THERE are perceivable ambiguities in the title of English writer/director Duncan Jones’ fantasy about conflict between the Azeroths, clean-cut intelligent good guys, and really ugly and slow-witted bad guys whose monosyllabic appellation may be spelled in different ways – orcs, auks, awks, take your pick.
The film has no water-borne warcraft. And beginning denies a history such as it depicts.
It also mirrors those futuristic outer-space civilisation-destroying Hollywood movies that have been boring our tits off for far too long. The dramatic formula is familiar. Only the costumes and props are different. And the threat of sequels is a bit scary!
After the ebb and flow of battle, the denouement is unresolved. Will peace be attainable in the lifetimes of the film’s combatants? (The same question confronted Neville Chamberlain on September 30, 1938. After six years of dreadful real-life war, the answer didn’t last long.)
The film’s designers make the handsome Azeroths look dignified in their armour, while the brutal, over-sized awks wear decorative stuff crafted from skins, bones, teeth, animal horn and fallen wood. Imagination boggles at wondering how orcs copulate – so many harsh found objects getting in the way. And modesty was already a factor in those distant times – the female orcs all wear bras and knickers!
It’s reported that the genesis of “Warcraft: The Beginning” is an online game performed by live actors. None of the film’s players gives any notable kind of performance. But I did take pleasure from the Azeroth air force – gryphons, big, beautiful, versatile – and the giant dogs that carried auks into battle.
It’s not all bad. But its 123 minutes are burdensome.
At Hoyts, Palace Electric, Dendy and Limelight
Who can be trusted?
In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.
If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.
Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.
Thank you,
Ian Meikle, editor
Leave a Reply