michael-albertsen

This surprised me, I have to say.

It does start out a little slow - and since I've read the source material, I was wondering where they'd be taking this, since the way they handled the beginning seemed to exhaust possibilities for keeping it interesting over 10 episodes.

But they did something very different from the short story - and made it both unpredictable and compelling.

What I really appreciate is that it's not afraid of taking its time to build characters, and it doesn't rely on twists or the spectacle.

That said, when the story calls for horror and violence - it delivers and then some, but in a very precise and measured way.

Those elements are definitely present, but not in a cheap way. It's balanced with drama and human interaction. It makes the shocking nature of the action sequences much more effective.

It's also wonderfully cast - and while Adrien Brody starts off a little one-note, his deeply somber style and surprisingly strong nature starts to grow on you.

The supporting cast is also excellent. The children manage to not be annoying - which isn't always so easy to pull off.

I also particularly liked the ending, even if I'm not going to be surprised if most people don't. It's not the typical for-effect ending with tons of over-the-top action.

Instead, it's touching and extremely appropriate for the characters involved.

In short, this show is a slow burn - but it's most definitely worth it if you enjoy something slightly more subtle that does things in its own way - but which also respects its characters and doesn't change course just to shock and surprise.

Highly recommended.

I'm a gamer - and I've played all the Warcraft games. I never particularly cared for the stories in those games, though, so I didn't go into this with much in the way of preconceived notions.

Based on the trailer, I was expecting an underwhelming popcorn B-movie with bad CGI.

I was pleasantly surprised.

First of all, I have to say the CGI is absolutely gorgeous. I've seen a lot of movies, believe me, and this has to be one of the most convincing fantasy films in terms of visuals alone. The Orcs in particular - are amazing.

Anyway, in terms of the heart of the film - the story, characters and the acting - it's sort of a mixture of good and bad.

The story itself is simple but effective - and it makes enough sense to give you a reason to care. That said, it's very high-fantasy stuff - and I'm sure some people will be turned off by the emphasis on extravagant magic and such.

As for the acting, well, it's a mixed bag.

Ironically, the human characters face the most trouble here. Ben Foster as Medivh, for instance, doesn't seem to connect with his role. He looks and sounds as if he's struggling with the material - and as if he regrets being there. Travis Fimmel as Lothar is better, but he also seems to have a hard time just standing still and looking normal. It's as if he's constantly trying to emote something, which makes him over-act on more than one occasion. Paula Patton as Garona goes back and forth between powerful, genuine expression and cringe-worthy melodrama. Surprisingly, I found Ben Schnetzer the best and most convincing actor, playing Khadgar. He was fun and not at all the comic relief I expected him to be.

On the opposite side of the coin, we have the Orcs - and to put it simply, they're ALL great. They look incredible and the actors behind them give them real weight and pathos. Durotan, Gul'dan and Blackhand are particularly convincing and masterfully executed. The whole movie might well be better if it was all about these guys.

Now, for the action. It's amazingly well done. I saw the movie in 3D - and the live actors meshed convincingly with the animated models - and the action sequences were more or less perfect. I didn't detect a single "bad 3D" moment - which is extremely rare. Very exciting stuff, for sure.

Speaking of 3D - something I generally don't care much for, this was an exception. Everything jumped out of the screen at you - and it didn't seem tacked on at all. The spectacle felt appropriately close to you - and the striking background images were just fabulous on a grand scale.

Sadly, it's not all roses from there.

The ending was rushed - and everything wrapped up too quickly - and it didn't quite convince as a plausible series of events towards the end.

There's a pretty serious lack of character development in the beginning of the film. The Orcs invade - and the humans seem strangely laid-back and almost casual in their initial response. Things happen without enough build-up. It's 20 or 30 minutes too short for the scale of what's going on, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, there's also a somewhat unnecessary subplot involving the son of Lothar - and there's a problem with his acting and the age difference seems off. Lothar simply doesn't look or feel like a father to me. To make it worse, events related to father and son are too cliché and needed more impact.

Things like these mean the movie isn't all it could have been.

