So, after watching the Ultramarines movie, what's your rating (out of 4 stars)?
Feel free to post your opinions as to why you gave your rating below, but please use the 'spoiler' tags if you're posting any information about the plot of the movie!
I felt that the people that did it, really had never read the fluff in depth. It was like they read an overview of the game, did a wiki look up to get info on the game specificis. All the stuff in the begining about how the "Apothecary" kept talking about
"This is your first time going into battle as Ultramarines."
Uhh... no. They are full battle brothers which meant they would have spent time as scouts, and seen alot of combat before becoming full battle brothers, so it was a total fail on that plot device.
The Ultramarines also walked around without any sense of "Tactical" purpose. No stealth, no cover... they walked about like they were going for a snow cone. Not like an elite fighting unit.
Although the voice acting was well done, the graphics were as good as late 90's cutscenes in video games, and it spent alot of time simply showing the squad walking around. Sweeping panoramic overhead views of people walking? Sorry Peter Jackson, you are NOT!
I approached this movie with what I'll call "realistic expectations." I knew I wasn't getting Pixar graphics or even something as flashy as the DoW intro cinematic. I knew that the script wasn't going to be any better than a BL novel and expected it would be substantially worse since (to my knowledge) Abnett had never written a script before. Finally, I knew that there would be fluff inconsistencies because . . . well, because there is no part of the 40k IP that is not rife with inconsistencies! After watching it, I found that I didn't mind the lackluster graphics half as much as I thought I would, the story held together well enough to get in the "must see" scenes I had been wishing they'd do, and the overwhelming feeling that this movie was indeed a part of 40k instead of some hollow imitation made the fluff problems seem insignificant.
In other words, this movie exceeded my expectations and completely avoided what I thought was going to be its ultimate downfall: not feeling authentic. Furthermore, it's made me very hopeful about whatever might come out of Codex Pictures next. I will definitely be a repeat customer. So when I give this movie 3 1/2 stars, it's not on an absolute scale. Rather, it's scaled to what I was hoping for against what I got. The missing 1/2 star therefore signifies my only disappointment: I suppose so much time was invested in getting the Space Marines right that the studio didn't have a lot left over to invest in getting the antagonists quite right. Even so, the main villain is pretty convincing so I couldn't justify subtracting an entire star on this count.
My bottom line: fans will not only be entertained; they will get the sense that this movie was truly made especially for them. That sort of line is wearing pretty thin these days, what with so many Hollywood adaptions of comic and game properties. But in this case, it's 100% accurate to say that the production was aimed squarely at the fanbase. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this kind of sincerity but I know you'll understand it once you see the movie yourself.
Well, I had only small expectations but I was thoroughly disappointed. It was basically a few cliche fantasy/scifi scenes taken from other films, crammed into one little mission that still managed to seem 'long'.
Spoiler:
The new 'un-tested' recruit getting command? ...is this some rogue chapter or the Ultramarines?
The comic book that came along with it was better than the movie.
The animation is smoother on the Dawn of War trailers and interludes than in this movie... it looked worse than I expected it would. I knew the theme and story would likely be crap, but I expected the animation to be better.
Well total thumbs down from me, and I'll read any piece of crap that takes place in the 40k universe and usually enjoy it.
Save your money and rent Starship Troopers and/or Aliens.
I started a blog here http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/334402.page . I am sort ongoying the movie more after I watched it, due to the hobby scope. At my blog I have a tutorial on how to paint an ultramarine, but in the blue colour seen in the film!
I gave it 4 stars, Watched it late last night for the first time and was pleasently supprised. from all the reviews I'd heard I was expecting it to be complete rubbish but throughly enjoyed it. Sure the animation wasn't the same quality as say Avatar was, but what do you expect?!
Why the thunderhawk couldnt have dropped them closer I dont understand. But any film that ends with a Daemon Prince taking a thunderhammer to the face is good in my eyes
I gave it two stars, and in the discussion following Yakface's review of the movie I give my in-depth reasons why, with spoilers so I won't reproduce it here.
3 1/2 stars. Yeah the graphics weren't stunning, but what do you expec with a nine mil budget? Graphics aren' everything and actually were better than I had expected with tha budget. he acting was prety good and he plot was satisfacory. It was by no means a perfect movie, but it was still pretty good.
2 Stars
I saw the movie last Saturday and it failed to live up to even the minimal expectations I had of the movie. I didn't have to purchase it since it was borrowed from a friend of a friend. The story was okay but the animation was of a much lower quality than expected. Personally I didn't think it was worth the asking price of the box.
Draglide12 wrote:3 1/2 stars . . . the acting was prety good
Yeah, I totally forgot to mention how great the voicecast was--probably because this was one of the few things I expected to be good before seeing the film. Poor voiceacting (as per DoW) could have truly ruined this but I don't think anyone can really complain about this aspect of Ultramarines.
It's kind of sad that more people have responded to this thread with "haven't seen the movie/what's an Ultramrine" than otherwise. I hope most of you guys haven't seen it because it's a Christmas present (and if this is the case, why not wait to see the film before responding to the poll?).
I think this poll would have been more useful if it did not include the "I haven't seen it" category. How about just getting opinions from people who have actually seen the movie?
I tend to agree, Brass Scoprion. Except then people would clog up the thread with "poll is unrepresentative" and "I guess I can't vote because I haven't seen it."
The movie was what I expected. After watching the trailers, you couldnt help but expect a low quaility film. However, it was well worth the wait, having never seen a movie about the 40k universe...ever.
I felt like the cgi SM were put on a blue screen background (think of the SyFy show Sanctuary), the scenery was lacking a bit. The SM however looked fantastic, lots of good detail and they had an archaic tech look about them. Voice acting was very good, the script was good as well as the dialogue between the different characters. I say its a good start, probably a good start for newcomers, gives them an initial feel for the universe as a "starter" movie.
Overall the story was good,but the cg was lacking,I know it's not mega budget,but some of it really just looked unfinished.
Another small complaint is the captain of the 2nd,he was so under-equipt. Sicarius has artificier armour,a power sword and plasma pistol. That guy Severus only had a chainsword,I mean really? He's a captain,doesn't he have full access to the armoury? That and why would a book given to Dorn by the Emperor have a fanged skull on it. That was in the time of the Imperial Truth.
half star. Really, really poor movie. I can't see it making anyone not familiar with the setting eager to learn anything more about it.
It's the worst "movie" I can remember seeing in quite some time.
I am baffled at people giving it 3 and 4 stars, then I just remember that gak like the Transformer movies do gangbusters business at the box office and I weep for humanity.
I gave it 2 and a half. I felt it was pretty well done - the CG wasn't bad (wasn't too good either, but it wasn't bad) the story was decent, and the voice acting was excellent. I loved hearing John Hurt as Carnak, especially. That said, you can tell they really didn't read into the fluff or books at all - the wholly powerful weapon was a chainsword (which even the lowliest of Space Wolves gets as default), Bolters ripped through power armor like it wasn't there, and apparently the chaplain's Crozius has the power to stop time and kill whatever it hits in a psychic blast.
I liked it. It was unabashedly for the fans. The CGI was not as good as it could have been, but it was occasionally better then I expected.
The plot was sorta meh, but not terrible. Although I appreciate as a fan they didn't spend any time explaining who the emperor was or what the warp is, I definitely would have liked to have seen some more character development on both sides. It does seem odd that a marine right from the scout squad, would be promoted on the very first mission as a tactical marine.
The voice acting was much better then I expected.
Spoiler:
And what the hell was that thing the chaplain did, with the lightning shooting? Did they get him confused with a librarian, or what?
Other than that I enjoyed the voices, the uncanny valley was kept at bay with the helmets and it kept the enemy a guess until they actually showed.
Spoiler:
There was the nid mural on the ship, the 'nothing on auspex' potenial of eldar combined with the too fast to see blurs and then bang chaos is the winner.
Rofl... where do people see it exactly? i would assume there is a link on the site... as I am almost certain that is ISN'T in theaters (but thats just because I doubt it would be)
I gave it 3. Exceeded expectations and it's nice to have confirmed that the Emperor's finest are British!
I like the understated way the superhuman attributes of the marines were hinted at - the casual 20' leaps across the ruined bridge were a good example.
I forced myself to watch it a second time... and I now truly believe it is a total piece of crap and that people, well just like crap.
It's wrong on so many levels. Yeah the budget was not huge but the CGI was really bottom of the barrel. This movie was obviously intended only for fans - yet knowing their audience they still manage to screw up so many 40k universe specifics.
The elderly faces really bothered me from the start, even with the novices.
Spoiler:
Novice space marines? a) never been in combat? wha...? b) managed to pin a space marine captain? c) was given command!?!? ...of the Ultramarines?!? d) what the heck were they doing out in space by themselves anyway? e) the chaplain recommends getting to higher ground, but the 'novice' knows better and advises them otherwise, and everyone goes along with it.
Spoiler:
The apothecary was such a wuss for most of it.
The plot made very little sense and was just a poor medley of cliche fantasy/scifi moments.
Spoiler:
The 'magic' crozius was really annoying as well... I hope GW does not eventually make in-game rules to represent them.
I really can't believe Dan Abnett was involved in this... I would expect a movie script from Swallow perhaps.
I didn't think the CGI was that bad. The marines look really awkward while holding bolters, but seriously: 1) marines are anatomically fugly 2) bolters are ridiculously unwieldy. I think they did a very good job for what they had.
HUGE PET PEEVE: i think someone (maybe yakface) mentioned it before, but a bolt is like a mini missile, not a bullet. Also, a single bolt will most likely not penetrate marine armor (AP5 vs 3+ lol). I really wanted to see a protracted firefight, with chunks being gouged by hits and the eventual pulping of the gooey parts inside. Unfortunately, the only marine who didn't die from a single bolter shot got blown up by his flamer (which incidently did more damage than a battlecannon shell :/)
I think the story was pretty bad. Examples:
Spoiler:
1: why does a strike cruiser have 1 (just ONE!?) tactical squad?
2: why is a captain with a bunch of fresh neophytes?
3: If an ENTIRE COMPANY of imperial fists just got pwnt (along with what looks like PDFs), shouldn't you be somewhere else?
4: seriously. there are only 12 marines on an entire strike cruiser? can't get over that.
However, nerd raging aside, there were some definite high points. Any of the CC (except with the DP) looked really good. The marines superhuman abilities were reasonable, and someone finally got the rate of fire of a bolter right (huzzah!).
EDIT: the chaplain's helmet was awesome.
All in all: plot bad, acting great, animation good (considering), and effort acceptable.
Gave it a 3 not paying attention thought it was out of 5. It was all right...... But the whole Crosius thing the squad raping so hard and the complete lack of fluff did hurt the movie. Plus formentioned points...
Spoiler:
BTW the squad were noobs cuz if you read the back story the rest of the chapter is getting raped by tyranids and this is all they can afford which still doesn't make up for the ridicoulousness of some stuff that happens but still, Also WTF with them raping the CSMs so hard those are 10000 year old soilders and the vets of 1000 wars and 1 shot kills them without the SMs blinking.
I'd expect the animation for DoW to be smoother.
The animation for DoW2 intro cost more than the ENTIRE budget of this fillum, and was done by a company that specialise in making CG cutscenes.
I'll see it when my clubmate gets his copy delivered (I'm not anywhere near enough a marine fanboy to want to buy my own copy - I'd rather buy more gaming stuff with the money.)
chromedog wrote:I'll see it when my clubmate gets his copy delivered (I'm not anywhere near enough a marine fanboy to want to buy my own copy - I'd rather buy more gaming stuff with the money.)
Come now. Wanting to own the first 40k movie ever doesn't make you a marine fanboy.
"This is your first time going into battle as Ultramarines."
Uhh... no. They are full battle brothers which meant they would have spent time as scouts, and seen alot of combat before becoming full battle brothers, so it was a total fail on that plot device.
I saw that in the trailer. I assumed it meant full Ultramarines, as in having completed their time as a Scout? Or is that not how it goes during the film?
If it is indeed the case, then Space Wolves woulda been better for it.
