WARCRAFT: THE BEGINNING
World Of Bore-craft
released OUT NOW! 2016 | 12 | Blu-ray 3d/4K Blu-ray/ blu-ray/dvd Director duncan Jones Cast Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, dominic Cooper
It’s based on what producer Thomas Tull calls “arguably the most successful entertainment property in history”. And it’s been in development for the best part of a decade. So there’s really no excuse for this big-screen take on all-conquering MMORPG World Of Warcraft being such an epic disappointment. It excels at squeezing loads of characters, species and locations from the game into its two-hour running time, but is ultimately tired cinematic fantasy by numbers.
If you like spotting kings, mages, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs and griffins then Warcraft will be your promised land. Otherwise you’ll be struggling to negotiate lumpen, humour-free dialogue and an uninspired plot about a war between humans and an Orc Horde that’s frequently sidetracked by info-dumps.
While the world of Azeroth is beautifully designed, little about it feels real – every CG vista serves as a reminder that Peter Jackson’s decision to use real New Zealand locations for The Lord Of The Rings was spot on. That said, the performance-captured Orcs are a triumph, feeling like living, breathing characters. Interestingly, they exist in a shades-of-grey world rather than being agents of pure evil, and fare rather better than their bland human counterparts, most of whom look utterly confused by the world they find themselves in. Maybe they’d rather be playing the game...
Extras The DVD just has 12 deleted/extended scenes (14 minutes) and a gag reel (three minutes). The Blu-ray adds more: the six-part “The World Of Warcraft On Film” (34 minutes), covers all the usual behind-the-scenes stuff; “Warcraft: The Madame Tussauds Experience” (eight minutes) looks at the waxwork exhibit; “The Fandom Of Warcraft” (seven minutes) shows why the game’s such a big deal. You also get a motion comic (54 minutes), an ILM effects reel (three minutes) and the trailer. Richard Edwards
Star Rob Kazinsky is something of a WoW fan – he’s logged 473 days in the game, and was in the world top 100 guild.