Grab An Orc And Watch The First Trailer For Warcraft!

And so, almost two years after it first started filming, the first trailer for Warcraft has debuted today as part of BlizzCon, a convention held by Blizzard Entertainment, the company in charge of the World of Warcraft video games that Warcraft is based on. Unlike other video games that get directed by the likes of Paul W.S. Anderson and John Moore, this one has Duncan Jones helming the project, which is an immensely promising proposition given how great the last film from Jones, Source Code, was. 

This has led me to be anticipating Warcraft far more than I would have under conventional circumstances, given my complete lack of knowledge about the games themselves. Plus, it doesn't hurt that a pretty awesome cast has been assembled for the feature (Clancy Brown! Dominic Cooper! Toby Kebbell! Paula Patton!). And with a trailer today, we'll see if my anticipation for this project gets increased or muted. Join me in watching this trailer, won't you?

Y'know what? I'm actually down for this. This actually looks like it could be very interesting.

Being a non-sequel entity in the pantheon of Summer 2016 Blockbusters, Warcraft really had to bust out of the gate with a memorable trailer if it wanted to be more of a Guardians Of The Galaxy than a Pixels at the box office. While this one certainly doesn't hit the heights of that Guardians teaser, they've made a smart move to emphasize the fact that both the Orcs and the humans are main characters in this one, the otherworldly Orcs don't just serve as CGI cannon fodder for the human characters to fight. 

Giving a prominent focus to the more emotional aspects of the film (namely that our main Orc hero, Durotan, has a baby he wants to come home to) instead of overwhelming the audience with expository dialogue about the mythology of this world is an incredibly smart move, as is showing off some neat looking action beats. One complaint I do have is one that's almost become rote when talking about teaser trailers for major summer blockbusters, and that's that some of the visual effects in here don't look up to par. A close up shot of Durotan looks legitimately revolutionary, with some of the most realistic CGI skin ever put on film, and then there's a shot of some Orcs standing next to humans in a canyon and the CGI creatures look like they stepped out of an eight year old video game.

More work will be done on the CGI, of course, between now and the seventh months before its release, and if it all looks as good as some of the best effects shots in here, we should be in for a visual treat. All in all, this character based teaser makes me hopeful that my confidence in Duncan Jones is not misplaced at all. Can't wait to see the finished film and if it lives up to my expectations on June 10, 2016.