SHOULD I TAKE THE KIDS - Warcraft

THE DETAILS:

Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 123 minutes
Genre: Action
In Theaters: June 10, 2016
Starring: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper
Screenwriters: Charles Leavitt, Duncan Jones
Director: Duncan Jones

THE PLOT:

The human world of Azeroth is threatened by the invading hordes of orcs, giant warriors from a ravaged world. A brutal war between humans and orcs threatens to tear Azeroth apart. It’s up to a brave knight, a plucky mage, a concerned king, an all-powerful wizard, a freed slave and a worried orc to bring balance to this struggle.

CONTENT:

Warcraft is very heavy on the violence with its massive battle sequences. Characters, both human and orc, spill blood of red, green and black. There are scenes of orcs bashing their giant hammers into the skulls of humans and humans driving their swords into the stomachs of orcs. Several orcs end up losing their fingers and hands as they are chopped, burned or blown off. Many human characters meet their end by being slain and having their corpses held in the air by the orcs. Necks are stabbed, bitten and sliced as blood spills out from the wounds. Body parts are ripped out including bones and teeth. As the humans attempt to free the prisoners of the orcs, several innocents are savaged with the blunt weapons of the orcs. Two orcs battle it out with their fists to the death. A one-on-one battle ends with a slice to the crotch and a stab in the back. There is no sex (only one kiss in a vain attempt at romance); a brief scene of childbirth and the language is very clean.

SHOULD I TAKE THE KIDS:

NO: 12 and Under
Warcraft is so incredibly violent and such a downer of a story that children will be terrified by the action on screen. When there isn’t any action on screen, however, the drab dialogue and poor acting is going to leave them bored. The rather dark ending will also leave a nasty taste in their mouths as they leave the theater.

YES: 13 and up
Teenagers will be best suited to handle this level of violence and the dark tone in which it is portrayed.

Photo: Universal Pictures

REVIEW:

Warcraft is a movie specifically built for its video game fans and in one of the worst ways. As someone who is mostly familiar with the video games pre-World of Warcraft, I was barely grasping who all of these characters were by name and motivation. For portraying such an epic war of orcs versus humans, the movie becomes so wrapped up in too many plot threads that it forgets to make the audience care about these characters. We see a reluctant orc Durotan have his doubts about the future of his race, but this is never built up. We see the powerful wizard Medivh conceal a secret about the orcs, but why he does this is never fully revealed. It doesn’t help that these actors are terrible in these roles where they are given small whispers of scenes to display some charisma and all fall flat on their faces.

The special effects are decent at best in most of the combat scenes, but feel very off in scenes with orcs who appear with ridiculously oversized hands and teeth. That’s not a good sign when the movie attempts to evoke more emotion from the orcs than the humans in this grand war. The war itself feels pointless and battles are overly brutal to the point where even the slightest hint of humor appears grossly out of place. Worst of all, Warcraft is just a dreary experience with a dissatisfying ending. Calling this movie a fantasy picture is a disservice to the fantasy genre the way it piles on lore after lore, cramming elves and dwarves into the background and leaving so much unresolved and unexplained as though the producers have a sequel already lined up. The only possible way to enjoy this picture would be to bury yourself so deep in Warcraft mythology that you find yourself catching references to gush over. Perhaps then you’ll be distracted enough to not be bored, confused or depressed by such a surreal experience as this bloated and bland production.

OVERALL:

Warcraft is a drab, unfocused and bitter pill of a fantasy picture that even fans of the video games shouldn’t have to swallow.

GRADE: D

COMPANION FILMS (for viewing with the kids at home):

You’re going to need a major palette cleanser after this experience. It’s best to go straight for the top of the list by indulging in The Lord of the Rings trilogy to remind you of what real adventure and fantasy films should be.


Mark McPherson has been writing about movies since 2010 for various websites and is the author of The Great Animated Movies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Media Arts and Animation and lives in Minnesota. You can learn more about Mark by visiting his professional website Madness Mark.