King Llane Wrynn agrees to meet the Orc Chieftain Durotan, knowing full well that it might be an ambush.  The king knows that this is his only option left in trying to defend his kingdom from the horde orc attack that will wipe out all of his people.  The King and his men, including Garona the Orc that orchestrated this meeting head out to meet Chieftain Durotan, unfortunately, the decided location is a perfect place for an ambush.  King Wrynn and Chieftain Durotan stand face to face negotiating a peace treaty.  You can see that both sides are nervous of an ambush, but their putting their faith in truth and loyalty.  The Orc that has the most to lose is Garona, who gained the trust of King Wrynn and set up this meeting.  The atmosphere is tense.  Chieftain Durotan decides to send one of his men to check for an ambush.  The scent of traitor is everywhere, as one of the enemy Orc’s appears hidden under the earth.  Slowly Orc’s all over appear and attack both, the King’s men and Chieftain Durotan’s clan.

The film, Warcraft: The Beginning, is directed by Duncan Jones and stars, Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster and Dominic Cooper.  Released in June of 2016 this film is now on DVD to rent and own.  It’s 123 minutes, and falls under the categories of Action, Adventure and Fantasy.  The film was budgeted at $160 million, produced by Atlas, Legendary and Blizzard Entertainment; shot on an Arri Alexa in digital format on location in Canada.  The film follows the video game World of Warcraft.  After having destroyed their own world, the Orcs build a portal to the world of Azeroth, where they meet the humans, to take over their world.   As of date, the film has grossed $433 million.

The film does an incredible job introducing us to the story, based on the video game, of how the Orc’s meet the human’s.  On the planet Draenor, Gul’dan (Daniel Wu), the leader of the Orc world uses a dark magic, called the Fern, to rule.  He builds a huge portal to move the Orc Horde from the world they have destroyed to a new one.  They are invited to the world of Azeroth and Gul’dan sends an army to defeat the humans, capture them, then use the Fern to bring the Horde through the portal.  One of the Chieftains, Durotan of the Frostwolf clan, begins to see how the Fern had destroyed their world, and will inevitably destroy the new world they are moving too.  This realization inspires him to meet with the human king to make an alliance in order to take down Gul’dan.  Gul’dan catches wind of this plan and wipes out the Frostwolf clan.  The humans have no choice but to attack the Orcs before completing the portal, that will bring through the Horde.

This film was an amazing mix of The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Star Wars.  At times it even looked like they might have used the same sets used in The Lord of the Rings, but the story takes on a life of its own.  You have the epic battle of Good vs. Bad, which echo’s Star Wars, “The Force.”  The special effects and animations are way above par.  Director Jones takes us into this story and traps us there.  The experience is amazing with the main plot, then several subplots that really contribute to the experience as well as the story.  We have the relationship between Anduin (Travis Fimmel) and Garona (Paula Patton), human and orc, that develops, along with the twist of fate that pull them apart.  You can really feel for the characters, their motivations and their desire for a code of honor.

This is a great film for SciFi fans and as well as anyone that like to follow a good story.  The film is now available on DVD and for rent.  I would have loved to watch this film on the big screen!