Warcraft Movie: Zug Zug Review

Before the MMO, before Warcraft 3 and Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness, we had Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. This game are what brought Warcraft into the world and gave us our first looks into the land of Azeroth. These games have plenty of lore we would not be able to explore for a number of years. It was over the years and the various games that we were introduced to the massive cast of this Real Time Strategy game. Throughout the movie we get plenty of that lore of the series and the events of the first game. This movie, just like Orcs and Humans, is the beginning of something much bigger.

The story of the movie puts events at the very beginning of the Warcraft game series timeline. The Orcs are raiding from Draenor. The world has been drained and is dying because of the rampant use of the Fel Magic by the Twisted Shaman Gul'dan. The first incursions into the Human world have brought confidence to the Orcs. We see a half-breed Orc, Gonora, being led around by Gul'dan. She acts as a translator for the prisoners. There, we are shown caged Draenei which Gul'dan would use to power the Dark Portal. In this act, we see the Orcs begin their invasion of Azeroth. We are introduced to Durotan, the leader of the Frost Wolf Clan and Orgrim Doomhammer. Both of them have important roles to fill in the movie's story. We see Durotan's journey through to the land of Azeroth and the birth of his son: Go'el, who would one day become known as Thrall.

In the world of Azeroth we are introduced to King Llane Wrynn I, Lothar, the former apprentice Khadgar and the guardian, Medivh. We see some of what life is like and King Llane trying to call on the Alliance to help Azeroth defend itself against the pending Horde invasion. He was rebuffed because the Alliance could not agree as they saw as the duty of the Guardian to handle. The Guardian has been in isolation for a number of years and now events are calling him to act. Lothar and the former Wizard apprentice set off to meet with the Guardian. With that, the human players are all set in motion.

It was interesting to see the interactions between Orcs and Humans. In ways, it was a good thing that when the Orcs were speaking to each other, we would hear it in our language. When the Orcs were talking with humans, then we would hear Orcish. The transitions during the few times the Orcs and Humans were talking were helpful. It just made it easier to follow, having the characters speak for themselves. They imply the Orcish during these times but make sure that the audience can easily understand what is going on.

We met many of the principle players in the saga very quickly. The story set a solid pace and brought us through the game's story with some creative liberties. The armor and units you see are very well recreated from the first game. It offered up why players did not see anything new until Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness and Beyond the Dark Portal. It was nice to see that issued addressed. The story in the movie followed well enough to the game. While the game itself offered a lot of levity, the story has usually been more serious. There are still some funny moment, like the use of the Polymorph spell to change a guard into a sheep for a minute or two.

This movie offers a number of grand battle scenes and plenty of nods and hits to the grand history of the Warcraft series. It does stay on the serious side with only hints of the humor that can be found in the game play. Still, this movie focused on setting up the story. This leaves plenty more to be seen in the worlds of Azeroth and Draenor. There are also a number of nods to the game and its various entries.

It is worth seeing? If you are a fan of the Warcraft Series, definitely. There seemed to be plenty there to be enjoyed. It is hard to say what someone who is less familiar would think about some of the elements in the movie. It does try to give hints to what is going on and make it clear. Having some background knowledge helps to understand but the stakes are laid out very clearly. Still, it does well as an action movie and builds to a great climax. No big unexpected twists and reads fairly well.