Review of Warcraft (2016) by Tatsuhito K — 19 Jan 2017

The visual effects are absolutely stunning and I can feel Duncan Jones's love and passion for this project in every frame. It's obviously a product made by someone who deeply cares about (and respects) the source material, and at times the film does show a glimpse of what it could've been.

But in the end, I was massively disappointed by "Warcraft". The story is kind of a mess and everything falls apart toward the third act, which is just a big, loud, flashy showdown between the humans and orcs, an overly long battle sequence that is very much a reminiscent of Lord of the Rings movies (or any big-budget fantasy films, really.

) However, as much as I found the film a missed opportunity, I have to say I actually enjoyed the first two acts; I liked that it was a film about parenthood, a film about the relationships between parents and children; I liked how gender-balanced it was and I enjoyed some of the action sequences.

I thought the motion-capture performances were great and Duncan Jones definitely brought his unique perspective to an adaptation of popular video game. It's not a total failure, it's just very disappointing.