I'm hoping to get it for xmas, because the Trailer looks like it'll be a good movie to have for 40k fans, anyway. It seems to be getting a wide selection of reviews though, so I'll judge it for myself and give it a rating.
i liked it . for what it was it was it was good . they didn't sell the IP out . also you have to remember the fluff doesn't really work well , in a movie . movies need to have people dying and fast pace action . the fluff doesn't really make sense at all . its cool but it doesn't make sense . for instance the new marines in the movie are complaining about not seeing any action . sure ...you don't think the've seen enough action proving them selves as scouts in the chapter . before becoming a full fledge marine ? put you cant explain everything like that in an hour and ten min movie . over all i liked it more pros then cons its they first hopefully in many . remember books and movies are two differnt things .
I thought that the movie was actually very good. It was a whole lot better than I had expected. The graphics were pretty good and the plot was pretty stable in my opinion. I hope they come out with another movie soon!
Put it this way, it wasnt in the cinema, and I just know its going to be to naf and crap to buy on dvd, so unless I watch it illegally, ill not see it.
I saw the movie last night... just like the fan-made movie DAMNATUS... worth to watch one, then forget forever. The more you think about it, the worse it gets. I gave it 1- 1/2 star. The lack of attention to details was pathetic. Watch it once... wish for something better. If this is GW's trend to make this movies, they better stop. If their intention is to improve on this giant turd... then it will be great! Bring in THE WAR.
Spoiler:
My issue with the movie is that there is no respect for the 'nature' of 40k. They 'claim' the Space Marines are bad ass, but we are presented with 9 'novices', a Sergeant and Apothecary and a Captain in the WHOLE Strike Cruiser. The vessel is a HUGE scale as they are supposed to be (good), but it is incredibly desolate (bad). To give you a perspective, you could put 9 Thunderhawks (in a rectangle) on one of the hangar bays... but besides the 12 Space Marines, there are only 3 Servitors seen on the whole ship. As described on the 40k Lore, the Strike Cruiser have thousands (if not tens of thousands) of people, all Serving the Chapters in many capacities (from mindless Servitors and Cherubs to Mechanicus). They needed to convey the true amount of man-power, to establish the sense of true Space Marine power. Without anyone else to compare, the SM look nothing more that 'tough' men in power armor. If they had showed a minor scene of Space Marines battling along Imperial Guard (yes... saving their asses!) the viewer would have understood that the SM are 10' tall and that a 'rookie' is worth 100 human veterans.
Every Space Marine looks like a clone of each other... the minor variances are on the 'age' of the character. I could understand the Apothecary looking like Mumm-Ra, The Ever Living... that is cool. But everyone? Again, no respect to the intent of the Lore. The 'novices' (YES... they called them novices!) seem childish and over-eager... claiming never to seen combat. WHAT THE feth!?!?! No references of spending over 10 years as Scouts. Again, they are reduced to 'normal' soldiers.
The mission is to send this Squad to rescue a relic. WTF?!?! You don't send a Squad to rescue a relic... you send a whole Company. They try to explain why... they are the only ones around. Agggghhhh... the sense of scale hit me again. That HUGE ship and there are only 15 guys? :confused: They go to the planet... in a Thunderhawk. A THUNDERHAWK!?! The sense of scale... again. Send them in a Drop Pod. Ohhh... the possible zone is under a Warp Storm (WTF?!?!) and there is the Landspeeder. OK... Where is the Rhino? Why would not the Thunderhawk fly over the fortress and give air support while the Drop Pod lands? They reduced the mighty Thuderhawk to a school bus. :puke:
So, the Space Marines walk to the fortress (AGGHHH!) while the Landspeeder scouts ahead. The pilots meet an idiotic end... sniped?! In the middle of a wooden bridge? AGGGHHHHH!!! The enemy is introduced... Chaos Space Marines. OK... I bite. I see how the Squad is fighting the 'ambush' by 3 or 4 Chaos Space Marines. One Space Marine dies (that is a total of 3 SM dead now) with ONE shot. :confused: Lame, lame, LAME!!! They reduced the mighty armor to a cloth. We have now established that 3 or 4 CSM can take 3 SM out of 12. Remember that.
They keep moving in the fortress... WALKING... across dingy wooden bridges, jumping gaps and climbing stairs. Sure... apparently nobody was tough how to drive a Landspeeder. The guy with the flamer kept firing the Flamer in short bursts for light. WHAT? Stupid. Inside, another kill (head-shot) through the Helmet (which they CONSTANTLY take off!) Now they face a Daemon Prince... who gets defeated by the Captain pushing it out of a window (he goes down with him.) WHAT?!? Favorite line... "Take the Chainsword!!!" Like it was a sacred relic. At this point... I don't give a rat's butthole anymore.
They find survivors... a pair of Imperial Fists, a 'novice' and a Chaplain. The Chap's helmet was AWESOME! Reminded me of a decorative Mexican Sugar Skull, made in silver. Intricate little designs, very good. The 'novice' is in charge of guarding the relic. WTF?! He is super trigger happy... pointing his Bolter to anyone that tries to touch the Relic (it is a book... a CODEX!) OK... fine, he is a fanatical, obsessed guardian, incapable of trusting anyone. OK. Remember that.
They move out, and they are 'ambushed' by... ~ 30 Chaos Space Marines. WHAT?!? They kill (with one shot each) Traitor by Traitor... wave after wave. The Chaplain uses the Rozarious to 'fry' to a crisp 5 CSM. No sense of scale!!! The Captain returns from the dead... to save the SMs asses. Uhhh... they were winning. Anyway, it was a nice fight... him running like a mad-man killing CSM with his sword... which he throws at someone for the classic "throw a sword, gain a kill" move. "Captain, take it!" and they throw him the 'holy' Chainsword. AGGGHHH! The Space Marines scream 'inspired' by the Capatain. They 'survive' when the Thunderhawk returns and lays down the power... so the Squad walks back to get inside the Thunderhawk. WALK?!?!
They return to the Strike Cruiser and still as empty as always. They are going to 'immediately return to Macragge'... AGHHHH!!!! The sense of scale... now, traveling to deep end of the galaxy's takes a hour. :puke: The 'novice' hero feels the Chaplain is tainted and him, another 'novice' and the Captain go to confront him. WHAT?!?! Where is the Ultramarine's Chaplain? OK, they go there and the Imperial Fist 'novice' threatens to kill the Captain who is about to grab the relic. Moronic. He puts the guy on its place. They reveal that they think the Chaplain is tainted. WHAT???? Only 3 SMs? Bring everyone one... you are in a Strike Cruiser... time to make some exercise; bring the Terminators and Dreadnaughts. No... instead those three are able to talk down to the Chaplain AND kill him with one shot before he got a hold of his Rozarious, which BTW was sitting pretty at the table. Then is revealed that the Captain WAS the Daemon Prince in disguise and the relic is a cook-book to open a Warp Gate.
The Imperial Fist Marine, suddenly becomes everyone's best friend and THREE Space Marines go to stop the Daemon. Get serious... at this point, we should sound the alarm and even the Servitors would come to kick ass. The Daemon Prince kills the Imperial Fist and 'knocks down' an Ultramarine. The 'novice' hero (Proetus... I remember his name now) is being bitch-slapped and put in on a summoning circle, as the Daemon Prince plans to 'change skin'. He escapes as the sleeping Space Marine distracts the Daemon. Proetus grabs the Warhammer (THE Warhammer, relic of the Ultramarines) and kills the Daemon with 3 swings... which BTW are so telegraphed that a 3 year old baby could have dodged them.
Now the 'novice' seems to be the new man in charge. BARF.
WHAT?!?! Watch it... waste 2 hours of your existence.
2 1/2 stars, the animation was what the trailers had led me to expect it got the job done but failed to wow me, the story was slightly goofy but I was not expecting anything else, the voice acting was very good and there was no dialogue that made me cringe.
1/2 star from me. Ultramarines is a bad movie,point blank. The script is awful,and has numerous glaring plot holes. The Ultramarines are in no way represented as the Angels of Death they are suppossed to be. The animation is subpar. I refuse to curb that rating up just because I like the property it's based on and I have lowered expectations because of a small budget. This movie is nowhere even close to being as good as the asking price for it is. Ultramarines is pretty much the animated equivalent of Uwe Boll getting the rights to do a 40k movie. The result is godawful,but some people will buy and/or defend it because they enjoy the property the movie is based on.
Just finished watching it. In my opinion, I give it a three star rating.
Everything about it was about average. Animation, script, acting, all about average. But what can you expect from a small budget?
I admit, the movie did take the fluff and rip it in two in MANY places. However, people have to realize that it's their first 40k movie. Also, movies never get it 100% right with the books. Sometimes they completely kill the books, sometimes they follow it almost spot on. Ultramarines is no different.
For a first 40k movie attempt, it was a good try. It kept me entertained, and I was happy that they finally made the movie. Can there be improvements? Heck yes. But was it entertaining? Yes.
Three stars from me for a decent first attempt. Hopefully, if and when they make the next 40k movie, they will have a larger budget and follow the fluff more.
I'm appalled that people are giving it "half a star" and saying it was utter crap. On the budget they had, I actually thought the graphics were great- if people were expecting DOW intro/avatar graphics they need to shake themselves awake. For the budget they had and the narrow audience they were catering to I think it was excellent. There were only a couple moments that it really took me out of the feel of it- I thought it was just fine and didn't subtract at all from the movie. Naturally if it were better the whole movie would be better, but I don't think it was too bad. The voice acting made up for it I think. THAT could have ruined it.
The plot was fine I thought- although there were a LOT of inconsistencies and I can understand where people get upset by that.
Spoiler:
I was expecting the chaplain to go medieval on the CMs in an awesome Matrix-esque fight scene, but instead... merr...
Why was there only a single, NEW tac squad on the whole ship? And why are they alone investigating?
Bolt pistols blasting through power armor and a chainsword doing more damage than a powersword?
etc.
However, as for
Spoiler:
the scout becoming the captain that was (well, to me) OBVIOUSLY a flash forward to much, much later. Even within the movie it would make no sense for him to be promoted to captain that quickly.. The relic's housing was fixed too if more proof is needed.
And when they kept saying "your first time in combat as ultramarines" I took that to mean as tac marines- I didn't think that was weird for them to say.
All together though I think we have to keep in mind this was just the first try. For the budget and without any precedent, I thought it was excellent. It wasn't HARDCORE STRICT TO THE CANON, but there's already a lot of conflicting fluff. That's no excuse, but I feel like I can look past it for the first movie. All in all, a lot the problems that were there (small character list, the way fights were) I felt like could be explained by a low budget or a need to keep the action up.
That being said, they just better get it right next time For a first try I started to give it a 3, but... the chaplain's AWESOME helm bumped it up to 3.5 / 4 stars
OoieGoie wrote:Well, if you bought a copy, hopefully you will be part of many that will help them make another and better movie next time eh?
eh?
Be positive. And watch out with those spoilers. Now I know who (what) the big evil boss is.
There should never have been a thread asking for reviews in the first place that didn't allow for spoilers. It's nearly impossible to give a meaningful review without spoilers for any movie. I know if I want to see a movie, I go to rotten tomatoes first and look at the score. If I look at the reviews, I know perfectly well there will likely be plot spoilers in there.
I think the onus is solely on the reader to avoid threads of movie reviews if they don't want to know what the plot is about.
I give it somewhere between 1.5 and 2 stars - My quibbles are:
1. The dialogue was decidedly woeful in spots and needed a much better thought out set of lines. I couldn't get over some of the lame lines in it, seriously.
2. The voice acting, combined with some of the worst lines I have heard, was woeful. Terrence Stamp did a second rate job at best, Sean Pertwee was ok and a bit more animated and John Hurt seemed only half interested.
3. Some of the graphic presentations were rushed - check when the Speeder debarks, it's sensor comes out of the terrain!
4. The storyline was almost the same as anything else I've seen done in 40k with the same protagonists, the same enemies and the same sequence of events. The only thing really new was the role of the Daemon in the movie.
5. The music was dreary, half appropriate and did not help the atmosphere of the movie. If the soundtrack was more interesting then perhaps this would have lifted the overall effect.
I don't really care about the points people make about the fluff - because to be honest, if they use what they know and what they use to good effect, as far as I am concerned, as long as you are keeping close to the source then fine! But if you aren't going to make a full effort at least in the story, dialogue and voice acting, then you've lost from the beginning.
