Warcraft is Coming

The latest TV spot for Warcraft shows off new footage and a new character — Khadgar the mage played by Ben Schnetzer. 

You can watch it here.

The fantasy epic also stars Dominic Cooper as King Llane Wrynn, Travis Fimmel as Anduin Lothar and Ben Foster as Medivh. But, I’m most interested in talking about director Duncan Jones.

Jones, the son of recently deceased music legend David Bowie, has built a solid reputation as a director over the last few years with 2009’s Moon, his feature directorial debut, winning over both critics and sci-fi fans. Jones followed that up in 2011 with another high-minded sci-fi flick, Source Code, featuring Jake Gyllenhaal in a mind-bending thriller with a Groundhog’s Day twist. That was five years ago, and now Jones is coming back after a lengthy hiatus with what is sure to be a very different kind of film.

Something I admired about both Moon and Source Code was how neither one relied very heavily on computer generated effects — something rare for a sci-fi film, especially in this day and age. In comparison, Warcraft looks like a CG orgy. Perhaps it won’t age as well as Jones’ previous films, but it all comes down to story, which Jones is also responsible for with this film.

Given the chilly response to virtually every video game movie that’s come out in the last 25 years, and the bloated budget it must have taken to create the world of Warcraft (see what I did there?), Blizzard and Legendary Pictures must have a lot riding on Warcraft. The pressure isn’t lost on Jones, who said, “…the gauntlet was thrown down ages ago: Can you make a proper movie of a video game. I've always said it's possible. Got to do it now!”

I’m not a Warcraft player, and this sort of epic fantasy isn’t really my cup of tea, but I am a fan of Jones’ work. Here’s hoping he can finally break the video game movie curse and win over the fanboys.

Warcraft will debut June 10.