Jun 30 2016 9 mins
Within the realm of “adaptationland”, a small suburb within hollywood, video games have been the underdog when we are talking about becoming a movie. Will this change as Duncan Jones, a young director with one of the most interesting carers around has his take on the field? To download the podcast about Warcraft, click here. For listenint, you can do it on the player below. You can suscribe to our podcast via iTunes clicking on this link. You can also listen or download it directly on your mobile phoneusing Player.fm , Spreaker or even Soundcloud. In case that you'd rather listen to it on my beautiful Spanish, leave your message on the comments section or at Facebook. Ah! and you can also find us at Stitcher, Tune In, Acast , Poddirectory or even iVoox. The end of the world is nigh. While the last survivors are preparing to start a mass exodus to a habitable planet, we get to know the story of Durotan (Toby Kebbell), one of the leaders who will be in the first group sent to begin the colonization of a new planet. His wife is expecting a child and this is more than enough motivation for Durotan to try and literally leave a better world for his son. The problem? The world into which they arrive is Azeroth, populated by small and fragile beings known as humans, which will serve as fuel to allow more Orcs (as Durotan) to cross the portal that separates their worlds and can save them from destruction. Warcraft (the movie) is based on the popular Blizzard game series, and it focuses on the first meeting between these worlds. It is a story set in a fantastic world, so there is no shortage of comparisons with movies like Lord of the Rings, but the way the story is handled is way different. While the game has inspired several novels, comics and various other games, it is based on the story of the first game: Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, but with an interesting twist. Instead of focusing on the typical story of good versus evil (evil usually being any character that doesn’t look like a human), it gives different shades and characterizations. The invaders that arrive to the kingdom of Azeroth are a violent horde, but that has to do with its social structure that reminds us of the barbarian invasions of Europe and the Viking themselves, and the participants do not necessarily seek conquest nor manipulation but rather survival. The final story is a mix between the basics of the game and a pair of novels, being Rise of the Horde and The Last Guardian what forms the main plot. While in video games you can make simplistic plot work and have hours and hours of entertainment, it is difficult to adapt this type of narrative to the big screen. Outside the Resident Evil films, there are a handful of adaptations that have been commercially successful and we tend to remember films like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat or Mario Bros where the simplistic story line does not evolve when it changes the medium. Warcraft as a project is more ambitious and this comes from the source, especially considering that Blizzard in the realm of videogames has always been known for having the best cinematics in their sagas, but that does not necessarily mean that besides the visual style they can be fulfilling. The development of this project directed by Duncan Jones (who previously gave us two brilliant films with Moon and Source Code) went through several stages before reaching the son of the late David Bowie. Uwe Boll originally contacted Blizzard to direct a film based on the game but was rejected because the company did not trust his directorial capabilities. Some time later it was confirmed that Sam Raimi would be the director, but left the project to create his version of Oz: the great and powerful. Finally Jones comes to the project, who after reviewing the script by Charles Leavitt makes changes to the story so it it’s less "we're the good guys and them, who hardly speak, are the bad o