'Warcraft: The Beginning' - Review

★ ★ ★ ½ ☆

Director Duncan Jones’ obvious love for the source material makes Warcraft (an adaptation of Blizzard Entertainment’s seminal real-time strategy game) a visually sumptuous and surprisingly engaging fantasy adventure. The peaceful realm of Azeroth is threatened when warlock Gul’dan (Daniel Wu) opens a portal from the dying orc world of Draenor with dark magic known as ‘The Fel’. Chieftain Durotan (Toby Kebbell) becomes disenchanted with Gul’dan’s leadership and hopes to forge an alliance with humanity to save what remains of the world. On the human side is warrior Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel), joining forces with mage apprentice Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer) and half-breed orc Garona (Paula Patton). 

You’ll notice already there’s a lot of backstory to keep up with before we even dive into the meat of the matter, but what I really appreciated about Warcraft’s storytelling is that it trusts you’ll keep up, rather than dumping exposition into the silence. I’ve found it disappointingly hypocritical of reviewers who’ve thrown around the “newcomers will be lost” criticism with regards to both Warcraft and Captain America: Civil War, before awarding two stars to the former and a full five to the latter. 

Many have also dismissed the film out of hand as ‘dumb blockbuster film-making’, but the very opposite is true. Much like Matt Reeves’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, this film proves that big-budget behemoths can be intelligent. Both the orcs and humans have an equal dramatic presence: far from the generic hordes of lumbering beasts one might expect of similar fare, Durotan and fellow clansman Orgrim (Robert Kazinsky) are as well-drawn as their human counterparts, if not better. There is also a consideration of the human-orc language barrier and a refreshing lack of the ignorant side-character who seeks only war with the orc ‘savages’. 

While the wealth of characters dropped into the mix lends the film an overstuffed feeling, there’s enough invigoration in the visuals and semblance of depth in the dialogue to win the day: I cannot overstate how much joy it brought me to see a fantasy film sporting such vibrant colours and occasional springs of humour. At one point, a magical McGuffin does something unexpected in the presence of Khadgar and a high mage and, rather than explaining its origin and backstory, the elder shakily remarks “…it’s never done that before!” Jones and co. also manage to balance the fun with the ferocious: the orc combat in particular has a blood-spattered grit and heft to it, little seen in the genre since pre-Hobbit Peter Jackson. 

The orcs themselves are an incredible creation from Industrial Light and Magic, reminding us yet again why the company still stands as the rightful kings of CGI. The face of Durotan (filling the films opening shot) is aged, weathered and scarred as well as any physical make-up could contend with, but it is the tangible regret in actor Toby Kebbell’s voice for years of bloodshed that sells the character. He is but a single element of the gorgeous production design, brought to life with passion by those who have examined every detail of the game. Spells cast by guardian Medivh (an appreciatively creepy Ben Foster) are not just a flare of blue light, but form in intriguing patterns and symbols. The books in his library all have individually crafted spines and the trophies borne upon the backs of Durotan and his clan could tell a hundred stories more.  

Simply as a result of how much lore is packed into such an abrupt running time (the film clocks in at less than two hours), some resolutions are rushed and a wedge of the supporting cast are left behind for great swathes of the story. But what’s noticeable is that you do miss them. Jones’ film-making has always been about putting the characters first, and that is what makes the finale (though undoubtedly arresting in its exuberant battle scenes) an inherently emotional event. There is a genuine sense of gain and loss on both sides of the confrontation, reminding us why the game bore the title Orcs and Humans, not Orcs versus Humans. As someone who knows nothing of the original RTS, the million user-strong MMORPG or it’s universe (save for what characters appear in the spin-off card game), and as someone who worried that Jones’ signature could be erased by the demands of fulfilling a franchise quota, colour me impressed.