The Cavalier Daily
Serving the University Community Since 1890

All's fun in love and "Warcraft"

The high-budget, over-the-top action movie is a perfect summer flick

“World of Warcraft” fans will probably love “Warcraft,” despite it being a critical nightmare — but an international financial success. It is indulgent, poorly-acted and poorly-paced, but somehow all of that is pretty forgivable when you realize “Warcraft” is just a summer flick and a pretty delightful one at that.

“Warcraft’s” unarguable strength is its brilliant visual effects. From the beginning, you’re immediately transported to the magical world of Azeroth and all of its parts, from the magnificent human kingdom of Stormwind to the desolate Draenor.

The video game features an entire world, and while the movie doesn’t have enough time to do Azeroth justice, it puts forth a colorful and rich effort. Most breathtaking are the visuals which come as the characters move from place to place on flying gryphons. The world of Azeroth is as diversely beautiful as anything that’s been done in movies so far.

A case for seeing this movie in 3D is the character design. The central characters to the story are the humans, but as the story stretches to include more fantastic creatures like orcs, dwarves and night elves, the movie benefits. As is the case with the scenery, the characters are enhanced by CGI without being overtaken by it.

It’s a good thing the movie is such a visual treat, because other elements of the movie are not as praiseworthy.

The most glaring problem originates from the messy handling of a trite plot. “Warcraft” follows orc chieftain Durotan, who begins to question his leader Gul’dan when their people invade the human kingdom using ignoble dark magic known as “The Fell.”

Somehow, the plot is both confusing and predictable; without an exposition dump, new entrants to the “Warcraft” franchise will likely be lost at the significance of certain events, even as the characters follow familiar patterns. One saving grace to “Warcraft” is the number and quality of casualties throughout the film, but other than those twists, the characters move forward in their expected roles with a sense of listlessness.

On the note of triteness, the movie suffers from its fixation on humans, who are amazingly boring and poorly acted. There’s the mischievous Anduin, the mysterious Medivh, the noble king Llane and the bright-eyed Khadgar, all humans with less personality than the code on which they are based.

The orcs fare better — Durotan, played by Toby Kebbell, effectively straddles the roles of being a new father and a venerated chieftain — but not much is asked of them, as evidenced by the soporific showing of Paula Patton as half-orc Garona. For the most part, these characters speak to each other with as much nuance as you would see in the video games.

Honestly, though, these faults are excusable to make this a fun summer movie anyway. While it might not critically qualify as an epic, thoughtful masterpiece, it entertains through sheer spectacle.

It’s less of a movie and more of a video game.

But whether you’re a former night elf druid or seeking a fun couple of hours, bring on the popcorn and bring on the “Warcraft.”

Comments

Latest Podcast

The University’s Associate Vice Provost for Enrollment and Undergraduate Admission, Greg Roberts, provides listeners with an insight into how the University conducts admissions and the legal subtleties regarding the possible end to the consideration of legacy status.



https://open.spotify.com/episode/02ZWcF1RlqBj7CXLfA49xt