Where's the Craft in Warcraft?

          High fantasy is a hard genre to get right, but it can be done well if it does one of two things. Like Lord of the Rings, it could present us with larger than life characters, but still tell a basic story (i.e. Good vs. Evil). Or like Game of Thrones, it could tell a complex story but ground it in a relatable world with identifiable characters. Warcraft does neither of these.
          Based on the mega-hit online game series, the story follows a horde of orcs travelling through a portal from their own wasted world into one governed by humans. But some of the orcs like Durotan (Toby Kebbel) a chieftain of his own tribe distrust their leader, who controls the portal with his mysterious magic. On the other side, the humans prepare to defend themselves, led by a soldier called Lothar (Travis Fimmel), the King (Dominic Cooper) and their own magical protector called the Guardian (Ben Foster). They’re assisted in their defence by a green half-orc called Garona (Paula Patton), and both races struggle to preserve the welfare of their own kind.
          Though I’m unfamiliar with the game and know next to nothing about World of Warcraft, it’s still clear this film is fiercely loyal to its source. Every design from the armour, the weapons, to the architecture of the cities and sometimes laughable orc voices is incredibly exaggerated as it looks in the game. The motion capture on the orcs is also really good, they often feel as much a part of a scene as the humans. Well as close as they can to the CGI-fest of an environment. Very little of the world is practical due to its reliance on replicating the game, which unfortunately gives the sets and the whole world of Azeroth little character. And because you don’t believe in the environments you can’t really get behind what the characters are fighting for. The characters are incredibly bland too, the audience never being privy to their personalities. They’re very much of their world which makes them hard to relate to and invest in. A few of them die during the course of the film, but you never care enough to feel anything for them. Ironically the most human character is Durotan the orc whose motivations and actions are best understood because we see the importance his society and his family have in his life. Actors like Fimmel and Foster though almost mail in their performances, detaching you from an already pretty detached plot.
          There are a lot of things going on in this movie that drive its story from political and cultural crossroads, to historical context, and of course magic. The trailers would have you believe this was going to be a film about a battle for land, the orcs simply needing a new home, and the humans defending their own. But there are other factors that complicate things and really shouldn’t have been there. Fantasy is hard enough to convey with its elaborate character names and rules, and since none of these characters or places have a recognizable context, the story should be streamlined and simple. That basic conflict with both sides having understandable goals could work. There’s another character played by Ben Schnetzer, a mage who gave up his apprenticeship, only to be set up as the next Guardian. I think the film would have been more interesting if he was made a focal point; if his character and journey was emphasized (with the orc war as the backdrop). We would invest more because of his insecurities, potential, and relatable drive.
          The Achilles heel of fantasy storytelling is magic, and Warcraft is a prime example of why magic should be downplayed in the genre (heck, in Game of Thrones it’s virtually non-existent). Without rules, it can be an easy deus ex machina or plot hole. The magic users in this film don’t have clear limitations of their power which creates this problem. And yet when the magic itself is explained it often becomes confusing. 
          The result of these uninteresting characters, conflict, and overly ambitious story is a film that’s visually decent but a slog to get through a lot of the time. Which is really a shame because it’s clear the writers and director are fans of this material. But they get in a bit over their head, and are also too reliant on this film getting a sequel, setting up a number of unanswered questions in the last act. Though better than some fantasy failures like Dungeons & Dragons and Eragon, it sadly doesn’t offer the general public anywhere near what it gives its already established fans.