8 Films That Ended Too Soon

As engaging as the story of Durotan and his Orc tribe is, Warcraft can't get out of its own way. As the film tries to carry so many different story threads at once, its worldbuilding turns the film to one big bloated mess.

Instead of concentrating on the Orcs' pursuit of a new home, Warcraft tries its damnedest to also tell the story of the formation of the Alliance, the Guardian of Azeroth and the birth of Thrall.

It gets a bit dizzying at times and amounts to a big fat "oh" when the film concludes with nothing more than a big sword fight and then scurries along to show us baby Thrall in the reeds as sequel-bait.

With some extra time, Warcraft might've stood a chance to deliver at least some semblance of satisfying resolution to its multiple story strands instead of basically asking us to come back and find out next time. It would be easy to find that time if the film cut down on the number of winks and nods too, for example the appearance of Glenn Close's Alodi that outright stops the pacing and has no baring on the story at hand.

The gall that Warcraft has to set itself up for sequels without making sure the first entry could swim rather than sink is ultimately it's undoing.