Ignore That 29% Rotten Tomatoes Rating — 2016's 'Warcraft' Is Actually a Badass Action Fantasy (2025)

Back in 2016, Duncan Jones, the director of sci-fi films Moon and Source Code, set out to end the curse that had plagued film adaptations of video game franchises with the fantasy epic Warcraft. Historically, video game movies were either completely unexceptional or exceptional in how poorly they adapted their source material. In recent years, there have been more successful attempts, but many have still missed the mark, like the recent Borderlands, or Paramount’s Halo series, which was recently canceled. The failures are steadily beginning to seem the exception rather than the rule, however, with films like Sonic The Hedgehog and The Super Mario Bros. Movie being well-received and financially successful, and HBO’s The Last of Us and Amazon’s Fallout both collecting Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. Warcraft, however, was entering a market that was even more skeptical of video game adaptations.

Just by having Jones attached, the project already had a lot going for it. The director was a lifelong fan of the source material, and the intention was to produce something on the scale of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films that fans would feel was worthy of the sprawling Warcraft lore. Despite the efforts of those working on the film, it went on to be a box-office disappointment domestically. However, Warcraft deserved more praise than it received at release.

'Warcraft' Delivered on Bringing Azeroth to Life

Warcraft had every advantage when it came to crafting a compelling franchise starter. The film tells the story of the world of Azeroth, which is being invaded by a war band of orcs from another world, led through a portal by the dark mage Gul’dan. There was a built-in fanbase and decades of lore and characters from which to pull for an adaptation, and with Jones taking on the project, it was in the hands of someone with a love and respect for the material, who had a proven track record of quality filmmaking. With the visual complexity of Warcraft’s world and its people, some of the most exceptional artists in the industry were recruited to bring them to life: Industrial Light & Magic and Weta Workshop.

Industrial Light & Magic, the George Lucas-founded visual effects company, is responsible for one of Warcraft’s most praise-worthy elements in bringing the film’s orc characters to life through performance capture. It is breathtaking effects work, and the performances of actors like Toby Kebbell shine through their emotive, photorealistic orc faces. They are a crowning jewel in the film’s high-fantasy visual splendor, a style that hasn’t been embraced to this degree before or since. Also contributing to this are the props and costumes created by Weta Workshop of Lord of the Rings fame. The combination of these two companies working together makes Azeroth feel like a real place you could step into despite its heightened-beyond-reality style.

The presentation and visual splendor of the world, along with interesting characters and the sharing of both the human and orc perspectives, are the film’s greatest strengths. Kebbell’s portrayal of Durotan, an orc chieftain desperate to protect his family and clan, is an excellent motion-capture performance and brings so much life to the invading orcs, who could have simply been shown as villainous. Travis Fimmel’s Lothar, a general of the Kingdom of Stormwind, is the anchor point for the side of the humans, who will also do anything to protect his people. They are surrounded by compelling supporting characters like Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer), a sometimes overeager and often underestimated mage, Ben Foster’s imposing and mysterious Medivh, and Garona (Paula Patton), a half-orc caught between two worlds. With so much that makes Warcraft an engaging film to watch, what went wrong?

'Warcraft' Had a Troubled Production

Director Duncan Jones has been moderately vocal about some of the troubles during the production of Warcraft, describing it as “a very active political minefield.” While the film was being made, its producing studio, Legendary, was shuffling hands from Warner Bros. to Universal before being sold to a Chinese entertainment conglomerate. Jones has commented that this resulted in changes in producing staff while the film was being worked on, and reportedly, this instability resulted in rewrites and affected the final cut of the film. Additionally, while all of this was occurring, Jones was also working with Blizzard Entertainment, the creators of the Warcraft universe, who were being “very careful” about what happened with their IP.

Related

What Happened to 'Warcraft 2'?

Duncan Jones has more stories to tell. See AlsoThe Warcraft movie is back on Netflix for your enjoymentWarcraft: The Beginning - Stream: Jetzt online anschauen

Posts

The version of Warcraft that was released is just barely over two hours in runtime, including credits. Reportedly, roughly 40 minutes of footage was cut from the film before it saw its theatrical release, explaining why it leaves viewers both wanting to see more of the world and characters and feeling as if moments which should feel significant lack emotional impact. It is ultimately left feeling overstuffed with characters and plot lines that are all underdeveloped, and one can’t help but wonder what kind of heavy-lifting those alleged cut 40 minutes would have done to build out these characters and their stories. Even the deleted or extended scenes included on the Blu-Ray release feel they should have been in the film to contextualize characters and events. Jones hinted at the potential existence of an extended cut of the film which would only see the light of day if the theatrical release were successful. Needless to say, there has never been an extended cut released.

The Cinematic Future of 'Warcraft'

Warcraft was certainly intended to be the beginning of a film franchise. If this weren’t made apparent by the film’s ending and its efforts to establish ongoing plot threads, the film was released in some territories under the title Warcraft: The Beginning. It is a shame, then, that it arrived in a flawed state in cinemas and did not perform well enough to justify immediate work on a sequel. While not a historical flop by any means, becoming the highest-grossing video game adaptation at the time, the film did not make even $50 million domestically, and despite nearly half a billion in total box office numbers, it failed to break even.

There has been no real talk of a direct sequel since the first film’s release in 2016, and with so much that works in it, that’s truly a shame. Not only is the franchise such a wealth of storytelling potential that could be adapted, but it’s also disheartening to see the work and passion put into Warcraft go unacknowledged. Jones previously expressed the desire to make a trilogy of films before potentially “handing the reins to someone else” to carry on the franchise, but after nearly a decade since the film’s release, a direct continuation seems unlikely. If the timing had been different, and if Jones had fewer studio troubles to navigate, perhaps things could have gone differently.

Why, then, does Warcraft deserve another look? Ultimately, despite its shortcomings, it is a visually rich and fun adventure film. The passion of the filmmakers is visible on screen, and it deserves another look so that that work may be appreciated, and perhaps, to mourn what could have been if things had gone differently upon its theatrical release.

Warcraft is available to stream on Max.

Watch on Max

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Warcraft

PG-13

Adventure

Action

Fantasy