Review #1,076: 'Warcraft: The Beginning' (2016)

It was only a matter of time before the massive online role-playing game World of Warcraft was adapted for the big screen. With high fantasy still hugely popular thanks to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies and HBO's Game of Thrones, now seemed the ideal time to bring Warcraft's world of orcs, mages, trolls and elves to the cinema-going audience. Yet even with a talented director at the helm, Duncan Jones, Warcraft flopped hard domestically, but proved such a smash-hit in China that there's now talk of a sequel tailored solely for the Chinese market. That little factoid, symbolic of the increasing importance of overseas box-office to U.S. productions, is probably the only interesting thing to emerge from the film.

Somewhere in this tale of giant green orcs, giant grey orcs, magical portals, hairy men, hairier mages, grumpy dwarves and huge CGI battles, there's the faint whiff of a plot that focuses on both sides of a war between the peaceful humans and a brutal hoard of orcs. In order to cater for us noobs - those of us who have never spent days slurping energy drinks and munching on Doritos in front of our computer playing the game - writers Jones and Charles Leavitt spend most of the film explaining this world to us and the many factions that operate within it. The main focus on both sides of the battle is Durotan (Toby Kebbell), an orc chieftain with a pregnant partner, and Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel), a stock warrior-type with a charisma vacuum.

Durotan is under the command of warlock Gul'dan (Daniel Wu), who has already sucked the life out of one world using a dangerous magic called 'fel' and has used sorcery to open a portal into the next world, Azeroth. Lothar, observing the devastation caused by one of their attacks, comes across mage Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer), who wants to bring the traces of fel to the attention of Guardian Medivh (Ben Foster) and the king Llane Wrynn (Dominic Cooper). When an orc scouting party are beaten by Lothar and his fellow humans, they capture half-orc slave Garona (Paula Patton) and send Durotan back to the hoard defeated. However, seeing the devastation Gul'dan is causing to the land and his dismissal of honourable orc tradition, Durotan secretly plans to team up with the humans to defeat the evil tyrant and free his people.

I actually quite enjoyed the opening 30 minutes of Warcraft. Unhappy with portraying yet another man vs. evil orcs story, Jones' decision to give them both a voice is a breathe of fresh air. But this thoughtful approach quickly gives away to a textbook of cliches, from the humble warrior with a great destiny to the annoying young sidekick who just may be the one to save them all. And don't expect a complete film, as the 'Beginning' in the title means exactly that. Clearly the film-makers were banking on squeezing a trilogy out of this, and don't bother to give us an actual conclusion that would make us want to see a next instalment. With daft names that anyone unfamiliar with the world of Azeroth won't remember, you'll be too busy trying to figure out what's going on to care about many of the characters, with only Kebbell - delivering another impressive motion-capture performance - and Foster getting through it with their reputation in tact. And so the search for a decent video game adaptation goes on.


Directed by: Duncan Jones
Starring: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Daniel Wu, Ruth Negga
Country: China/Canada/Japan/USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #811: 'An Education' (2009)

An Education's protagonist Jenny, expertly played by an Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan, is the best reason to the see the film. Set in 1961, Jenny is one half middle-class good girl, the other half a rebellious and potentially wild 16 year old child with a thirst for all things French. Studying hard to be accepted into Oxford, Jenny really longs for the wonders of Paris, and in her spare time indulges in the free-spiritedness of the music and the New Wave movies of the time. Her parents, played by Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour, are proud but pushy. Her father especially longs to see his daughter succeed and his own social standing bumped up a couple of notches. That is until she meets the much-older David (Peter Sarsgaard).

David is a smooth-talking charmer who seduces Jenny by taking her out to opera's and expensive dinners with his flash friend Danny (Dominic Cooper) and his girlfriend Helen (Rosamund Pike). He charms her parents too, and convinces them to allow him to take Jenny to see his friends in Oxford, where she will stay with famous author C.S. Lewis. He also takes her to Paris and asks for her hand in marriage, and Jenny laps it up with a naive curiosity. But David is a philandering con-man, and when the truth is uncovered, Jenny is faced with important decisions about her own fate.

An Education is a perfectly nice and dainty British production that ultimately fails in it's attempts to tackle the big themes. The build-up is well paced, as Mulligan is exquisite, competently backed-up by a Colin Firth-channelling Sarsgaard. It looks and feels like 1961, and Nick Hornby's Oscar-nominated script sensitively handles the topic of a young girl and a much older man. But it's in the second half, when David is unravelled, that things become predictable and plodding, and Cooper and Pike's talents are wasted. The final moments try and wrap up every single aspect of Jenny's life and character in a few sentences, betraying the careful approach to Jenny's complex nature which came before. Nice enough, but hardly memorable.


Directed by: Lone Scherfig
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Cara Seymour, Olivia Williams, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Emma Thompson
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #319: 'The Devil's Double' (2011)

Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper) is a patriotic Iraqi soldier who finds himself brought in by Uday Hussein (also Cooper), a former classmate and son of Saddam to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. Uday wants him to become his body double to protect him from potentially dangerous situations, and make appearances while Uday indulges in women, drink and drugs. Latif refuses, only to be tortured and beaten until he agrees. After undergoing some minor plastic surgery and given some fake teeth, Latif shadows Uday and realises he is an absolute psychopath, raping and murdering women as well as torturing anyone who challenges or opposes him. Uday's mistress Sarrab (Ludivine Sagnier), tired of Uday's unpredictable nature and wild behaviour, shows interest in Latif, and the two start a dangerous affair.