Out of all my critique of this movie, I think the one thing that would have saved it is if the voice acting was a done with a bit more gusto and the lines were reworked. These would have brought it up to a 2.5-3 for me. I am still haunted by the half-arsed flippant manner in which Stamp mutters his line at the beginning; "You must be steel, you must be doom."
Lemmingspawn wrote:I give it somewhere between 1.5 and 2 stars - My quibbles are:
1. The dialogue was decidedly woeful in spots and needed a much better thought out set of lines. I couldn't get over some of the lame lines in it, seriously.
2. The voice acting, combined with some of the worst lines I have heard, was woeful. Terrence Stamp did a second rate job at best, Sean Pertwee was ok and a bit more animated and John Hurt seemed only half interested.
3. Some of the graphic presentations were rushed - check when the Speeder debarks, it's sensor comes out of the terrain!
4. The storyline was almost the same as anything else I've seen done in 40k with the same protagonists, the same enemies and the same sequence of events. The only thing really new was the role of the Daemon in the movie.
5. The music was dreary, half appropriate and did not help the atmosphere of the movie. If the soundtrack was more interesting then perhaps this would have lifted the overall effect.
I don't really care about the points people make about the fluff - because to be honest, if they use what they know and what they use to good effect, as far as I am concerned, as long as you are keeping close to the source then fine! But if you aren't going to make a full effort at least in the story, dialogue and voice acting, then you've lost from the beginning.
Out of all my critique of this movie, I think the one thing that would have saved it is if the voice acting was a done with a bit more gusto and the lines were reworked. These would have brought it up to a 2.5-3 for me. I am still haunted by the half-arsed flippant manner in which Stamp mutters his line at the beginning; "You must be steel, you must be doom."
You talk as if you expect the marines to shout and scream all the time.
Why?
They are battle hardened space marines that know no fear (Although they just control it very well).
It makes perfect sense for them to talk slowly and calmly. It makes sense they could get the message across to the lower ranked marines without yelling.
No, that's not what I expect. But I do expect something a bit more emotive or expressive. Yes I understand what you are getting at but listen to an army drill sergeant? No matter how hardened a veteran they are, they don't exactly drawl expressionlessly at their charges like Mr Stamp has here.
Watch Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge, that is a great example.
But aren't they indoctrinated to very strictly follow a quite repressive religion and as space marines of the ultramarine chapter they are expected to remove all unnecessary emotion as to make them more effective in war. I realize this inst the case with all chapters (i.e space wolfs) but aren't the ultramarines one of the strictest followers of the codex astartes?
Although i agree the voice acting was a bit disenheartened at times.
I finally saw it. I was... underwhelmed. The plot was somewhat predictable, and, as a trained CGI artist, I had a hard time not noticing the poor quality of the animation.
Watched it this morning and held my judgement until I'd watched it, and I was pleasantly suprised, again i'll go over old ground and say the animation wasn't the best but i only found it was a bit stilted and didn't flow well only with the actual marines and facial close ups, i really enjoyed the actual cinematics and background textures, the feel of the battle barge and the scenes inside the ship and the outposts on the planet, I thought thay were good and helped pull the movie through some of the poorer animation, I also quite liked the graphic nature of the battle scenes, at least they didn't pg a movie that needs to feel that gritty, i wasn't absolutely blown away by it as a whole but as a follower of GW for 15 years i'm glad to actually see something come to fruition, if they do another one i'll be only too happy to see them get better and better as they progress so i'll be buying a copy to help them give us what we want.
Animation was so-so, even a little better than I have expected after seeing the trailers. Money is money, dont have it? Cant use it...
Script was so-so. You cannot expect deep story in 80 minutes, also its NOT a documentary sequel so I do really wonder which films biggest fluff whiners here like anyway.... Scooby - Doo?
Overall solid, but it seems everyone just cant get over few moments in the film. I for example really hated little nuclear explosion caused by flamer chamber, indestructible wooden planks and :pew: :pew: pew: headshotheadshotheadshotIneverrunofamunition bolt pistol.
And yes lack of melee action from Chaplain was saddening - I gues they did not want to animate effect of power weapons on their armour?
Also argument that "throw me chainsword sux" is backed by what? Because gamewise fork and chainsword are both close-combat weapons with same effectivity does not mean that chainsword itself isnt scary dangerous weapon certainly better than their sucky shortswords of butter slaying. Also if you noticed the details captain certainly knew how to use it. Amount of blood ( if we can call it like that) from daemon after captain attack was not comparable with few drops caused by Proteus. If the daemon was slaaneshi and Proteus was carrying combat-knife combat would went propably something like this: "Oh lower, lower scratch me LOWER, yeees THATS MY E-ZONE." At least that would bring few more chaos lines into the film...
And finally how do you know Proteus was captain in the end? And how do you know how much time did pass? I do not remember seeing iron halo on his armour so he could pretty much be squad sergeant or just some veteran lecturing "rookies". And if someone will tell me that he cant be sergeant cuz his buddy is a veteran too and all regular marines in a squad have 1 base attack so it would not make any sense should set his brain off the sleep mode....
3/5 stars at best. Certainly worth watching for anyone into the hobby,just dont expect much. It will "fill" 80 minutes of your time, nothing more...
Sadly not enough to interest anyone oustide into the hobby.
ChocolateGork wrote:But aren't they indoctrinated to very strictly follow a quite repressive religion and as space marines of the ultramarine chapter they are expected to remove all unnecessary emotion as to make them more effective in war. I realize this inst the case with all chapters (i.e space wolfs) but aren't the ultramarines one of the strictest followers of the codex astartes?
Although i agree the voice acting was a bit disenheartened at times.
True, but I still consider that they are extremely passionate about their cause. A warrior is not a stalwart warrior without believing passionately and fervently that theirs is the righteous path. Mr Stamp (just to pick on him again) gives it a "Ho-Hum" feel, not a "Quiet, yet fervent confidence in the efficacy of our penultimate status as the best warriors on offer". Instead of the flowing blur of boredom he portrays, he could have given more of a firm, clipped arrogance to the piece. And Sean Pertwee would, honestly, have been better suited to providing the voice of an arrogant guardsman or perhaps mutant of some kind. I guess you could almost say that some of the voice castings were done a bit hurriedly instead of really placing the right person in each role. But that does come down to budget as well.
Maybe they should've gotten Samuel L Jackson - "You must be steeeeeeel... You. Must. Be. DOOM MUTHA*****! AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT, YO!" (Bloodshot deathstare into helmet) "Do we have a problem, soldier?" "SIR NO SIR"
Bad script, terrible acting, worthless graphics, no plot....typical complaints of one who really doesn't have a solid opinion of the movie and is simply trying to be a hater.
I cannot see how the script/plot was bad...it was a very lackluster script. Cliche. Plot was predictable.
Terrible acting? REALLY? More like Marines are pretty much a 2 dimensional characters in and of themselves. They fight, and yell "for the emperor" a lot. Not really much room for an actor to spread their wings there...especially in a movie that is CG and doesnt allow for facial expression and body language from the actor. If you say terrible acting, then I say you dont know what constitutes acting in the least.
Worthless graphics. State of the art? No. Passable to tell a story for fanboi's? Yes. CG is expensive...friggin expensive. Also, this movie isnt meant for the mainstream. What that means is that the money being made BACK is going to be limited to begin with.
Stop being a hater just for the sake of bashing the movie. If you want to critique the movie and actually be taken seriously, come up with solid complaints...not easy ones.
Here's the REAL story.
If "Ultramarines" was a poor movie, it was still a REALLY GOOD cartoon.
It's plot may have been cliche, the graphics may have been lower than the industries best, but the makers of "Ultramarines" truly tried to give out a true "fan service" in the form of a solid cartoon that does a decent job of maintaining the feel of a 40k adventure w/o dumbing it down for the kiddies and without too much history to dull it down and pull away from the story in order to cater to those that have no idea what 40k is.
Before you bash this film, think of what it COULD HAVE been. "Let's make sure we 'dumb it down' for the kids!" or "We need to include tons of backstory so everything is explained to 40k noobs." Let your imagination run wild on those two points and think about how poor this movie could have truly been.
The fact of the matter is that Codex has supplied us with a movie that has been waited for since the early '80's by some of us 40k fans. They did a great job of NOT ruining it for us. There are TONS of bad movies out there for fans of games or other toy products, Transformers (true transformers fans HATE this movie), Dungeons and Dragons, the Resident Equal Sequels, Double Dragon, GI Joe, the list goes on. How about simply BAD films out there with much LARGER wallets backing them? Crow 4, Batman and Robin, Highlander 2, Yogi Bear in 3d for Crissakes.
Ultramarines is decent....that alone makes it something EXTREMELY special. I would've been VERY upset if it didnt maintain a certain level of violence/horror and misrepresented the Marines. I'm extremely glad that they didnt tell the story for people that know nothing or dont care about 40k in the least at the expense of those that do.
If you know/love 40k...you NEED to see this film, at least once or twice. It gives a good feel of the 40k universe and is pretty good for what it is. What it is, is a "fan service". Stop trying to make it out to be more than that...it isnt. This is for you, the 40k fan and noone else. Be glad.
...or maybe you'd be happier with a 40k version of Battlefield Earth?
we all knew the quality wouldn't be very good.. but i liked the idea of a 40K movie..
but indeed from the moment the Apothecary said for the first time? uho wrong.. if they are tactical mariens.. they have served in devestator squads assault squads and scout squads..
another thing.. a space marine kiked aside by helmet in the face..ok but a deamon?? uho wrong..
I was also a little bit disapointed by the sound of firing bolters I expected a little bit more.. "herioc" with more bass..
voices are good, story is good, proteus is to eager to earn some stripes XD comic book was worse then I expected actually..
as someone already mentioned: it looks like they are going to the fight with the idea that they have already won.. no cover or stealth.. just walk into the fight and see what comes next..
Roboute must have been crying when he watched it.. if he was still alive..
Altgough I liked the movie despite some fluff errors..
graphics - for the budget v.good. Some excellent scenes, some poor (no shadows etc). Good sense of depth in several scenes, good use of smoke throughout.
voice acting - about as expected, nothing to shout about but could have been worse. Script lets down the cast.
sound - good for the most part, plenty of thought put into it. Bolters etc. sound right.
script - Did Dan really write this peice of c#@p?!!!! expected much more from him. I can excuse the lack of characters in favour of more time spent on graphics, but the whole thing felt like a drawn out 10second cut scene from a game to link several 'nice' things gamers want to see - bolters firing, speeder put into a thunderhawk etc. For a first movie to 'show off' the poster boys, Chaos marines were a poor choice of antagonist. 'Hey we've got superhuman future fighting wariors that can take down 100 normal men single handed, I wonder how to show off how good they are? hmmm, how about an enemy of equal match?' Yeah great idea, except they apear to be the usual bad shot enemy. And at no point is the armour shown off. single hit kills? hmmmmmm
Hopefully next time will be better. I'd say buy it, only so there is demand there to encourage a second that can fix the problems.
Deadshane1 - I think its safe to say that i do have an opinion (a well founded one at that) and have stated it well enough(without any unnecessary detail).
Just because an opinion isn't the same as yours does not make it less valid (even if you feel the points raised are obvious).
I stand by what i said before, the movie was a disappointment all round. There are many 40k based stories from the black library that could have been set to film much better in my opinion, of which most of them are far away from the predictable and somewhat unimaginative writing that went into this movie.
I understand that the movie was designed to sell to fans of the 40k universe, but just because its got marines in it doesn't mean its watchable by default, there should be some real story telling in there too. Graham McNeil along with Dan Abnett and Henry Zou (along with too many others to mention) have proven that SMs can be interesting 4D characters with out all seeming like clones of one another. In the Salamander books for example the protagonist (an SM) even recalls there past life before they became a marine, if only in fragments, and this past life directly influence his choices throughout the story. Dan Abnett is even a proven script writer on the GW payrole (well published through BL), having written script from many fiction scripts from shows like Stagegate, Star Trek an even Doctor Who. So why he, or any of the other BL writers couldn't of had a say in the script is a mystery to me. Surely there retainer isn't that much? (Apologies if they did have a say at all, i haven't checked that out, but i would be surprised if they had)
As for the 'Acting' i do agree with Deadshane1, there isn't a lot an actor can do with a poor script except their best, and i have to say i don't have a problem with the voice actors at all.
