Susan Granger’s review of “Warcraft” (Legendary/Universal)
Since “Super Mario Bros.” in 1993, film adaptations of popular video games have never done as well as expected at the U.S. box-office. What propels studios to finance them is international acceptance, especially in China, where more than two million people play the World of Warcraft game.
The story revolves around a race of gigantic warrior beasts, called Orcs, who are forced to flee from their dying homeland of Draenor when the warlock Gul-dan (Daniel Wu) opens a portal to Azeroth, where they battle unsuspecting humans, led by war-chieftain Blackhand (Clancy Brown).
Only the Orc soldier Durotan (Toby Kebbell) asserts that peace can be achieved through compromise with King Llane (Dominic Cooper) and Lady Taria (Ruth Negga), whose brother is the noble knight Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel).
In the meantime, Lothar’s son Callan (Burkely Duffield) is determined to impress his father on the battlefield and Durotan’s mate Draka (Anna Galvin) has a baby. Plus, there’s the ascetic Azeroth wizard Medivh (Ben Foster) with his young apprentice Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer) and a fanged half-breed with green skin, Garona (Paula Patton), who claims to be half-Orc and half-human.
Utilizing Chris Metzen’s branded characters and story, British director Duncan Jones (“Moon,” “Source Code”), sharing co-writing credit with Charles Leavitt (“In the Heart of the Sea”), crowds the sci-fi plot with too many mythical creatures, magical subplots and visual effects, since all the exotic Orcs are motion-captured via digital animation.
The concept also ‘borrows’ liberally from films like “The Lord of the Rings,” “Star Wars,” “Avatar,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and TV’s “Game of Thrones.”
FYI: originally named Zowie, Duncan Jones is David Bowie’s son; his birth prompted Bowie to write the song “Kooks” for his 1971 album “Hunky Dory.”
In conclusion, one should note that – in the past few years – the gaming industry has evolved, abandoning “games” in the literal sense in favor of inter-action, creating a mini-cinematic experience for players.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Warcraft” is a curiously campy 4 – too much war, too little craft.
