Warcraft
Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 10, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
32
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
18
Negative:
19
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Total FilmKevin HarleyMay 26, 2016
Tasked with brokering a peace between event-sized thrills, gaming lore and high fantasy, Jones embraces Warcraft’s world with laudable commitment: but when it comes to charging it with life, sheer bulk gets the better of him. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenMay 24, 2016
The movie is character-driven every step of the way. That’s why, even if the world created by Jones and his talented design collaborators, both old-school physical and cutting-edge digital, isn’t seamlessly believable so much as staggeringly crafted, it casts a spell. Read full review
58
HitfixDrew McWeenyMay 26, 2016
Warcraft errs in how much it asks the audience to juggle, and as a result, the things that the film does well (and I think there are many) are muffled somewhat. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 13, 2016
Warcraft provides the shell of a great fantasy adventure saga but never effectively goes beyond that. This is much more like the bad fantasy of the 1980s and 1990s than the better brand we have recently become accustomed to. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubJun 9, 2016
The dialogue is so earnest that its lack of humor becomes a source of humor in itself. The acting is so primal that you’ll swear a porn sequence is about to break out. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 9, 2016
There are stretches of tedium in this lumpy and derivative mythology, to be sure. But there are also immersive IMAX 3-D backdrops, striking ambiguities and irresistible moments of straight-faced lunacy. The line between hack work and labor of love may be perilously thin, but you can sense the difference in the way Jones earnestly, wholeheartedly embraces the magic that powers this realm. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 9, 2016
Probably the best way to experience Warcraft, a generally amusing and sometimes visually arresting absurdity, is stoned. If watching the big screen through a cannabis cloud isn’t your idea of a good movie time, though, I suggest that you do what I did and just go with the incoherent flow. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithJun 9, 2016
No, Warcraft isn’t a ridiculous mess; it holds together on its own musclebound terms. It neither tries to be jokey nor undercuts itself by being unintentionally funny. And it offers a bit more complexity than some other nonstop action flicks adapted from video games. It’s a real movie, just not a good one. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJun 9, 2016
Proceed with caution to "Warcraft," but there is entertainment to be found here. It's certainly more absorbing than the lazily assembled "Alice Through the Looking Glass," because Jones' exertion and drive behind the film is palpable, if a bit sweaty. Read full review
50
The Film StageBrian RoanJun 9, 2016
In spite of these deficiencies — the narrative wildness, the static characters, the impenetrable lore — Warcraft is still not entirely a failure, most of all because of its charming, almost admirable level of goofy conviction. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRuss FischerMay 25, 2016
Warcraft may provide grand, thunderous spectacle as it transforms human actors into hulking Orcs, but when trying to perform the alchemy of transmuting genre archetypes into characters with soul, the magic fizzles out. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushBritt HayesJun 9, 2016
You may not particularly enjoy Warcraft, but you kind of have to admire the audacity of its existence. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelJun 9, 2016
It aims to match the mythic gravitas of “The Lord of the Rings” — even throwing in a nod to the Book of Exodus for good measure — and the results fall paint-by-numbers flat. Read full review
40
EmpireOlly RichardsMay 26, 2016
The ambition is laudible, but it's to little end. At once empty and impenetrable, this brings to mind a mix of John Carter and Dungeons And Dragons, regrettably in both themes and level of enjoyment. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonMay 26, 2016
The total absence of originality here is notable, but it needn’t have been a problem: with a tighter plot, a touch of humour and some peppier, less slab-fisted action scenes this might actually have worked – a kind of Guardians of the Galaxy meets Lord of the Rings. Read full review
40
The TelegraphHelen O'HaraMay 25, 2016
The pristine setting never meshes with Jones’s efforts to give emotional reality to his army of characters, who cannot escape their tropes: leader, hero, warrior woman, mystic. Read full review
40
The GuardianSteve RoseMay 25, 2016
Director Duncan Jones, a self-professed Warcraft fan, has clearly put a lot of love and care into fleshing out a story, but it’s questionable whether it was ever really merited. There’s a terminal flimsiness, as if this virtually-derived world hasn’t quite assumed three dimensions. Read full review
40
Screen DailyJohn HazeltonMay 24, 2016
The film takes a long time to build dramatic momentum and gets interrupted by what seem like unnecessary plot points; some of them, perhaps, geared towards potential sequels. Read full review
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