I also understand the limitations of graphics when compered to budget, and yes i agree that a good story does not need massive amounts spent. But only if the story can hold its self up on its own, but this one couldn't. But its not the Technical quality of the graphics that i'm too bothered by, its the lack innovativeness of it. The look of the movie just isn't quite right IMHO, it could have been ripped from the cut scenes of the first few GW computer games. Some fesh artistry would have been fantastic, but even the first scene contains published GW artwork rendered into the stained glass of the chapel. If the had been a 'nod' to GW then that would have been fine and dandy, i would even go as far to say, a nice touch. But as the movie when on it was apparent that the guys at codex had just been handed an average sized file of GW art work, the web address of their site and told to get on with it.
Sticking with the graphic theme, i feel that perhaps the whole low grade CGI should have been avoided altogether. Instead going down the route of animated sketches, roughly done like some of Jew Goodwin's earlier stuff. I think that the Grim Dark feel of the 40k universe could have been encompassed much better this way, instead of the ultra clean lines of the CGI. I also feel it would have been more artistically in tune with most hard core fans view of the 40K universe. But as i am a layman when it come to film and animation costing, i'm not sure whether this would have been a possibility when considering the budget, i know that the frame rate for a good animation can be quite costly. Still, i would love to see a series of 40k sketches, somewhat like the ani-matrix or even some of the halo legends animations. Even the special features animations from the i am Legend movie would have captured the feel of 40k, better than cheap (sorry, low end) CGI.
Im not trying to be a 'hater', i REALLY wanted to see a good 40k based movie (and still do, finger crossed for the future), as there is so much interesting mutli-layered/themed background. This movie could have been really quite good, even a cult classic, but it just lacked any real punch from any angle.
Best stick to BL publications if your looking for a 40k fix IMO.
Sorry if my previous post was too flippant or if this offends anyone, but its just my opinion.
----- Just read the post above, and it seems Dan Abnett could have written some, if not all of the script. If so i'm really disappointed in the effort. Saying that his last couple of books and short stories weren't quite up to his best standard (still good reads tho). But still, a whole lot better than this movie.-----
----- Amazing! Just checked the cast a crew, and yes Dan Abnett is indeed the screen write for this, sad times -----
i havent seen the movie is it on download allready? in holland we dont get too see it in theaters.....
but what is it i hear about the story line? hasnt the script been written bij Dan Adbnett? or did they discard his script?
We watched it with my gaming buddies and my sister today. Cant give it more than 6 stars, tbh.
Plot holes were already mentioned - the lack or Rhino support, 15 guys on a Strike Cruiser, no Alarm sounded when the demon gets loose, Newcomers being on suspicion of being heretics given free reign over the ship, only 15 guys being sent to help a COMPANY of Imperial Fists etc etc.
It seems the whole movie would be better if it only lasted 30 minutes, it would save us the walking, moving, walking, jumping etc.etc - it seemed all these long scenes were there only because there was no idea of what to show.
Land Speeder was neatly done, tho why it moved fast like that I don't know. You did not even get to see it right.
Nice foreshadowing on using the Thunderhammer, though, and nice linking of the end and begninng with that speech part.
Clunky graphics.
All in all, not impressed. Was an O.K watch for a bunch of buddies, but I doubt we will ever get back to it.
Nice product placement using the Imperial Bastion with the WHFB Chapel.
I'm trying to figure out what this was on a table-top level. Seems most like a Kill team mission, you have 1 HQ, 1 Troop, 1 Fast & bad guys are jut mobs of basic troops of army "X".
Any way the movie is not a super Hollywood- Jerry Bruckheimer style extravaganza but it was targeted at 40K enthusiasts so give it some credit there.
After reading whatever everyone said, and I was expecting a giant stinking turd. Low expectations made this a great movie.
Most of the technical errors I missed out on because I didn't watch the movie to nit pick and complain, which seems to be the theme on half the reviews. Sure it is no Avatar, but did you expect it to?
And as for being predictable, well duh. When was the last time the story of the 41st Millennium expanded? No matter who the enemy was, someone would have called it predictable and that they saw it coming. There isn't too many options for enemies without making your own fluff.
And as for the one line about them being them being new Ultramarines, I am pretty sure they don't mean novices. I wouldn't consider myself a Space Marine till ALL of my training is finished.
I will be buying this movie for myself, and maybe for a friend or two. Hopefully this will get us another movie, which will be better than the first.
I enjoyed it, sober and well, maybe with the help of something other than tea but green the second time IT WAS EPIC! Even my friends who consider my 40k side a bit nerdy loved it, although the Demon part was a bit "I need to go outside, I cant handle this right now".
Connor McKane wrote:2 STARS:
"This is your first time going into battle as Ultramarines."
Uhh... no. They are full battle brothers which meant they would have spent time as scouts, and seen alot of combat before becoming full battle brothers, so it was a total fail on that plot device.
The Ultramarines also walked around without any sense of "Tactical" purpose. No stealth, no cover... they walked about like they were going for a snow cone. Not like an elite fighting unit.
For one what he said is correct, the first time going into battle as ultraMARINES, scouts arent full marines, therefore what he said is true.
Also since when do marines do things in a stealthy manner? They have their armor and their faith to shield them Cover yes, but one of the few times cover was available they deduced it was a trap and not offering any safety.
The movie could have held to the canon a bit more, but they were trying to make it accessible to people other than diehard 40k fans, and if it got more people into the game then its a good thing.
oke ill grant you all who say there only full marines iff you finished the training but how on earth do you explain the gunner of the speeder who came from the "new" squad. did have a red helmet the sign of a veteran?
Connor McKane wrote:2 STARS:
"This is your first time going into battle as Ultramarines."
Uhh... no. They are full battle brothers which meant they would have spent time as scouts, and seen alot of combat before becoming full battle brothers, so it was a total fail on that plot device.
The Ultramarines also walked around without any sense of "Tactical" purpose. No stealth, no cover... they walked about like they were going for a snow cone. Not like an elite fighting unit.
For one what he said is correct, the first time going into battle as ultraMARINES, scouts arent full marines, therefore what he said is true.
Also since when do marines do things in a stealthy manner? They have their armor and their faith to shield them Cover yes, but one of the few times cover was available they deduced it was a trap and not offering any safety.
The movie could have held to the canon a bit more, but they were trying to make it accessible to people other than diehard 40k fans, and if it got more people into the game then its a good thing.
3 stars.
that is very wrong.. first.. ultramarines comes from Ultramarine the color (blue).. you don't say blood angelses or black templarses.. They are Ultramarine scouts you also have Ultramarine space marines and so on.. you don't say ultrascouts.. than if you want to be a tactical marien you must have served in space MARINE devestator squad or Space MARINE assault MARINE squad.. and riding bikes as well..
the red helmet guy is the sergeant and his story is written in the graphic novel.. red helmet => sergeants white laurel =>veterancy..
Deadshane1 wrote:Bad script, terrible acting, worthless graphics, no plot....typical complaints of one who really doesn't have a solid opinion of the movie and is simply trying to be a hater.
Excuse me? People who said that explained why. No one here's pretending to be an expert, but you're expecting everyone to bow down to this movie just 'cause it's 40k?
Deadshane1 wrote:I cannot see how the script/plot was bad...it was a very lackluster script. Cliche. Plot was predictable.
Deadshane1 wrote:Worthless graphics. State of the art? No. Passable to tell a story for fanboi's? Yes. CG is expensive...friggin expensive. Also, this movie isnt meant for the mainstream. What that means is that the money being made BACK is going to be limited to begin with.
I used to make excuses for the CGI, and got into an argument of sorts with MajorTom. But now I just think they used every trick in the book to cover up for their lack of money, which combined with the poor script, the badly-executed faces, makes a rather poor experience IMO. If CGI was the only problem with the movie, I would've rated it higher.
Deadshane1 wrote:Stop being a hater just for the sake of bashing the movie. If you want to critique the movie and actually be taken seriously, come up with solid complaints...not easy ones.
I was one of the people who defended the movie before it came out. I didn't suddenly change my opinion because I felt like jumping on a bandwagon. You, on the other hand, seem hellbent on having everyone that complained about the movie provoked, as you say, "with solid complaining".
Deadshane1 wrote:If "Ultramarines" was a poor movie, it was still a REALLY GOOD cartoon.
'Cept it isn't a cartoon per se. It wasn't even marketed as one, so no argument there.
Deadshane1 wrote:It's plot may have been cliche, the graphics may have been lower than the industries best, but the makers of "Ultramarines" truly tried to give out a true "fan service" in the form of a solid cartoon that does a decent job of maintaining the feel of a 40k adventure w/o dumbing it down for the kiddies and without too much history to dull it down and pull away from the story in order to cater to those that have no idea what 40k is.
While that might've been an objective, it didn't feel like a 40k adventure. It felt to me like a bad generic war movie, in the sense that you could take it's plot and apply it to any sci-fi context. But that is a pet peeve of mine, one that I felt happened in Eisenhorn and Gaunt's Ghosts and has led me to dislike Dan Abnett, but this is off-topic.
Deadshane1 wrote:Before you bash this film, think of what it COULD HAVE been. "Let's make sure we 'dumb it down' for the kids!" or "We need to include tons of backstory so everything is explained to 40k noobs." Let your imagination run wild on those two points and think about how poor this movie could have truly been.
That is no excuse, DS. Think on the otherside, that it could've been a Sci-fi movie like Blade Runner, that could present a credible sci-fi environment without even explaining what a "Voight-Kampff test" is. I gave it one and a half without thinking too hard about it.
While I have waited for a long time for this, there's just too many things I didn't like, and that's excusing the animation, random details
Spoiler:
disrespecting the Apothecary and going at it like two Blood Claws while in the Thunderhawk, the objectives of the CSM, the under-marine'd Strike Cruiser, the Ultramarine Squad itself was a joke, Power Armour was a joke, and HIDING BENEATH A LAND SPEEDER, amongst others
who pulled your panties in a bunch? Whe make these coments based on the FILM not the book. if they expolained it in the movie it would be more obvious. the movie is good if you know nothing of the hobby otherwise its by MY oppinion not a super movie but it aint bad either
I can agree with the problems in fluff and would have been more happy if they were fighting the tyranids. Also the movie could have used more action and less walking...but overall it was a good start and I hope to see more movies in the future. 2.5 Stars
well 1 star purely because it was aimed at the fans of 40k but there was realy not much content and the last half hour was a total waste of time and money :[
2 stars.
Awful script. Dan Abnett? Really? That´s sad, and it does not make sense.
I do not believe it. I think it was written by someone with a very shallow knowledge of the background.
The best:
Spoiler:
The first time you see the chaplain
The worst:
Spoiler:
I was deeply disgusted during the fight between 1000 CSM and 10 smurfs (and quite an odd chaplain: "the Crozius is not yet reloaded!!"). I play Chaos, so maybe I am biased
This weekend I had the chance to watch the Ultramarine Movie. At first glance it wasn't to bad of a movie give the limited bugget and the pure Caliber of voice acting that they had in it.
My first issue arrose when they spit in the eye of every othe chapter of marines ever by stating the best marines are Ultramarines. I am pretty sure that there are a hell of alot of people that would disagree.
Second issue The Captian has had over 100 hundered years of survice in the Marines now has he never realy had a grasp of tactics or has his bravodo pulled him threw then entire time. A full company of marines have been eaten by some unknown force that turns out to be the Black Legion run by a Demon Prince and you Captian Severous do not pull back and blockade the planet until reenforcements arrive. No No lets go balls first into the unknown with neophytes thats a great idea.
Third issue why did no one listen to the apothocary with over 200 hundred years of experience. He was the unheard voice of reason through out the entire movie.
Fourth Issue the Chaplian. Ok one I never knew that the Crozius Arcanum could create a stasis field untel now and why oh why did he go down like such a punk?
Fifith and final issue. Yes yes you won and beat down the demon prince trashing the relicquary in the mean time. If the Ultramarines banishes Urial Ventris because he has the shear gall to lead a deathwatch squad to destroy a hive fleet and gets banished to the Eye of Terror on a suicide mission for his efforts I am pretty sure they would have stripped that Neophyte of all his "Honor" and cast him out to wolves.
I give it a 3,5, mostly because of the daemon prince at the end.
For the rest it where reasonable graphics and the voice cast was as mentioned great!
