’s cartoon. I will give credit to Toby Kebbell: despite being a big CGI Orc, his character did seem to have layers and was mildly enjoyable to watch in the parts in which I was able to stay awake.
Again, I was able to get through maybe a third of the film, possibly a little more, and then I just couldn’t anymore. My eyes can only view so much garbage before they start burning and I want to pull them out to stop the madness. From what I saw, I honestly can’t recommend Warcraft to anyone, at all, on any level. I know there are the WoW fans among you who are die-hards and will brave the more formidable of blizzards, swim through shark infested oceans in South Africa, and pay the $15 ticket cost to see the film, and kudos on your loyalty; you do you. But for everyone else…. Just don’t.
Rating:
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