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
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorJun 9, 2016
The performances of Travis Fimmel, Toby Kebbell and Paula Patton as the warrior Lothar, the orc hero Durotan and the half-orc/half-woman Garona, all awakening to the evil forces around them, are meaty enough to hold attention. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 9, 2016
Warcraft wins by not trying to be the second coming of a 10-hour cinematic trip through Mordor with Hobbits and jewelry. Rather, it’s a simpler, yet still wholly entertaining tale of magic and larger-than-life soldiers in a battle for survival. Read full review
62
The VergeTasha RobinsonJun 9, 2016
It's a knock-down, drag-out fight between storytelling, franchise-making, and fan service, and some casualties were inevitable. But even a messy fight for nuance is better than an apathetic sell-out. Read full review
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
38
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJun 9, 2016
Just because you can come up with names such as Azeroth, Durotan, Orgrim, and Grommash Hellscream doesn't mean you're J.R.R. Tolkien, people. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTom RussoJun 9, 2016
There’s nary an honorable death that resonates, although we do get some creative visual perspectives on enthusiastically digitized brutality. But wasn’t the game good for that already? Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerJun 9, 2016
This loud, bombastic, often incoherent mishmash of magical-themed storytelling simply was not worth whatever effort went into it. While there are some acceptable action sequences, it’s the screenplay — complicated by some less than inspired performances — that dooms “Warcraft” at every point along the way. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJun 9, 2016
The Warcraft hardcore can rejoice. Everyone else can move along. There’s not much to see here. Read full review
33
ConsequenceBlake GobleJun 9, 2016
Jones slaves to make something of the material, and to his credit, or rather his profoundly large cast and crew’s credit, the craft is certainly visible in Warcraft. It feels rude not to compliment the hard work of the makeup, costume, production design, and visual effects teams. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 8, 2016
Definitively establishing that “state-of-the-art” and “chintzy” are not mutually exclusive qualities, Warcraft is a perplexing multiplex boondoggle: Rarely is so much time, money, and cutting-edge technology expended on a spectacle so devoid of wonder. Read full review
30
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlJun 9, 2016
In short, Warcraft is the most wearying kind of bad movie, a dull and sad one that's less engaging a watch than just seeing the studio's millions run bill by bill through a shredder for two hours. Read full review
30
New York Daily NewsEthan SacksJun 7, 2016
This is not "Lord of the Rings." It's barely "Dungeons & Dragons." Read full review
30
VarietyGeoff BerkshireMay 24, 2016
So good at making the most outlandish elements of his first two films seem completely credible, Jones can’t find a way to get this cartoony spectacle to soar. His heartfelt approach to the material only underlines the silliness. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 10, 2016
If you’ve loved the game, you might appreciate the visuals cooked up for this fantasy universe. I was bored out of my skull, pretty much start to finish, from the “Lord of the Rings” opening to the Old Testament/Moses Afloat finale. Read full review
25
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJun 9, 2016
Paula Patton, playing a half-orc, half-human female warrior, is the most sympathetic character and actually gives something approaching a fully fledged performance, but for the rest of it … ugliness as far as the eye can see. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 9, 2016
What's onscreen is a godawful mess, leaving the actors to suck wind while the film collapses around them. If you've never played the game, you might as well watch the movie stoned. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJun 8, 2016
It’s soulless, incoherent, Renaissance Faire hooey. And since the latest iteration of game series that inspired it, World of Warcraft, already peaked years ago, even the timing is off. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineJames LattimerMay 30, 2016
Watching this bloated mélange of derivative fantasy tropes unfold is akin to being forced to follow the efforts of a particularly ham-fisted gamer, with the viewer being jerked back and forth across countless busy CGI landscapes by a plot that's utterly predictable when it isn't confusing. Read full review
12
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJun 9, 2016
I’m also hoping that the game is more emotionally engaging — or at least, you know, fun — than the movie I just saw. Because that thing was a dour mess. Read full review
12
Washington PostStephanie MerryJun 9, 2016
It’s all so plodding and grim, echoed by the blandly percussive score by Ramin Djawadi. Read full review
10
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMay 24, 2016
Imagine “Battlefield Earth” without the verve and you get this sludgy, tedious fantasy adventure, a fun-starved dud that’s not even unintentionally hilarious. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJun 8, 2016
Longtime World of Warcraft players should and likely will storm the cineplex gates, burn the castle down, and salt the earth (and screenwriters) from whence this abomination sprung. Me, I’m going to chill out and download 1982’s top-notch "The Sword and the Sorcerer." Read full review
0
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJun 2, 2016
This is truly a depressing experience. It’s rare to feel such pity for a major studio movie, but watching Warcraft bend over backwards to set up a sequel is like watching a desperate paramedic apply CPR to someone who’s clearly been dead for hours. Read full review
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