The one thing that really bugs me is why is an important artifact for the Imperial Fist kept safe in the middle of nowhere? I don't have much knowledge of the fluff but still...why?
let's hope a next movie will be made with more action instead of walking
Reaper.exe wrote:
The one thing that really bugs me is why is an important artifact for the Imperial Fist kept safe in the middle of nowhere? I don't have much knowledge of the fluff but still...why?
I also noticed this one.. but didn't care actually maybe it's build in a sort of canyon for strategic purposes.. altough a skimmer or jump infantryman will deal with that in no-time..
Saying the animation was "good considering the budget they had" is like saying a girl has a "great personality". Everyone knows they both look like the underside of a well worn boot.
jestyr wrote:Saying the animation was "good considering the budget they had" is like saying a girl has a "great personality". Everyone knows they both look like the underside of a well worn boot.
*angry gf hijack* what ! thats just mean
getting back on topic i find the level of inteligentce very low
Spoiler:
you see a imperial fist marine nailed to a stone with a chaos star on it. but no they have to see a dead black legion marine before they conclude well now we know our enemy Chaos maines
or
Spoiler:
a marine gets half his head blown up but the apotacary has too kneel besidethe body and feel the pulse before he speaks those magic words. head wound, fatal , enemy (no Sh*t Sherlock)
and what i dont get
Spoiler:
a 100 dead imperial fist corpses but not one black legion corpse since when does Chaos recover ther dead? and i find the lack of vehicles disturbing why wouldnt there be a couple of predators or a dreadnought?
Draglide12 wrote:Wow all you guys complaining about the cruiser only having a few marines. READ THE GRAPHIC NOVEL< IT EXPLAINS THAT.
Explaining it doesn't fix the problem that its a stupid plot hole.
Furthermore, knowing the 40k fluff and surrounding world elements actually makes the movie make even less sense actually, its not scripted right to explain the universe to the un initiated AND to the indoctrinated it's also wrong on most levels.
I think the negative comments here are all pretty well based, and the 3+ star reviews of 4 are from people generally happy they finally did something.
1.) Personally I find all Space Marines boring and bland, so having boring and bland Space Marines characters in the movie met my expectations, everything else would be unusual, as even in BL novels, most Space Marine characters are that way. Because of my non-interest in SM, I didn't get every fluff error, so another main critique that didn't effect me.
2.) I hate fascist propaganda movies. This one comes close with all the "blood and honour" (a nazi slogan, close to the movie slogans) and "for the Fuehrer" talk and the 3rd Reich aestetic (faces, architecture) but when you watch a Space marine movie, you have to take the plunge and temporarily accept that as official fluff (and hope everyone else also sees it as contextual, not follow that doctrine themselves ). Well, I managed to ignore this propaganda while watching the movie.
3.) The script is simple, but not bad, as it is an almost exact copy of the Aliens movie script, just flavoured with 40k elements. Of course it doesn't stand closer scrutiny, but it worked while watching it. Okay, some less walking and climbing staircases scenes would have been fine And it is for 40k players only, others might be bored or offended.
4.) There is no acting, the movie is animated! I find the animation sufficient, better than expected. The voices are above average, but of course limited by the blandness of Space marine dialogues.
5.) As many have said, one of the best things in the movie is the ornate chaplain helmet.
Conclusion: For someone not interested in Space Marines, a Space Marine vs. Chaos Space Marine movie has a limited fun factor. But within these limits, I enjoyed the movie, gave it 3 stars and hope for less bland non-SM movies from that company.
you see a imperial fist marine nailed to a stone with a chaos star on it. but no they have to see a dead black legion marine before they conclude well now we know our enemy Chaos maines
Well, in their defense
Spoiler:
They could've said it's chaos, but they wouldn't know if it's Marines, Daemons, or Cultists. But still... your point is valid
Spoiler:
a marine gets half his head blown up but the apotacary has too kneel besidethe body and feel the pulse before he speaks those magic words. head wound, fatal , enemy (no Sh*t Sherlock)
I felt this one was bad, too, but in retrospective,
Spoiler:
I think he was just telling the squad rather than saying it to himself. But never the less, badly handled situation
@ Kroothawk's point 2)
It's a bit like I think the Imperium is, but I imagine it's a lot more fleshed out for you. Yet I don't think that it came out as "Nazi" too much; never once I thought about that.
3) Yeah, less walking would've been fine. Showing them jumping and running... I wanted to see how the HB dude managed that. There were a lot of parts that didn't add anything to the movie, sometimes I felt like they tried to put some elements in that didn't work at all because they missed others altogether.
Spoiler:
The Company Banner being carried by a Marine... seems like they wanted to show the feel of some of the Codex covers... But without the epicness. And it also detects Chaos? That's nice and seemed completely random - they could've pinned that one on the auspex. Their battle formation seemed a little odd, and the bolters felt more like Sniper Rifles... Also, stating that the relic was protected by a Company of Imperial Fists (who are all killed) was exaggerated, why couldn't they just say it was one or two tactical squads?
I gave it 1 1/2 stars. Underwhelmed is an understatement.
Fist, Ill hit what no one else has. Price.
The only option is to buy a 'collectors edition' for 40$. Double what youd pay for any other move and 10$ more than other collectors editions of movies that arent so crappy.
I understand we're talking about GW here and price is always an issue, but when I pay too much for my miniatures, Im getting some really nice minis, not some slapdash boring crapfest with a comic book included.
Second is the movie itself. The giant plot holes are covered elaborately in previous posts so ill try to stick to new observations.
The plot is boring. Half of the movie is simply them walking around. As though the studio thought that would be more than enough to keep us entertained. Its filler, 80 minutes? Half that if you cut out all the walking.
The animation is abysmal. In the opening scenes I was reminded of the old Saturday morning cartoon series Reboot. This is not a good thing in 2010. Motion capture would have changed this movie entirely. They simply took shortcuts to make more money. (40$ price tag, remember?)
Lastly a refute to some of the defenders. You cry that the budget was only about 9 million gbp. Well, I guess that was money wasted. District 9 was made with only roughly 19 million gbp. Less than double and we have one of the greatest sci-fi movies made in this decade? Im gonna have to say that money wasnt the issue.
FreekyE wrote:
The animation is abysmal. In the opening scenes I was reminded of the old Saturday morning cartoon series Reboot. This is not a good thing in 2010. Motion capture would have changed this movie entirely. They simply took shortcuts to make more money. (40$ price tag, remember?)
Hilarious! I was just talking about this last night with my buddy that also watched this move. We said the EXACT same thing. I even said that it reminded me of Reboot...a damn cartoon from the early 90's. Hell, I think Reboot may actually have a leg up on the Space Marines in the animation department. I don't mean to say that they Ultramarine animators took the easy way out here. I am thinking it was quite the chore to find that software from 15 years ago, much less get those old Packard Bell's booted up again so they could render those guys walking around. Come to think of it just getting Windows 95 patched up and ready for a production of this magnitude was likely a herculean task in itself.
I sat down and watched it and enjoyed it immensely, 4 stars. Some of the action made me go woah, some of the wounds made me go ouch and some of the one liners made me go ha ha. I think it did the trick.
It might not be 100% accurate and there might be things wrong with it, but heck, it's a good action movie that you can watch and not have to pay to much attention too to enjoy, I do enough of that playing the game. I am just glad that it was a close enough representation of 40k and didn't entirely suck.
I gave it 4 stars, loved it.
Voice acting was great, yeah the animation was a bit ropey in places but hey what do people expect. As a first real attempt it did the job.
Friend of mine forced me to watch Damnatus a couple of days before so perhaps that had some bearing on my perception of this film.
So when do we get template crozius's & if anyone knows anything about ultramarines they would know that the surviving marine would of got his arse kicked for 1) knowingly touching a relic he wasn't worthy of weilding yet(just look @ poor ragnar he got sent 2 terra for something similar) not to mention breaking a statis chamber that can't be replaced 2) breaking the codex poor ventris got sent to the eye of terror for doing that & he saved a planet named in honour of the chapter this guy had only just got his power armour & 3) what can a squad of ultramarines do that an entire battle company of imperial fists not do? but it was nice to see someone having a go the battle barge anime was wicked but please DO SOME RESEARCH it ain't hard my nephew knows that much
Oh yeah i gave it 3 stars was still good to watch just hurt to see so many bloppers oh well maybe there'll be a sequel lol
Pretty much sums it up. Its nice to see a movie, but the graphics are on par with some on the DoW cutscenes.
It'd be nice if they make another, maybe not focusing on one of the most resented marine chapters... and getting the funding to make it look alot smother would be nice.
The voice acting was ok, it seemed a little off in parts, some of the voices didn't scream "marine" at me.
The sound effects seemed awkward in places, there were alot of scenes where you'd expect more noise from that many marine walking/jogging/jumping etc
There were some really nice parts in it, the story didn't live upto my expectations with Dan writing the storyline, but i enjoyed it none-the-less. It was great to finally see something like this... and i can't wait for more... sci-fi films are raking in the money ATM, so its a possibility.
with no real explaination and some other small "misses and issues".
I decided to leave the quality of the graphics and such out, that stuff don't bother me...hell I preffer 10 year old games over most new ones...
So three point 5 stars it is from me, a splendid success!
I gave it one star... The voice acting is what carried this movie. The inconsistencies fluff wise were far too great to be ignored, and the animation was pretty bad. I was hoping for a lot more...
Pretty much sums it up. Its nice to see a movie, but the graphics are on par with some on the DoW cutscenes.
Actually, DoW I's Intro Scene had better animations, and depicted my personal vision of a 40k movie a lot more than this. Especially the face animation and "dirt" I can't stand the the "clean whiteness" of the Apothecary in the dunes. And of course the "Balefire". Ugly as hell...
Good synchro cannot increase gakky plot..
Unrealistic Battlescenes, check! A single bolter round almost instant-kills a power-armoured space marine with a hit in the chest.. a fuckin' axe hit into the shoulder too??.. Crozius has AoE-energy-attack? WTF?
For what it is worth. The movie did quite well. It was below the amount of money that I wish it could of had. The Fire was quite good and the smoke was good too.
Plot was to be expected in a 40k script.
Pretty good for a 7,000$ movie
Ouze wrote: Come now. Wanting to own the first 40k movie ever doesn't make you a marine fanboy.
Wanting to buy EVERY product they put out just because it has a space marine on it would though (and the clubmate who did buy the geek edition is one).
It's not the first 40k movie ever. It's the first official 40k movie (small difference, but given the concepts and other ideas that 40k has riffed on over the decades, an important one). Saw it yesterday. 2 1/2 stars. Seen better cartoons, seen worse. Wasn't expecting FF:TSW graphics (that film bankrupted Square Enix pictures) but something slightly better than Transformers 1985 wasn't entirely unwatchable. Acting was fine - script was a letdown (even Larry Olivier would have struggled with it). It's always welcoming to hear General Zod (Terence Stamp) or Sean Pertwee in a gaming related thing. Sean is no stranger to it (having voiced a character in Fire Warrior and also several in the Killzone games). Pity the dialogue was so dire.
FreekyE wrote:I gave it 1 1/2 stars. Underwhelmed is an understatement.
Fist, Ill hit what no one else has. Price.
The only option is to buy a 'collectors edition' for 40$. Double what youd pay for any other move and 10$ more than other collectors editions of movies that arent so crappy.
I understand we're talking about GW here and price is always an issue, but when I pay too much for my miniatures, Im getting some really nice minis, not some slapdash boring crapfest with a comic book included.
i think nobody said anything about the price because we downloaded it which is perfectley legal. the uploading is illigal but than again i would have too order it from gw to be able too buy it in the netherlands
I had very low expectations for the movie, and it met them, but didn't exceed them. The characters were pathetically bland, the plot would have been fine if it had been a 1/2 hour film, and the animation wasn't great, but I knew that was going to be the case, and lets face it, they're space marines, they dont really move with much grace to begin with (especially Ultra marines).
I have the same problem with this movie that I had with the campaign in Dawn of war 2. it's an unrealistic scenario for a game of Warhammer. Warhammer is about epic battles, this is just a squad snooping around. In DoW 2, you finally get to a point where you have bigger armies, but the movie avoids that. I realize as movies go that might seem like a bad idea, but I think if they wanted to get people in the 'Warhammer frame of mind', there should have been a big battle with tons of troops somewhere, even if it was brief. And couldn't we have had an actual special character in there?
