Warcraft: The Beginning (Trailer)

Renowned game creator Blizzard attempts to capitalise further on micro transactions using a method known as macro transactions, more commonly known as petty theft.

It may come as something of a shock, but you are perfectly entitled to judge most figurative books by their covers. Judge them by their cover art, author, by-line and their title. Throw the first rock. Judge lest ye be judged. Carry the fate of us all, little one. If this is indeed the will of the Council, then Gondor will see it done. Incorrectly reference biblical passages and tangentially quote other films if you have to, but never settle for mediocrity. Warcraft: The Beginning is a good place to start your newfound judgemental freedom.

Some tales have titles that will capture an audience’s attention without the need for fancy graphics or catchy by-lines. Some will mislead you unintentionally (see: Batman Vs. Superman or 10 Cloverfield Lane). Then there is this. Warcraft: The Beginning might just be the most mundane, redundant title of all time. Given it is the first and only film of the franchise it is pretty safe to assume that it is also the beginning of the story. Instead of providing insight or creating intrigue, the only thing this title informs the viewer of, is that there will be Warcraft: The Middle and Warcraft: The End. Of course filmmakers don’t see the world in such a logical manner, and as such will most likely name the subsequent films Warcraft: Divide and Conquer and finally Warcraft Thr33. At least the games followed a consistent, numerical naming pattern.    

AND MY AXE.

The trailer itself is boring. I watched it more times than I had hoped and, even now, could not give anything but a generic summary of events. Humans and Orcs must band together in some world ending crisis, but also not all humans trust Orcs and also there is some baby Shrek, like the one from Meet the Spartans (see: below). We already have a film for nerds, it’s called Captain America: Civil War, we don’t need another one. I don’t believe it a coincidence either, that this film comes out a full two years after The Hobbit films had concluded. Wouldn’t want to flood the market with too many awful films about Orcs, Humans and Dragons.

Watching this I found myself distracted by other more exciting trailers, i.e. Suicide Squad. Unlike Warcraft, Suicide Squad’s trailer does not give away important plot points/twists, effectively engages the audience through clever use of popular music with rhythmic cuts and an appropriate amount of humour to break the mounting tension. Will this mean that Suicide Squad will be a 10/10 amazing film? Probably not. Does its trailer excite an audience and generate hype? A resounding yes. Sure it exploits an audience’s weakness for nostalgia, but it takes the first step to cinematic success by at least seeming intriguing. Plus, it has Margot Robbie in short shorts.

Final Prediction: Remember that Eragon film? Most people erased it from memory immediately. This will be Eragon 2.0, or should I call it Eragon: A Quest Fulfilled.