Over the years, Hollywood has continually struggled to adapt popular videogame franchises into big-screen success, and even the highest-grossing among them have fallen well short of the box office records set by comic book adaptations - another segment of pop culture being consistently mined by the film industry. This year, two films are hoping to finally crack the code and bridge the gap between the two entertainment mediums, with the first offering arriving this weekend in the form of Duncan Jones' Warcraft.
Based on the real-time strategy franchise that would eventually spawn an immensely popular MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game), Warcraft opens with the Orcs, a hulking race of warrior creatures with enormous muscles, fearsome tusks, and a never-ending thirst for combat. The Orc homeworld of Draenor is slowly dying, and the powerful warlock Gul'Dan (Daniel Wu) has used an ancient dark magic called The Fel to open a portal to Azeroth, a peaceful realm inhabited by humans, dwarves, and elves that seems ripe for conquering.
A decorated chieftain and respected leader, Durotan (Toby Kebbell) is one of the first through the gate, but as he watches the life being drained from Azeroth in much the same way as it disappeared from his homeland, he realizes that Gul'Dan and his magic are to blame for the destruction of Draenor. If the Orcs - including Durotan's wife (Anna Galvin) and newborn son - are to have any hope of survival, then Gul'Dan must be removed from power, but even the support of his clan and his stalwart second-in-command Orgrim (Rob Kazinsky) won't be enough.
On the opposite side of the conflict are the humans, ruled from the land of Stormwind by King Llane Wrenn (Dominic Cooper) and his wife, Lady Taria (Ruth Negga), whose brother Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) also commands the king's army. As news of the rampaging horde of Orcs reaches the King, he dispatches Lothar and a young apprentice mage named Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer) to summon the help of Medivh (Ben Foster), a "guardian" whose powerful magic is meant to shield the realm of Azeroth from danger, and who might know a way to stop the spread of The Fel before Azeroth is destroyed.
The first half of Warcraft is heavily steeped in the lore of the gaming franchise, and while Jones and screenwriter Charles Leavitt opt to thrust the audience headfirst into this world with very little exposition, the pace at which exotic names and locations are hurled at the viewer can easily become overwhelming, especially for those who are unfamiliar with the source material. The first act spends a considerable amount of time jumping from place to place for no particular reason - none of the location changes seem to serve the story, and this decision feels like nothing more than an effort to get as many recognizable landscapes onscreen as possible, solely for the enjoyment of fans like my father-in-law who can point to the screen and say "I know where that is!"
Like most high-fantasy epics, Warcraft's core plot is fairly basic, and the film certainly won't be in line for any accolades based on its storytelling. But what it lacks in narrative prowess it more than makes up for in the visual department, with the Orcs - particularly Durotan - being the most impressive CG characters I've ever seen. Created through a blend of performance capture and digital effects from the masters at Industrial Light and Magic, and capable of the same subtle changes in expression as their human counterparts, the Orcs are a truly stunning technological achievement.
The film's production design also gets honorable mention here, with gorgeous CG-enhanced locales modeled after their in-game equivalents and beautifully ornate - if not at all practical - weapons and armor. From the massive warhammers and skull-adorned leatherwork favored by the Orcs, to the jeweled broadswords and gleaming silver of the King's army, fans of the Warcraft gaming series could not have asked for a more faithful recreation. And just wait til you see how they handle the frequent use of magic...
In a film with literally thousands of visual effects shots, you wouldn't expect the majority of the problems to come from the live-action performers, but this is precisely where Warcraft begins to stumble. With the exception of Fimmel, who struggles mightily to breathe life into his role, the rest of the human actors seem to be in direct competition with Jennifer Lawrence from X-Men: Apocalypse to see who can deliver the most bland and boring performance in a major studio tentpole. Granted, it doesn't help that many of these characters are saddled with laughably terrible dialogue to work with, but there's almost zero effort on display here.
With a number of thrilling battle scenes, including a lengthy third-act climax featuring what feels like thousands of characters onscreen at once, Warcraft is no slouch in the action department. But as a potential first installment of a franchise - and indeed, the door is left wide open for more adventures in the realm of Azeroth - Warcraft needs more than just a few large-scale skirmishes to convince audiences to return. And when the most human and relatable character in the entire experience is a digital creation, that doesn't bode well for the future of the series. Warcraft isn't a bad film, and Jones should be commended for just how much he was able to accomplish here - but with its hopelessly dense lore, predictable narrative and mostly one-dimensional characters, connecting with general audiences will likely be a massive uphill climb.
