My Own Thoughts About the Warcraft Movie

I had a few thoughts about the upcoming (2016) Warcraft movie, but I wanted to get them down before I find out anymore information that might either cloud my already established point of view or make my point for me before I can spew it out on the electronic page.

Up until pictures of the movie posters surfaced at San Diego Comic Con 2015, I had been under the impression that the movie being produced from the intellectual property of Blizzard was a World of Warcraft movie, to which I was only slightly less than interested. A few months back, I also found out that Travis Fimmel was involved with the movie, my interest piqued just a bit.  At the time (so before the time then?) I was simply hoping that a video game based movie would do well enough that it would cause the public at large to stop bashing every single movie that was derived from a video game (and a new Hitman movie is being released soon. . .Friday?).  

Granted some of those criticisms are valid, when you look at such films as, well, just go and read the Wikipedia article as there are a lot more than I had previously thought.  It doesn't help the cause though that the first movie was Super Mario Bros., which has never gotten a good wrap.  No, I have not seen Super Mario Bros., and yes, I kind of want to see it, if only to see what all the hubbub is about.  So getting back in the movie that I came here to talk about.

As it was revealed (to me anyway), the World of Warcraft movie is in fact, just titled Warcraft, to which I am greatly relieved.  

I was never a fan of World of Warcraft, mainly because I never played it, but also because, at the time, I didn't understand paying for a video game, then paying each month in order to keep playing it.  I had felt that I would then be compelled to only play that one game that I am paying for month-t0-month because I am investing that money into one game rather than, potentially, 12 new/used games.  I also never played Warcraft III,  and I cannot presently remember the exact reason why.  I think that I was waiting for a Warcraft III chest similar to what Blizzard did for Warcraft and Warcraft II, which included the expansion Warcraft IIx: Beyond the Dark Portal, all in one schnazzy looking bundle.

So that is where my history with Warcraft lies, with the first two games and the one expansion.

When I found out that the main Orc, being the one in the film is Orgrim Doomhammer, this made me happy because my introduction to Orgrim was from Warcraft II, as the lore did not exist in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans the way that it did with Warcraft II.  I am now hoping that the game takes into account most of Warcraft I and II, but again, that's only because those are the games in the series that I've played.  Someone (Dr. Potts? or Señor Guzay?) told me that in Warcraft III (I think) that it was revealed that the Orc Horde were never bad to begin with and that they were under the control of some evil shaman Orc (or something similar) and that when World of Warcraft takes place, they've patched things up with Lordaeron?  I'm not really sure, again, because I haven't played anything in this world since it was written back in 1996.  Oh, and I've never liked the idea the the Orcs (as well as Trolls, Ogres and Undead) are actually good and misunderstood guys who just need a chance.

Those who are actually versed in the lore of Warcraft are probably cringing at my half-assed attempt at thinking that I am even barely knowledgeable in this arena, so my apologies.

And just yesterday I found out that Mr. Clancy Brown (Highlander, Carnivàle, Spongebob Squarepants) will be voicing Rend Blackhand, presumably for a short time before Orgrim kills him and takes over the Blackrock Clan.

Basically, I want the Warcraft movie to be based off of the lore from the early games and have nothing to do lorewise with World of Warcraft has come out, if only "because" the film is called Warcraft and not World of Warcraft.

I realize that this point of view makes me kind of a dick, and I'm okay with that.  I'm getting old and with that comes curmudgeonness.  I feel the same about certain theories in The Song of Ice and Fire universe, but that's a post for another time (probably before the next book and Season 6 are released).

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

A Generation of Mockingbirds