Oh well, props to the guys who did it, I'm sure it was a HUGE undertaking, and will hopefully get you more work, and us more warhammer media. Keep at it, there's plenty more stories in the 41st millennium !!
1 star only for me. I wanted this to be sooo good but was bored rigid.
The main points for me are cost. Daylight robbery. Legal mugging in action.
Please don't try to justify it by saying it funds future productions, it has done the exact opposite and guaranteed that the film be pirated. Double the cost of any brand new blockbuster is totally out of order, especially when films such as inception cost £200 million + to make. But it's OK, you get a nice tin.
Boring!! Endless hours, days, no, weeks of walking. Walking. Walking. Walking.
Plot holes so deep you could sink your ex wife into. They had to make a comic to explain the plot holes, fairy nuff, but what is it with the Space Marines saying "OOooh I don't know, I think we should turn back"
What the hell happened to Know no Fear??
Don't get me started on how a Chaos tainted marine is hunted by three Space Marines (and no-one else) in the whole damned ship!
40K is about War. Lots of war, not a half assed bunch of newbies walking around for ages then saying "Oooh I think we should turn back"
So many people saying this threads full of haters! I for one am not a hater, I think it's great they made this. What i'm deeply dissapointed in is more that Dan Abnett wrote this. If it was a pure attempt by a new company who had been given permission to use the gw ip then I'd be more than happy with the plot, however Dan could have done so much more with this without busting the budget. He's a talented writer. This movie doesn't come close to showing what he's capable of. Still a great fan of his, just hugly dissapointed that this is what was churrned out for a first attmpt at a movie. And in no way am I soley putting the blame on Dan for this as being a random film watcher, I have no idea what retraints he was given. For all I know the loons at GWHQ put a rough rubbish plot together and his role was to turn it into a script and improve what he could.
Destrado wrote: I think that Dan Abnett's overrated anyway, as was Bill King.
well i disagree with the Dan Abnett part i dont kow Bill King.
i dont hate the film i hate the part where they disapointed us with this.
and i agree with those who say they needed a grand battle.
personally i would have liked too see a movie from Dan's novel Titanicus. it has epic combat, a small groups trying too survive and epic titan battles. with those 3 subjects you could even reach out too pepoel who dont know warhammer
I wonder how much higher the rating is considering its based on 4 stars? I was about to cast my vote, thinking it was out of 5, when I realised
Abnetts great, I can't think of anyone else they could have given this first movie to (and I think even though he has his detractors, he would probably be the most liked if a poll were to be run).
well the story goes that they brought in a writer out side gw and that Dan found his story so out of place he took his job over and wote this which gw liked better.
Well I listened to some of the space marine novels on tape, and yea, this story is about in line with them, scale wise (few marines) nemesis wise (1 big baddie) and general vagueness on setting the scene and why.
I guess in a sense that makes it a pretty typical 40k story.
(I had hoped for more but the fan boy in me is really glad to have a nice collectors box of it!)
I gave it three stars, as gamers we were always going to micro analyse the film,it would of had to have alot more money thrown at it to be perfect.
However the film could of been so much more just look at the background and stories available.
A little like the Judge Dredd movie great stories/background but not nearly worked to its full potential. Though one thing to be thankful it doesn't have Stalllone in it....
The Chaplain made the film 'BURRRRRRRNN HERETICS' awesome part awesome voice actor but the film was pretty bad IMO the marines walked as if they were sulking about and the heavy bolter dude missed all his shoots bad dice rolling dude
When I put the disc in my PS2 (Yes, shut up. I don't have a PS3 -or- a proper DVD player. Bite me) I expected to see exactly what this was - a first attempt. An Icebreaker. A test of "Will full-length 40K movies sell?" by GW. What I got, was more than I could've hoped for. Keeping everything in perspective and remembering that this was done by a studio without much of a name in the industry, I was very suprised at how well things turned out. The visuals and animations weren't the best, but they were certainly good enough for an up-and-coming studio. The audio was just amazing - I only wish I had surround sound for the film. The script was pretty much what you'd expect for a 40K film.Start with character development, and then just load on the violence and gore for the second half. It still turned out better than 90% of the gak that Hollywood vomits out. As a film, I give it 3.5/4. As a market test and the first real full-length animated film done by Codex, I'd have to give it a 4/4.
I watched the movie and shortly afterwards was painting with a buddy of mine who put on 'Starship Troopers' for background noise. I used to like that movie when it first came out. Then I joined the Marine Corps and actually read the book (which is now one of my favorites). Since then, I've come to realize that the movie was seemingly intended only to mock the book. Another of my favorite books is the 'Queen of the Dammed.' Similarly, when I saw the movie version, I was utterly disgusted; and not only because the theatre was full of screaming 12-year-old Aaliyah fans. I don't think the producers of either movie made ANY meaningful effort to stay true to the books. This is a common theme among most movie adaptations and often results on the response (and one could argue rule) that "the book was better." The point I'm trying to make is that, in my opinion, 'Ultramarine,' while far from perfect, was a significantly better overall adaptation of my favorite game when compared to those of my favorite books by major Hollywood production companies (who possess much greater resources). While the movie clearly had its issues and inaccuracies, at the end of the day I'm happy that I got a 40K movie that was seemingly aimed towards a 40K audience. I'll look forward to another, and hopefully better, movie in the future.
It has a few good points, but has a lot of bad stuff. As in previous replies, I took notice of:
Spoiler:
- 1 cruiser - 1 squad. What a waste.
-They just recover the genetic seed from the first 2 casualties. I think it should be given more importance.
-DOW and DOW2 intros have way better graphics than this movie. Walking movement is awful.
-Almost no fighting.
-They didn't solved the reload issue. When they run out of bullets, they just say "it doesn't work". (Saw spanish version)
-Why they abandon the Landspeeder?
-Reused moments: when demon prince in cruiser hits SM against the column. Used with a marine and the apothecary.
-Mega agile marines, that can jump huge distances. I would like marines to be like walking tanks, no parkour fans.
-SM against Chaos... Any other enemy would have given more variety.
-Before landing, servitors mark marines with purity seals. I thought they was given by Chaplains.
-Plot is bad. Is very foreseeable. Rebel recruit becomes a hero and leads their mates to victory.
-Wielding chainsword gives command???? I thought captain gave it to the recruit just to hit the demon.
Just say that I saw Spanish version, so maybe dialogues have changed in some way. And I am an Imperial Guard commander, so my knowledge about SM can be inaccurate.
In order to better asses the impact the movie had had on the community, an extensive survey has been created. The idea is for as many people as possible who have watched the movie to fill it in and a thorough statistical analysis will then be performed on the collected data. The results should give a pretty solid impression of how people reacted to the movie and why. The information could also prove useful in order to improve any next W40k movies, if there will be any.
I'm watching it now, and it seems pretty good.
Some points brought up kind of answer themselves if you know the fluff.
IE: "You go to battle for the first time as Ultramarines."
People complained that they didn't go through the Scout stage. But aren't scouts in most chapters (bar Space Wolves), not considered full Marines whilst they are in the Scouts? I gathered that they've just gone up from Scouts to being full Ultramarines.
A noble effort considering that the budget wasn't big
I rate it as follows:
Plot: Meh. Not very convincing. Also very stereotyped. 2 stars.
Characters: Even more meh. Too 1 dimensional. 1 star.
Graphics: Worse than DOW. Walking was unrealistic. Bolter rounds were unrealistic. 1 1/2 stars.
Fluff-wise: SOme obvious errors. Also the marines died far too easily. Also no self respecting ultramarine captain would attempt a search and rescue with 10 marines and a land speeder. 1 1/2 stars
Overall: Nice try, but not good enough. 2 stars
I think they concentrated a little too hard on getting the fluff right, and maybe not enough on making the movie good. The fluff was all there, Abnett would have made sure of that, but the movie was so obviously dictated by its budget. Why on earth was an entire Company of Space Marines guarding that shrine? Why would you build a shrine on an uninhabited planet? Why did the planet have to be uninhabited? You could have said it was an agri/hive/forge world, but simply not shown any of the complex agri/hive/forge bits that would have taken up money/time. Why was the relic that AN ENTIRE COMPANY OF IMPERIAL FISTS ......
I can't get over this, one Space Marine for each one of the Imperium's million worlds, and a hundred of them guarding a holy relic that
Spoiler:
they didn't f*cking notice it was actually a daemon book. Don't they have people to check these things?
Plot = crap,
Characters/ voice acting = probably the best bit there...
Animation = good enough considering the budget limitations
Sound = awesome simply because of the chunky bolter sounds.
Give it half. 2/4. Why's this out of four instead of the normal five anyway?
On the 'why weren't they scouts before this' thing:
The putting novices = scouts thing is utterly ridiculous, and I'm glad they changed that. Scout duty demands an incredibly highly trained soldier, even by SM standards. They have to be the people that are best qualified to survive and report back, one dead scout squad=losing a battle if they have critical information.
Of course, the rookies were doing scout duty anyway, so I don't know that they actually fixed much.
That said, a lot of the other fluff was bad, even from a non 40k perspective (did the armor manage to stop any shots at all?).
Just watched the movie again, and it kinda explains one of the issues I brought up in my last post.
Spoiler:
The issue of 'Why, oh why do the Imperial Fists have a relic which is actually a daemon book?' Apparently the Emperor gave it to them at the founding of their Chapter/Legion. <- he says Chapter but probably means Legion. This makes sense to give a daemon book to be safeguarded from Daemons to the Chapter who specialize in defence. Still doesn't explain the entire uninhabited world bit fully (although you presumably wouldn't want a daemon weapon book on a populated world) or the entire Company guarding it (although, fair dose, it would have apparently destroyed Macragge, so it's a POWERFUL daemon weapon book). Okay, plot makes slightly more sense now. I still can't justify a Company for one book, (Chapter Honour would have stopped them from turning it over to the Grey Knights, if they even knew what it was), and I suppose, on their Fortress Monastery, it would have been just as dangerous as having it on a Hive world, with the addition of Librarians who would presumably be able to sense it/ be enticed by it.
I too gave it a 3, the marines did move freely as the fluff dictates they would, they did do rites, maybe what they meant to say that this was their first battle in powered armor
I was expecting worse and would say that yes, they did seem to have a few things mixed up, maybe next time they will have read some of the better stuff and get things less muddled like chaplains do not do librarians sort of things.
I've just received and watched my copy, I must admit that despite reading the criticisms on here and even though I was not expecting too much I was still disappointed.
The way the Marines walked was not quite natural but it really didn't bother me. The speach at the beginning was a little confusing until I read the Comic and realised that they meant that they were on their first mission as full space marines not scouts. I was surprised at the story line as it was written by Dan Abnett (one of my favourite 40k authors) and it was really basic and linear with no side plots and a fairly poor twist!? I was so pleased to find that they had made a 40k film even the fact it was cgi animated didn't bother me but it was just too simple and really was just a bit of running and gunning with a mental need for glory! The apothacary also annoyed me as he actually came across as a coward at points!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh and I paid £25 for it which would have got me a new release blu ray, not that I begrudge them the money as I am happy to support anything that brings the 40k universe to film, but it is still a fair point that it is quite expensive when compared to other bigger budget films that are on a higher definition format.
It was a good start into a generally obscure and fairly unexplored realm of 40k-ness.
yes, a little more time put into small details of fluff could have satisfied us geeks.
That said the plot was terrible, but to a slight extent there is only one line that such a 40k story can only really take...
The acting was good. Terence stamp's voice is almost perfect for a space marine, john hurt also to a lesser extent.
Overall it could have been better but all things considered it really isn't too bad.
What would have been a smarter route would have been to make a film out of a current black library novel. That would give you an interesting plot...maybe one of the short stories to keep it fairly short.
for me; 2.5 out of 4
Imp. Monkey
oh, @Reaper- those blu-rays come from huge multi-national film companies with £billions to spare and the profits from being aired in a cinema, not a small British company that were aiming for a small target audience.
I gave it three and a half stars. Good graphics and Good voices. the plot was odd and some things really didn't add up with canon. The demon looked like a overgrown Bloodletter for a large portion of the movie.
