Warcraft: 8 Things It Actually Did Right
3. The Action Was Well Choreographed And Surprisingly Weighty
When it comes to fight sequences, CGI can be incredibly detrimental, throwing off the balance of everything and trivialising what's supposed to be epic and dramatic. There are countless examples of floaty, boring CGI action: just watch any of the Transformers films, or the Battle Of The Five Armies.
While not perfect, the action sequences in Warcraft are surprisingly fun to watch, containing a weight and heft rarely seen in computer generated effects. Okay, so Gul'dan's magic is totally guilty of being flimsy and cheesy-looking, but the actual orc-versus-orc and orc-versus-human combat is great. This is particularly highlighted during a bunch of the former's scenarios, when orcs grapple with other orcs.
As wild as CGI allows a film to be, the combat remains almost exclusively in the realms of swords and axes clashing against weapons, shields and armour. There's nothing akin to, say, Legolas hopping up falling rocks or characters falling dozens of feet over a cliff and remaining unscathed.
There is however, a pleasing logic to the action which is made all the more interesting by the fact that several relatively major character deaths throw everyone's safety into question. Speaking of which...