I don't bring this up only to regale you with my out of date vernacular; I've noticed of late that film makers have been leaning a little too heavily into our shared knowledge of communal properties. Spiderman no longer needs an introduction, he's a slot-in character, backstory be damned. Sherlock Holmes, you can throw him in any time period and we're pretty comfortable we know who he is and how he'll react. It’s elementary.
The problem is, and it is becoming increasingly more glaring, that shared knowledge is now subbing in for character development. Those pesky personal moments that get us inside our protagonists' heads are now given over to more action, preferably finished on an animator's desktop. I've been able to live with that purely because I can access (like the film makers expect) that bank of shared understanding. But I've also noticed that my emotional investment has taken a hit. Without the finer details, without the nuance, the go-to templates leave the fare feeling pretty dry. Fun but that is about it.
I've always wondered what the experience would be like for someone who doesn't have access to the character library. Thanks to Duncan Jones, I now have the answer.
Gaming is a rabbit hole I never ventured down. The last computer game I played with any intensity was on the Amiga 500 and the film adaptations I've experienced (Resident Evil, Silent Hill have had some pretty serious genre tropes to fall back on). Warcraft pitches straight into the Lord of the Rings arena and expects the same investment. It wasn't forthcoming from me.
The four guys in cosplay behind me though... they were in their element.
I'm guessing calling out Warcraft for its fantasy world derivativeness is a little cheap, but cheap this feels, despite its $160M budget. Azeroth (the human's world) is all spires and domes set amongst leafy hills and waterfalls. I'm sure you can already picture it - a mix between Dinotopia and Naboo. There's little of the Alan Lee and John Howe’s design flair that brought the airy aesthetic edge to Peter Jackson's films. I'm guessing Jones et al have predominantly been led by the look of Blizzard Entertainment's look and feel on that score, so, again, fans should be more than pleased seeing it big-screened.
Plot-wise they were no doubt somewhat constrained as well. Though, judging by the post-film unpacking that was going on behind us, the story of Gul'dan and his attempts to open up a portal to unleash his orc horde upon the peace loving (but heavily armoured) kingdom of humans and their spell casting guardian, also covers off on the game’s mythology with fan-quelling attention to detail.
On the areas they've had a little more creative control the production has a distinct lack of personality. This is mostly conspicuous in the casting, which across the board lacks punch. Australian ex-underwear model, Travis Fimmel, comes out looking the best of a bland crew and that’s even with his clothes on. To be honest, I was only alerted to Fimmel’s CK heritage because the couple in front of us were flicking through images on their phone before the film. Amongst the CGI he holds his own despite the cheesy mouthfuls Duncan and his co-screenwriter Chris Leavitt have him putting about. Other key roles are just lacking in presence. Ben Foster’s Medivh (big Gandalfy magician guy) is plain drippy. Ben Schnetzer as runaway mage-ling (and heavily signposted “next big thing”) Khadgar snivels through his expository statements. Worst of all, Dominic Cooper as King of Stormwind, Llane Wrynn, is about as commanding as a cosplaying talk-show host.
Everyone involved has done better work, which points, more than anything, to a distinct lack of direction. Throwing down with an expensive CGI epic was never going to allow Duncan to play to his strengths and his taut approach to narrative film making is lost in this fanciful melange. Around the barely fleshed out fantasy archetypes, the narrative whips along with expositional ferocity leaving little time for character work. Jump on this griffin to meet this person. Take this piece of notepaper to this flying city. Stand around this game board to bemoan the state of the war effort. Meet with enemy splinter group in this canyon. Signal cross-species romantic connection. Lazily set up sequel.
Look, Warcraft isn’t the dog that advance word has been putting about. Sure, there is not much to lift it above mid-tier TV fantasy, but there is some impressive mo-cap on the orc side of the fence, and that narrative arc even gains some emotional traction thanks to the animator and Toby Kebbell’s turn as rogue chieftain, Durotan. Though the human/orc showdowns are choreographically leaden, when things turn orc on orc, the team find some actual punch. I know it probably is not going to do the film any favours in the eyes of most, but the work on some of the one on one CGI showdowns as the film climaxes hold up favourably to Disney’s much maligned John Carter.
Yes, I’m saying that this film is considerably inferior to John Carter. Perhaps I should have just led with that.
★★☆
Trailer:
No comments:
Post a Comment