Film Review: Warcraft: The Beginning

"Is War The Only Answer?"

When it comes to past live-action video game adaptations that have made it on to the big screen within the past, let's say the record has not been the best so far. I mean look at Hitman: Agent 47 last year, what a load of rubbish that was and whilst others have trembled in the wake of mediocrity or downright awfulness, 2016 was tapped as the year for the reinvention of the genre with not only Assassins Creed hitting the big screen but Warcraft too, helmed by self-proclaimed fan Duncan Jones, director of sci-fi greats such as Moon and Source Code. Although I can admit to never playing a single second of Warcraft in the past, Jones' behemoth of a summer blockbuster was a surprising popcorn romp, one that indeed has a wide range of flaws and weaknesses, but one that was never challenging or seemed to be verging on the edge of boredom throughout its' questionable two-hour plus runtime. CGI galore and Flash Gordon esque costume design. What more does one want?

Amidst unpronounceable locations and names, Warcraft essentially focuses on the battle between Orcs and humans, coincided with some pretty funky CGI magic and featuring warlocks, wizards and flying eagle bird things within the realm of what is essentially a rip-off of Middle Earth. The Lord of the Rings comparisons do not stop there however, with similar themes and even similar characters resulting in a fundamental likeness on the surface but Warcraft falters on the scale of the latter's depth where even though there were some characters worth caring about, others simply acted either as canon fodder for giant hammers or as a tent-pole for extraordinarily polished suits of armour. Warcraft is set to be the starter pistol for another heavy-hitter of a blockbuster series and although it is indeed not perfect, far off in fact, Warcraft does the job and does it solidly, smashing humans to pieces as it traverses the world of humans in the 21st century. Over to you Assassins Creed, let's see if you can do better. 

Overall Score: 6/10

2 Guns Quicky Review - SPOILERS

Sorry for the delay again! I've been real busy with a lot of other stuff. Coming up later this week we have the UK releases of both Elysium and Pain & Gain, so be looking out for them. Be sure to follow my twitter account to hear news of each completed review and a load of other crap! As much as I would like to dribble on, this will be a real quick sum up of a full review that I haven't got around to doing.

2 Guns is a buddy cop movie with a twist. These cops are undercover agents from the navy and DEA who have no idea that the person they are using to get into a Mexican cartel is also undercover but from a different agency. An unsanctioned robbery of a bank turns out to be the breaking point between the pair that ignites the second half of their relationship. A race to find the money that they stole, turns to out cause trouble with the CIA, The Mexican cartel and their own agencies who are hunting them down for the crime. With a plot twist that is handed on a plate, the story is a little simple and a bit predictable but otherwise something refreshing for the summer but could have done with a more meat on the bones.

As a tradtional action movie, you would expect it to be full of cheesy one liners and increasingly poor visual effects (Just look at Expendables, as much as I love it.) but this movie saw that and was genuinely funny and brilliant visual effects that only had a few minor issues. The comedy stands out the most and is probably one of the best examples for action movie jokes, some jokes made me well up in tears and fighting for breath while the action was truly first rate. Predominately firearm fights, you can understand that they can be a little dreary and demand a lot of explosions to capture the attention, yet 2 Guns had was more about the execution and style that many a man dreams about.

As a typical buddy cop action movie, 2 Guns turned out to be a step above the rest. With a collection of well known faces and big names, the general consensuses is that the acting was impeccable when compared to others of it's genre. Wahlberg was the comical of the pair, a brazen attitude to match his muscular physique was easy for Mark to achieve, especially as Pain & Gain was filmed prior and he is much the same in that (Review out Friday as the UK only gets it then!). It may seem like he is getting type cast for such things but each character is different and in this he is fairly lax and extremely excitable. Denzel plays something very different. I never expected him to be part of something like this as I always know him for Man on Fire, a serious actor with a flare for violence but this makes him seem exciting with a hint of danger that can be disguised by the nutty plots he develops. As a crew, the unit worked well and many of the cast acted well within their means without over dramatising.

For a movie well above the rest of its ancestors, this movie is a perfect summer hit, a good watch with a few friends and mashes up both comedy and action seemlessly. Perhaps a few more explosions and a bit more story wouldn't go a miss but I feel it deserves an 8/10 for breaking new ground in a genre thats faded over recent years.