Has the messiah of video game movies finally arrived?
The Fantasy genre has always been a tough nut to crack.
Barring its subgenres blending the fantastical with elements
of science fiction by utilizing conceptions of the real world for context, high
concept fantasy is always tasked with rewriting the fundamentals of reality as
we know it and formatting those basics into a fully functional setting before
crafting a story for these alien circumstances that works in a world unlike our
own but is still presented in a fashion palatable to the values and
understanding of the reader.
Long story short; a film like “Warcraft” was always going to
be an uphill battle to get right just by virtue of what it is, despite what it
is making it more ideal for a film adaptation than a great many of the flops
that Hollywood has taken a half-assed crack at and the sad or relieving truth
is, that’s what we’ve been saddled with.
I try to avoid making my reviews reactionary in nature;
every story should fall or stand on its own merit even if comparisons provide
an easier picture of standards and opinions are only as strong as the backing
that goes into them on each individual basis but similarly to the “Batman v.
Superman” comparisons made in my “Civil War” review, this kind of seemed
unavoidable once I left the theater.
That said, I’m throwing down the bullshit card on this one dear
readers; Duncan Jones’ “Warcraft” is not even half as bad as its infamous
reputation would make it seem to make it out to be.
That’s not to say that Jones’ tale of war and politics
between the invaders and denizens of the mystical realm of Azeroth works on
every level that it needs to; I honestly would hesitate to even call the film
good, which it isn’t. But I honestly can’t grasp how an analysis of its
problems boiling down to unfortunate mistakes made in very key areas can be
mistaken for such a Hindenburg level cinematic catastrophe beyond surmising a
fundamental misunderstanding of the mechanics of the high fantasy genre.
The love and care that Jones brings to this film is well
seeped into nearly every frame of the film. From the orcs and their excellent
designs, whose substantial drama steals the show, to the outstanding production
design of the costuming ad weapons props that lend themselves well to some
excellently choreographed action sequences, this was clearly a project that the
crew involved was proud to work on.
Sadly, where “Warcraft” falls limp is in the connective
tissue with which a production of this scope needs to be held together, the
story. At this point is where the unfortunate reality of high fantasy’s
hang ups really settle in.
Cinematic Genre codifiers like “Lord of the Rings” or the
better moments from “The Hobbit” films work because the story that they
ultimately tell is a highly simplistic straight forward tale more focused on
sweeping up characters that you like or find relatable into the pageantry of
events that are larger in scale and beyond their comprehension.
“Warcraft” tries to have its cake and eat it to, attempting
to use a rich mythology in order to tell the tale of the wonders that people can
accomplish if they unite and the terrors that can come to fruition if they
stick to fearing “the other” rather than adventuring into new territory, achieving
the bittersweet conclusion that human nature will always win out in the end and
that while achieving immediate peace is desirable, it’s not always realistic or
plausible.
However, without the benefit of the 3 hour plus runtimes of
Tolkien films, the plot is limited to the bare bones snapshots of what it desperately
wants to do but just doesn’t have the time for.
Sadly, the final results of this, despite all of the
ambition that clearly went into the production, is a cast trying to make due
with a scattershot script that falls back to far on assuming attachment to
locales and stakes that are poorly developed and a director that does a
stupendous job of assembling several smaller pictures but is obviously and
unfortunately far too green to weave all of those excellent portraits into a
proper big picture.
As such, “Warcraft’s” earnestness and convictions to achieve
a Tolkien-esque production that can give rise to future stories comes off more
as comparable to “The Hobbit” trilogy at best and a poor man’s “Krull” at
worst.
Still, it moves at a solid pace and there’s more than enough
that does work in the overall final product that can still make for a
satisfying matinee. I can only hope the almost slavish levels of fan dedication
to the film don’t prove to be the undoing of the trend at large for the future.
5 Mildly Impressive Sorcery Tricks out of 10
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