However, the critics are flat-out unfair - and if you're into fantasy movies and a touching spectacle, you need to go see this in the theater, and for once, you should go with 3D.

I truly hope it will do enough business to warrant a sequel. Duncan Jones did well here, but he can do even better - and I'd love to see full justice done to the material.

I'm one of those people that don't enjoy overt manipulation - and I prefer a balanced approach when it comes to portraying characters and I need a plausible setup, before I can invest myself in what happens on screen.

I do enjoy experiencing something significant and then being allowed to think for myself, when reflecting upon what I've been exposed to. In this case, it's a TV series that certainly could have been significant, even profound.

Sadly, the only profound thing about it is how blatant it is in its absurd treatment of human beings and supposedly historical events involving these cartoon characters.

The budget is huge for a Danish production, and the good news is that it shows. It's remarkably well-crafted in terms of aesthetics. It looks and sounds fantastic - and you can clearly see where Bornedal excels in that way.

He's an excellent director when it comes to setting up a scene or how to create an emotionally powerful moment, using slow motion and the appropriate music. He's also capable of extracting a lot of raw feeling from his actors. In fact, he must be so good at this, that they forget how to turn it off again, and to behave like plausible people.

As such, the problem is that he doesn't seem to understand the economy of emotions and the impact they can have if handled with less spelling them out, and more letting them build over time without even talking about them.

This was evident in "I am Dina" - and it's even more evident now, considering the change in material, which should have been treated with more subtlety.

You DO NOT evoke a more powerful response through oversaturation. Instead, you evoke fatigue. Real human beings don't emote with such power with every sentence they speak - and we don't actually spout commanding exposition for each moment that passes by.

Sometimes, less really IS more - and you don't have to use a sledgehammer to make pain clear to the audience.

Personally, I don't understand why you'd take on a historically significant event such as this war - if you're not going to treat the people involved with respect. If you're going to talk about something that actually happened, then please start out by understanding something about human nature when depicting the key people involved.

People don't reside in little boxes called "good" and "evil". We're a bit more complex than that.

Monrad being borderline retarded, crawling around naked on the floor - and his "muse" being this completely powermad evil witch hypnotizing him into submission is a bit much, no? As far as I know, there's absolutely nothing in history about Heiberg to suggest she was anything like that. If you want a character to serve your cartoon version of reality - at least use a fictional person.

So, how about taking a deep breath and attempt a bit of slight subtlety next time. It might actually work better. Did we really need to see theater-blood on his hands when war had been declared? Are we THAT incapable of seeing what's going on, Bornedal?

Didrich? Is there a single moment in the series where his eyes aren't flooded with tears of pain - and does he ever cast a look at another person that isn't full of burning jealousy and hatred?

Treating your audience with that kind of hand-holding simply isn't necessary.

The less said about telepathic lover communication and hypnotic veteran soldiers, the better.

As for the actual historical events, I can't speak about them in a very informed way. I simply don't know enough about this war. I can only hope they've researched them a bit more than they've researched real human beings.

But since the people involved clearly aren't being depicted as real people - I have to wonder how much of the events being shown is useful in terms of relaying historical fact.

But then again, this is just entertainment right? It's the American standard of using real history as "inspiration" and that's good enough, right?

Wrong. Not to me, anyway.

If you use a real event this important, please treat it with some respect for the facts.

Otherwise, make something up and be clear about wanting to entertain rather than inform. As in, don't make it about a real war and pretend that the people involved are all caricatures from a fairy tale.

Unfortunately, even as entertainment, this wouldn't work as anything but a farcical display of near-constant extreme human behavior.

If you're a very young person looking to be told how to feel and to be grossly misinformed about human behavior, it's not bad - I guess. It's like a roller-coaster of emotional peaks and valleys if you can turn off your brain.

It's clear that Bornedal is in complete denial-mode after the massive criticism this show has received on a national scale, and I can sympathise with him. But, as harsh as it might seem, there's a really good reason it hasn't been received very well.

If you're an adult looking for something relevant to real life, steer clear.