A game played by millions worldwide seems like an obvious film, right?
Ratchet & Clank. Hitman. Assassin’s Creed.
Warcraft topped them all, with a $400-plus million take at the box office, and a global appeal thanks to its many gamers. But the critical response was not good.
Wading into the plot of the film, we find several tribes of beings a la J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Durotan (Toby Kebbell) is noble orc chieftain who reluctantly follows the chief baddie – Gul’dan (Daniel Wu) – a Shadowmoon orc warlock, through the gate from their dying world into the world of Azeroth. There, a half orc female named Garona (Paula Patton) becomes the go-between as the human warrior Lothar (Travis Kimmel) tries to navigate the rough road between who is really bad news and who is misunderstood. Of course, the Guardian (Ben Foster) comes into play with a bit of witchcraft and such, but it’s Ben Foster, so you know where that is headed.
Garona’s character is probably the most interesting. She’s a bit of a Pocahontas, serving as translator and helper to Lothar, but not really of his world. Their relationship grows as the movie progresses, while the various bands of species try to wipe each other out. How can everyone learn how to play nicely? How can the different groups get over their mistrust and figure out who the truly evil individuals are? That’s the ‘moral’ of the story, even as we approach an election where people are once again so focused on how different we are rather than similar.
That said… who am I kidding? If you’re going to watch this, it’s for the special effects and because you love WoW. For those who fall into that category, the special effects and digital comic included on the Blu-ray are just what you were hoping for. They’ll entertain you, potentially for hours, but only if you can leave the game for a minute…
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