Review: Warcraft: The Beginning

Warcraft: The Beginning (12A)

USA 2016 123 mins Dir: Duncan Jones Cast: Travis Fimmel, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Ben Foster, Paula Patton, Dominic Cooper, Clancy Brown

Warcraft or Borecraft? It’s unfortunate to report that director Duncan Jones’ long-gestating take on the global gaming phenomenon falls more to the latter end of the spectrum, less a spirited fantasy romp than an impenetrable, mega-budget piece of fan service. Love the game? You’re likely to get something out of it (if not necessarily a coherent or engaging plot). Everybody else? Good luck.

In truth it’s upsetting to criticise a genuinely creative director who is clearly having a ball with all the costumes, CGI and rampant spectacle that it is possible to throw at the big screen. But whereas Jones’ storytelling clarity has in the past come through loud and clear, be it the atmospheric man-on-the-moon story of Moon or the slippery time-travel trickery of Source Code, here he appears to be overwhelmed by the sheer scale of his new creation, the plot an odd combination of the incomprehensible yet fast-moving. (This is surely a side effect of a great deal of material being cut from the final edit, stoking the inevitable rumours of a more complete director’s cut.)

Immediately within the first five minutes, we’re hit with more names of worlds, creatures and kingdoms than a back-to-back binge-watching session of Lord of the Rings (the extended editions). When hordes of marauding orcs find a way to open a portal from their dying home world of Draenor to the human realm of Azeroth (it involves sucking out whatever lifeforce is available and utilising it – or something), an epic battle is soon waged.

Young King Llane (Dominic Cooper) dispatches weirdly effete and detached warrior Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel, doing a Poundland Chris Hemsworth impression), along with apprentice sorcerer Khadgar (Pride‘s Ben Schnezter), to seek out the more-powerful sorcerer Medivh (Ben Foster, not so much Gandalf as Gandullf) to understand more about the Fel, the magic wielded by the orcs’ despotic leader Gul’dan (Daniel Wu). Meanwhile within the orc faction, sympathetic chieftain and new father Durotan (Toby Kebbell) harbours doubts about their invasion of this lush new world, and looks to side with the humans.

There’s no denying that Warcraft looks the part, the motion-capture effects on the orc actors sensitively wrought and expressive although it can’t hope to match the alluringly physical sensation of a glinting breastplate or flailing sword. In truth, this is the movie’s great issue: it all feels somewhat detached and antiseptic, lacking the visceral energy needed even as the camera swoops and glides all over the place to drink in whatever piece of background detail is on offer. The uninspired performances and dense mythology really don’t help either, the plot barrelling forward whilst many are no doubt struggling to understand what on Azeroth is happening. What was really needed here was the deft Christopher Nolan touch, a way to make Warcraft relevant to non-gamers like the latter did with Batman, whilst ensuring the hardcore fans also stay happy.

Sadly it’s an oddly alienating experience for newcomers although to be honest, Warcraft lovers themselves deserve a far more rounded and emotionally engaging experience than this. Credit must go to Toby Kebbell, humanising the layers of motion capture effects to craft the story’s most compelling and likeable character (a far cry from his savage primate in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), but it’s a long-old slog when he’s off-screen. Lavishly staged and infinitely more expensive it may be but Warcraft is a clumsy, lumbering beast when compared to the supple magic of Moon or Source Code.