Also, let's throw a powersword away and grab a chainsword instead.
Did anybody seen the Russia version? I downloaded it by mistake the voice over on that on is briliant one guy doing all the voices with no voice acting space marines sound like the blood thirster its hillarious
I felt that the people that did it, really had never read the fluff in depth. It was like they read an overview of the game, did a wiki look up to get info on the game specificis.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Ok, this bothered me because of the lack of researched Connor did. I don't think he realized that Dan Abnett wrote the story himself. The man who has successfully published more Warhammer fluff than most people can even fathom.... the author of the Horus Heresy series, Gaunt's Ghost, Legion, ect.
I give it a 3, because of the graphics and lack of action. Dawn of War cutsceens had better graphics and action. But I still gave it a 3 because this was the first Warhammer movie, so they had to use some one as iconic as the Ultra Mar.
It's a border between 3 and a half and four. I voted 4 in the poll, becasue im nice
Positive things:
I think the drama and accion was good, there was plenty of suspense, which is what you expect from these types of movies. I think the voice acting and animating was very well done as well, great looking film, imo. The plot was good, i'm glad they didn't choose just a war, as that would've got boring, Dan Abnett has written to his standard it seems. The bestthing for me was not knowing who was good or bad. As one of the characters said "You can't tell who is infected by Chaos" (or something like that) and my suspisions of various characters switched throughout the film, excellent.
Bad things:
Not much in my opinion, there were a few little things, such as why the marines walked around in no cover (not that there was much) and also a few errors in the backround, and often some things were predictable. The main thing i'd mark the film down on is it's legnth, it was too short imo, a lot more action could have been put in.
So to conclude, a great start. A tense exciting movie with only a few minor downsides, hopefully we'll be seeing more of these in the future!
I felt that the people that did it, really had never read the fluff in depth. It was like they read an overview of the game, did a wiki look up to get info on the game specificis.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Ok, this bothered me because of the lack of researched Connor did. I don't think he realized that Dan Abnett wrote the story himself. The man who has successfully published more Warhammer fluff than most people can even fathom.... the author of the Horus Heresy series, Gaunt's Ghost, Legion, ect.
I give it a 3, because of the graphics and lack of action. Dawn of War cutsceens had better graphics and action. But I still gave it a 3 because this was the first Warhammer movie, so they had to use some one as iconic as the Ultra Mar.
But yeah, that comment bugged me
Dawn of war Cut-scenes had a multi-million dollar budget for less than ten minutes.
Imagine if the movie had of had a 90 million dollar budget instead of 9 million
I wasn't expecting that good of a movie, so it honestly surprised me...Really, my major problem was the fact there was so much suspension but it didn't deliver in the end
Why on earth was an entire Company of Space Marines guarding that shrine? Why would you build a shrine on an uninhabited planet? Why did the planet have to be uninhabited? You could have said it was an agri/hive/forge world, but simply not shown any of the complex agri/hive/forge bits that would have taken up money/time. Why was the relic that AN ENTIRE COMPANY OF IMPERIAL FISTS ......
I can't get over this, one Space Marine for each one of the Imperium's million worlds, and a hundred of them guarding a holy relic that
Spoiler:
they didn't f*cking notice it was actually a daemon book. Don't they have people to check these things?
Tell me about....It was so slowed......But what made me so furious and angry is the way they showed the chaos marines
Spoiler:
They made them slowed as orks! Chaos marines are veterans and why then they charged the squad on an open feild. How did the chaos marines die that easy/ What made me really angry is to see how the rookies owned the entire army of those black legion berzerkers! I was just laughing my ass off during the whole moveI. OH AND LET NOT GET STARTED ON THE BANNER!
I give it a 1/5 Only thing what was good was the voice acting...Everything else is complete Nurgle crap!I appreciate that they tried to do something for he fans but this is not for the fans. I wish they would have gotten a better director and they would have planned the entire thing a bit more carefully....Im sorry A LOT MORE THEN JUST CAREFULL!
I gave it 2 stars, it was amazing but did do better than I expected with the sounds and voice acting. I knew the graphics wheren't going to be spectacular. The fluff issues where to be excpeted but the plot was so sub-par it made me sad. I knew what was happening from almost the first moment they hit the planet. But I hope they keep working at it, because it hadd glimmers of something awesome.
Also the guy yelling WAAAGH in the special features plays at my FLGS
I got my copy of the movie for Christmas. My friend bought me the "Special Edition" and it came with a comic book and a 'making of" DVD. I think the movie was good; coming from someone new to the game. The dude in white was kind of limp wristed at the start and so I could see the Captain being like "Hey Proteus; I heard you like stabbing and killing and you are gung ho... You be leader brah."
I also liked the twist at the end with the Captain and all that. I think when Proteus said "How do you recognize the taint of chaos." It solidified why he was leader. He could tell something was up when the others couldn't.
I gave it five stars. It was fun, exciting, and I liked seeing some minis on the "big tv screen". I don't understand all these haters getting their panties in a knot over an Ultramarines movie. I would have spent more time praising the concept and asking for more and better films with better budgets. But in a market like this; If I were funding movies and I saw a million nerds scoff at anything being made; then yea... I wouldn't make more movies any more and let them wallow in their plastic minis with no flavor or characters. Not necessarily on this forum but on others I saw a lot of people raging and complaining and I gotta say- those people need to shut up and rethink what they are saying.
"Hey guys, I know you spent thousands on this movie and you worked hard on it. I appreciate it but you think NEXT time we could see X or have a battle between X and Y. It would be super cool and I would love to see you guys make some of my thoughts come to life. Great job and I can't wait for the next one!"
That's all I am saying.
5 Stars for Effort
5 Stars for Fun
5 Stars for the fact my wife watched it with me and said "Kill the Heretics" after seeing that dude chisel on his ammo
5 Stars for making me want to play an Ultramarines or Sisters of Battle Army.
SilverStar wrote:If you gave it less than 4 stars I gotta say ---
the people giving it less stars are getting on the movie for its inaccuracy to fluff, not for the attempt. (and the guy in white is called an apothecary)
to reiterate: the reason a lot of us are giving it poor ratings is because the fluff is so innacurate its like saying the US had Apache helicopters in WW2
Automatically Appended Next Post: and were not scoffing at the fact that the movie was made, were (at least i am) are just upset that the writers couldnt get minor details right, spend the extra week or so researching the already written material before making a movie.
I thought the Marines had only really seen fighting on Algol, which they saw barely any of. They were made full battle brothers out of necessity - the whole chapter was engaged fighting 'Nids, and couldn't ignore a distress call from the Fists.
Speaking of which, the number of dead Imperial Fists looked like it numbered waaaaaaaaay more then a company... it looked like the whole f'ing chapter.
Honestly I liked the film, 3 stars. The graphics and animation I got over pretty quickly, the voicework was decent, but the pace was kinda meh. I wanted to see more firefights. Also,
Spoiler:
whats with the SGT being so uncerimoniously killed less then halfway through the film? The only survivor of his squad on Algol and he dies off screen? I wanted to see that landspeeder do work, son!
CajunMan550 wrote:Gave it a 3 not paying attention thought it was out of 5. It was all right...... But the whole Crosius thing the squad raping so hard and the complete lack of fluff did hurt the movie. Plus formentioned points...
Spoiler:
BTW the squad were noobs cuz if you read the back story the rest of the chapter is getting raped by tyranids and this is all they can afford which still doesn't make up for the ridicoulousness of some stuff that happens but still, Also WTF with them raping the CSMs so hard those are 10000 year old soilders and the vets of 1000 wars and 1 shot kills them without the SMs blinking.
Spoiler:
Yeah during the whole fight i was like: "ARMOR SAVE! Armor save! Armor save!? Armor save? Armor sa-? Armor ...? Armo-? What is this!? Bunch of spacers failing all AS!?!"
I keep hearing about this Ultramarines movie, but I haven't seen hide nor hair from it. Did they only release it in thUK? Where can I get ahold of this?
The fairly mediocre graphics didn't bother me, in fact in some places they were genuinely good to look at (particularly the stained glass). Elsewhere it wasn't really the budget limitations that hurt the images, it was the flat colour scheme that made it all so dull to look at. The biggest problem is that ultimately, it was a dull, predictable story with mediocre action scenes.
I mean, was anyone really that surprised when the big bad turned out to be exactly who the big bad always turns out to be in these kinds of stories? It really did feel like every second 40K story I'd ever read.
Was anyone really that excited when the chaos marines rans blindly forward, while the Ultramarines stood there firing vaguely into the distance? You need to make these two groups interact, put them into a real space with real geography, tell the story of an engagement. With 40K you've got the advantage of having the 'rules' of the fight already written, and a horde of fans who'd squee with delight at seeing those rules followed on the big screen. Make it an interesting encounter and we'd eat it up. Instead we got various action movie cliches, told poorly.
I've given it three stars. Yeah we all know it could've been animated better - as many have pointed out, the plot wasn't the most inspiring and was a little predictable (even despite it being penned by the great one - Dan Abnett - my literary hero) but this is reletively new stuff for GW and I think they probably wanted to appeal to a wider audience. Hopefully it will lead to bigger and better things if it has proved popular enough, and we'll see further films of better quality. Overall a good first effort. My only real gripe about it was the price (£27 if I recall) and I do hate 'special presentation' packs where it all comes in a tin - with a making of DVD - with a book - in a fancy box - in a sleeve. Just gimme the disc in a plastic box and charge me about £12 (or whatever DVD's sell for new these days - yes I know I'm out out of touch with these things - but I only ever normally go for the 3 for £10 selection).
Necroagogo wrote:I gave it 3. Exceeded expectations and it's nice to have confirmed that the Emperor's finest are British!
Heresy!! Everyone knows someone as badass as a space marine is American. Just kidding. I gave it three stars, because almost anything related to warhammer 40k is able to hold my interest no matter how horrible. In the case of the movie, it was actually better than I expected, so I quite enjoyed it. I've watched it probably 10-12 times now.
I gave it two, but now I'm thinking perhaps it was worthy of 2.5. It's not a very good movie, but I expected it to be mediocre at best. It did not disappoint in that respect. Heck, I might even watch it more than once.
I gave it 1.5 stars.
The animation and so on didn't bug me really, but the plot and direction was poor. The battle scenes were very uninspiring, and the plotting was tedious and overly drawn out. I'd have prefered an hour of entertaining film to 80 minutes of boredom.
Gave it 3. I thought the animation was fine until they took off their helmets. Some parts were hard to see but I watched it on YouTube and I figured that was just that video not the movie itself. Overall I saw the ending coming about halfway into it.
I thought it was okay. the story/plotline was sketchy at times but I didn't expect codex pictures to get it perfect
the cgi could have been better, I've seen better quality in video games and at times the animation was sketchy too. In the beginning sequence I thought the animation was supurb, then as soon as they landed on the planet I thought the animation could have been better
I got the movie via the hd digital download for £5 when i watched it i had low expectations and the beginning followed the classic "new recruits, first mission, gets way over their heads" but i was thourghly surprised at the great twist at the end i found that the movie gradually got better at end.
sure the animation wasn't brilliant, the fluff was scetchy and loads of other negetives. but if you just sit back and just watch it, it's a really great movie not brilliant but still it exceeded my expectations
Gave it 1 1/2 stars.
Saw a screenshot in white dwarf ages before release and I thought; "This looks a bit rubbish but it'll look pretty cool when they've finished the visuals". It turned out to be the finished visuals. Meh. The marines feet don't seem to be touching the ground in most scenes.
Voice acting, sound effects and music were excellent but was disappointed by the lack of plot.
Comic book that came free with DVD was pretty nice though.
A strong Three and a half. Could have had more action as the movie was just kinda sluggish then when things get going, the movies over!
Id definitely watch more movies if they are made but this just seemed to be lacking a tad. Dont get me wrong, i did enjoy the show, but they probably could have done more.
They send one tactical squad in Ultramarine? This seems slightly more believable than the three single marines that were sent to stop the waaagh in the game Space Marine.
Is it that the writers handling the IP don't understand 40k, or that they think each Ultramarine is a blue-armoured crack-shot messiah?
Next SM codex will be called "Ultramarine" and give you the option to take 1 blue space marine with a bolter. It's competitive up to 2000 points.