The story of Latif Yahia has been dubbed dubious by various investigative journalists due to inconsistencies in his stories and claims by associates of Uday Hussein's that he never used body doubles. That aside, it makes for a quite fascinating story, if a not wholly believable one. Instead of fashioning a serious film about one of the key figures in the troubled and violent recent history of Iraq, director Lee Tamahori (whose recent films include the shitty Bond film Die Another Day (2002) and Nicolas Cage vehicle Next (2007)) has made a gangster film. It plays out like Scarface in Baghdad, and is full of violence, drugs and women, and all but ignores the political and social aspects. It's the main problem with the film, as although this has the potential to be a very good film, the execution is that seen a thousand times before in the gangster genre. In the hands of someone like David Fincher or Michael Mann, this could have been something much more.

However, the film has a trump card in the form of lead Dominic Cooper, who juggles dual roles with apparent ease. I've never been his biggest fan (he's hardly been stretched in his career), but he shows here that he has leading man qualities. Although his portrayal of Uday is wildly over-the-top to the point of a cartoon character sometimes, it's clearly as the director intended, and he switches from the brooding Latif to the psychopathic Uday effortlessly. So whether you believe the story or not (I don't), it makes for an entertaining, if deeply flawed, film, and Uday Hussein proves a terrifying madman, especially given that he was very real (before US forces killed him in 2003).


Directed by: Lee Tamahori
Starring: Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Raad Rawi
Country: Belgium/Netherlands

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #184: 'Captain America: The First Avenger' (2011)

Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is desperate to get into the army and help his countrymen fight in World War II. The only problem is that he's short, skinny, and has a list of medical conditions longer than his arm. In his umpteenth attempt at enlisting, Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) sees Rogers' passion and help enlist him in a research project to build a super soldier. Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) doubts him, yet when Rogers dives on a loose de-activated grenade to save his group, he is convinced. Along with Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), Erskine doses Rogers with a special serum that turns him into a muscled, near-invisible super soldier, and he becomes Captain America - at first a frontman to sell bonds, but when his friend needs to be rescued, he becomes a superhero. Meanwhile in Europe, psychotic Nazi Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) is harnessing a power that may help him rule the world.

The Marvel films of late seem to fit into two categories - either very good, and passable. This, unfortunately, falls into the latter category. The passable Marvel films (X-Men: First Class (2011), The Incredible Hulk (2008)) have been relatively pedestrian yet have the uncanny ability to be irresistibly likeable and undeniably entertaining. Captain America was one I was expecting to be on the level of Iron Man (2008) and Thor (2011), both of which are very good. But it is overlong, has poorly developed supporting characters, and a one-dimensional bad-guy. But Chris Evans and the fact that this is a teasing final link into the film that we're all really waiting for, helps raise the film up a few notches.

I'll start with the bad. Firstly, the action scenes, compared to even the lesser Marvel films, don't really add up to that much. I mean, this is a superhero fighting Nazis, and we all love seeing a Nazi getting smashed - but the big and loud action scenes are surprisingly dull. There's nothing to compare to the Frost Giants fight in Thor, or the Circuit du Monaco attack in Iron Man 2 (2010), or seeing The Incredible Hulk getting angry. And Cap's whole superhero persona just isn't that good - he's just really hard and can throw a shield rather well. He can't fly, doesn't have a hammer of near-limitless abilities, and can't turn massive and green.

Sadly wasted are Tommy Lee Jones and Weaving. Given a role he can sleep-walk through, Jones just doesn't seem to be making the effort, and delivers his few comic lines with a can't-be-arsed look on his face. Weaving chews on his lines with relish and is near-faultless as Schmidt, who later becomes The Red Skull. It's just a shame that Schmidt is basically there to do no more than give Cap something to fight against. After Tom Hiddleston as Loki in Thor, who was if anything a lot more interesting than his blonde-haired brother, brought emotional torment and raging jealousy into his multi-dimensional character. Maybe I'm comparing it too much to the other Marvel films, but knowing that it's all building to The Avengers (due in 2012), it's difficult not to see it as one huge film.

But while Captain America the superhero may be a little full, Steve Rogers isn't. Seeing him transform from a skinny weakling who will get straight up after a beating to become a giant of a man over-awed by his new strength, is a great reason to finally root for the little guy. The nodding winks to the comic book nerds and the links to the other films provide lots to smile at, especially in Tony Stark's father Howard, who as well being an entertaining character, is played well by Dominic Cooper (though not the level of Robert Downey Jr.) who is an actor I've never really taken to in the past . And it's nice to finally have a strong love interest in Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) after the blandness of Natalie Portman in Thor. As well as the obvious attractiveness, Peggy is a character that can kick some arse as well. Overall, it's a worthy entry into the epic franchise, and a nice final character film before it all really kicks off.


Directed by: Joe Johnston
Starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Cooper, Sebastian Stan, Toby Jones, Stanley Tucci, Samuel L. Jackson
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie