Warcraft

Based on the video game series, Warcraft follows a human warrior (Travis Fimmel’s Anduin Lothar) as he reluctantly agrees to work with a fearsome Orc (Toby Kebbell’s Durotan) to prevent an all-out war between their two species. Filmmaker Duncan Jones, armed with his and Charles Leavitt’s screenplay, kicks Warcraft off with an absolutely disastrous opening stretch that is, to put it mildly, rather off-putting, as the dense, plot-heavy atmosphere, which contains little in the way of an entry point for the viewer, is compounded by a proliferation of dull, one-dimensional characters and an almost comical overuse of computer-generated special effects – with, in terms of the latter, the movie’s flat, uncinematic visual sensibilities going a long way towards heightening the pervasively unwatchable vibe. And although there admittedly is some novelty in seeing certain elements of the game reproduced here, including an entertaining visit to Ironforge, Warcraft progresses into a sluggish midsection that’s been suffused with a series of over-the-top yet entirely meaningless action set-pieces – which, when coupled with an absolutely endless third act, ultimately does cement the picture’s place as a hopelessly misguided endeavor that fails in virtually every manner imaginable.

1/2* out of ****