The plot was very predictable, the fluff was abused by half the stuff, but the graphics were alright and the fight sequences were very cool, if not to the fluff of how good a space marine would be against that certain opponent they were facing. And on the 'special features' in the armoury, i'm fairly sure it says that space marine armour is made of titanium or something... why? just why? 2 and a half, at a push.
It reminded me of watching Reboot as a kid. Then it reminded me of the Roughnecks starship troopers tv show and then i wished I was watching the starship troopers tv from that point on. It might have been better with no-name actors who just needed something on their resumes, then they could have used the money they paid to the b+ list actors on things like better dialogue or maybe some more protagonists. The only thing I really couldn't stand was the old wrinkly apothecary I thought spacemarines didn't really age so much as they just turned into scar tissue.
I really didnt mind the movie, the CGI was good (especially in fight scenes), the voice acting was good and in my opinion, the fluff was good, il just point out afew common misconceptions: the apoc and captain on a stike cruiser with one tactical squad: could have been a master of recruits and a recently excelling recruit unis that are just going into battle as ''true'' ultramarines (a tactical squad), and imo i dont think it would be rare for an apothacary to tag along with a new squad, especially if they were away from any chapter support, also i also think it was obviously a flash forward at the end. on the other hand the movie dosnt exactly make these points (if i am correct) clear enough, i mean, dan abnett scripted this (correct me if im wrong) and he dont usualy make mistakes like that. one thing that does keep bugging me thogh is that if they are a tac squad, surely they should of been in a devestator and assault squad first.
I was just sad at the comparison they dispayed between obviously how good they depicted the Ultramarines over the Imperial Fists, but everything else i liked, just hope to see better quality in the future for graphics.
Lets see, scale on a 0-4 scale with 2 being average?
I will say 2.5 ish as in slightly above average. I was a little disappointed but I went in with low expectations and got a little more than what I expected. I would have liked more but overall I enjoyed it and im glad i watched it however I wont being buying it.
For all you haters on the movie, you couldn't have expected them to make a million dollar film. They didn't know how it would have been rated by viewers because there has never been a movie like it before except cut scenes from the DoW games. For the really cheap budget they were on i think it was a fantastic movie. And sure the boltguns shredding chaos marines like they were imperial guard not wearing any armour was a bit over the top, but for marine supporters they like chaos being riped apart easy.
1 star, all in all just a really poor movie a waste of my time watching it.
The graphics were ok at least watchable and pretty much what I expected, and the voice acting was very good but that's all the good I have to say.
The plot was virtually none existant, half the film was just Space Marines wandering about! A big thumbs down from me if you've not seen it don't bother.
2 and 1/2 Stars because I was so starved for a 40k movie... but they made it about Ultramarines? Yawn'' Could've taken this in a more interesting direction
It was too bad. I mean it was kind of boring but i think it has alot of potential. I didnt like they way everyone walked ya know kinda bouncy. Its alright for what it is I guess.
1 Star... The plot was boring and predictable. The cinematics were ok at best. You look at all of the video game trailers (GW based ones) and they look better than this movie did.... how?
Only thing that was above poor was the voice acting. Not saying it was amazing, but was ok.
1.5,m such a terrible movie. One minute you've got Chaos Marines surviving boltgun shots to the chest, then you have a Chaplain using Psychic powers...
I thought it was poor. The story wasn't great and the graphics were considerably worse than a game cut scene. I can see what they are trying to do with it and hopefully the next one they have will improve.
I felt that it was a decent attempt but that there were SO many things that it fell short on that I couldnt help but be dissapointed. The story desperately needed better research and the graphics really needed to be fleshed out better. Having said that I realized going into it that it wasnt going to be the highest quality movie and my expectations were not unwarranted.
What I wanted, what I actually expected, and what I got are three completely separate and different things.
I wanted essentially space marine porn, I wanted to see big guys in big stompy power armor rendered in every color of the dirt spectrum with loving detail beating the ever-loving gak out monsters.
What I expected was little more than a tired old story used exclusively to hold together B movie action scenes with 'sci-fi' channel budget graphics and a script worthy of cap com.
What I got was an interesting mesh of the two, the stompy power armor fucknuggets were there to be sure but not rendered even close to the level of detail that I thought it deserved. The story was lackluster and only served to tie together the fights which would have been ok if the fighting animations themselves had been done by Relic or THQ... or Blizzard for that matter.
On the whole I was entertained, excited and somehow disappointed all at the same time. A fun thing to watch with friends and talk about over the gaming table, but not substantial enough to justify a re-watch.
I think it's one of the worst pieces of work ever committed to video. I'll always remember the production assistant's face at Games Day after the preview when a friend and I were asked how it was and we said "pretty rubbish".
The film turned out worse than that, if I had paid for it I would have been livid.
It also annoys me because I see it as another roadblock to a Hollywood 40K movie, which could be so good it would make your eyes bleed. These guys seemed to work pretty hard on proving otherwise.
i think an Imperial Guard movie that was live action and made by a big producer would do phenomenally better than the animated pile of fecal matter they called "Ultramarines."
I cant believe how many good ratings it has had.. maybe I have a warped perception because I wanted to support the idea and thus spent a fething bomb on the collectors edition...
But yeah, It was god awful. Really bad. Good voice acting, but everything else was appalling, it was boring, made very little sense, and the marines acted like morons the whole way through.
I know this is never going to get read, but I'll put my two sense in for the sake of post whoring.
I gave it 2 1/2 stars.
I came in with slightly lower expectations, but the movie was disappointing. There are more fluff inconsistencies than anything seen before. The voice acting was okay, but the graphics and animation were crap. I've done better in
My basement with free amateur software. The marines didn't look all that realistic either. Most of the scenes were just the squad walking. With bad animation and graphics? I don't think so.
The only way the movie got Those stars was it WAS A MOVIE. ABOUT SPACE MARINES (smurf or not). It's still cool even if the movie, to an outsider, sucks.
One star, if that. I don't much mind about the graphics, but the lack of plot was dire. I know its a film based on a game, so it's not really going to be profound like Die Grosse Stille, or beautiful like I don't know what, but a lot of guilty-pleasure sword-and-sandals (sword-and-powerarmour?) fun could be had from 40K. The script and plot however, were really bad, and for reasons below, and as you have such a rich background to work with, I will hammer it. I did not pay for it, so no real bones from me.
After a good night's sleep, I will be a little more charitable. I know the budget was small, and although there is no excuse, however small the budget, for a bad script or bad actors (I have seen some wonderful plays acted by people with day-jobs), they did have very good voice acting, the big set pieces were good although it took us ages to wade there, and the trailer (Ultramarine Monks! what is not to like), for what it is worth, was really quite good.
I will raise it to two-and-a-half.
Kudos for trying, I should have liked to see more effort paid to plot, there are some really good amateur writers out there, and the 40K feel was there, I thought the graphics were actually not bad (although the trailer used prosthetics and costume, not CGI, and looked much better, as people could act, and the whole thing felt more '40K) I would love to see a live-action 40k film, bu just a better script and I would have given it three to four out of five - a salutary lesson, I think, another 40K movie from the same people would be great, but please don't neglect the plot! Cliched as it may be, 40K has a heck of a lot of backdrop and just, basically, appealing things - Latin, armour, monks chanting, Inquisition, heavily pseudo-Baroque get ups, Gothic decor, Imperial Guard, Emperor, daemons, hundreds more, it's dripping with rich plot, just waiting to be used so it is inexcusable to have a bad plot. I'm being so harsh because you have so much to work with - look to the Imperial Armour books, for example, for some really good 40K writing.
Hack Acting? That featured the voice of one of the actors of this generation, John Hurt! Your "Hack Acting" evidently shows how little you understand the difficulty involved when you only have your voice to act with.
I gave the film 3 Stars
i enjoyed the film mainly due to my love for the hobby although there were certainly alot of areas that could have
been improved on. the graphics weren't anything special yet were enough for me.
the plot was a little lacking but hopefully more can be produced in the future and this is just a base block to go from
I never found out why 10 space marines, an apothecary and a captain were on a strike cruiser by themselves with little to no crew besides servitors in the far reaches of space. It also made it sounded like it was their first time into battle, weren't they scouts before! And finally, why did they leave the speeder, it could have been useful. It had a freakin' multi melta on it!!!!
to conclude, its one of those meh movies you just love to watch
Fluff aside, It deserves atleast 3 stars. You have no idea how hard it is to coordinate a team to make a movie that remotely looks good. Better graphics come with more money, and if a studio isn't making it, they can't afford top notch Dawn of War styled cinematics with a team of 100+ people from relic.
I'd encourage more 40k movies! They are only going to get better and better =)
I doubt anyone that ranked it as 0/1 has no idea how difficult it is to do fully animated scenes, its not like an actor walks across the stage.
It gets an A for effort. The Voice acting was top notch. The animation was good enough to tell the story, some of the faces looked really bad though so I'm glad most of the time they were covered by helmets. It was too dark in the Citadel to really get a feel for the place but the exterior was nice as well as the Battle Barge, a lot of nice touches there, except for where were all the serfs and servitors? I saw like 3 the whole time and these ships are supposedly teaming with massive crews of chapter serfs and servitors.
The story was only bare bones, there was no meat to it so it wasn't satisfying in that sense.
The Imperial Fists had a presence so that was cool. They got pawned, so not so cool, but John Hurt was one of them so that is double cool, but he then got pawned so double uncool but it was to Terrance "Kneel before Zod" Stamp so that equaled cool.
Overall I enjoyed watching it the one time but it's not likely I'll watch it again.
Although my one reflection on the movie as a whole is that I actually wish they had flipped the movie entirely.
We were told the reason we see so few marines is that the rest are off fighting in wars against the tyranids.
I'd have preferred to have seen the marines fighting the nids, rather than 10 marines fighting a somewhat mediocre daemon prince.
If you are going to pick Ultramarines as your subject for a movie, and briefly mentioned the wars they are most famous for, instead of showing them, I feel you've missed something.
less than 1 because thery are only fighting 20minutes out of a 90minute movie most of the time they are talking and climbing....if your going to make a Movie espically about 40K its got to have nothing short of 2/3rds combat/battles and scenes inbetween to explain what happened and whats going on next
Commissar41.0 wrote: less than 1 because thery are only fighting 20minutes out of a 90minute movie most of the time they are talking and climbing....if your going to make a Movie espically about 40K its got to have nothing short of 2/3rds combat/battles and scenes inbetween to explain what happened and whats going on next
A universe where there is only war, A movie with mostly walking and little fighting about this universe... Seem okay to you? I won't fault the graphics (after all low budget) or over all story line, voice acting better than expected. Wanted WAY more action and isn't that chaos legion worshipers of khorne? If so why would the be sneaking around instead of just charging like most of Khorne worshipers?
Space marine, the video game had better cinematics than the bloody movie, even ingame graphics were better. Cant imagine why they couldnt make a better graphs engine.
As a fanboi i enjoyed it but objectively speaking from an unbiased point of view it was not a good effort, to prove my point check The Inquisitor movie intro which is fanmade how better it looks than the professional one.
I personally really liked the film, I mean it seems to me like you guys are mainly just wishlisting 'THE PURFECT 40K MOOVEE.'
So what it was about Ultramarines, they're probably the most well known 40k army, and so GW had to try to make the movie appeal to the widest audience and so they included them.
The CGI was fine, especially considering the relative obscurity of Warhammer 40k compared to the topics of other movies, I mean seriously, do you think they could afford a multimillion dollar budget just for a movie that will probably sell less than most sets of miniatures?
The voice acting was awesome, great actors, I thought it fitted the marines well.
As for the fluff, most of it lined up fine, I don't see the chaplain using psychic powers as a poster suggested? Do you really think you know exactly what a crozius does?
Also, the actual presentation of the collectors edition, and the graphic novel included, was really nice.
Obviously, it can't be perfect, but then again no movies can, so I don't see how GW is expected to make one.
It was a lot better than many more popular, higher budget movies I've seen.
A solid three stars from me. Not for conventional reasons, though. It has 3 redeeming factors; 1. The voice acting is top notch. Some of my favorite actors from some of my favorite sci-fi films lending their voices. 2. It has an excellent soundtrack. The sound effects are pretty good as well and they combine to create a moody, grim dark atmosphere. 3. You aren't looking at the appalling visuals much while you are painting. This movie makes for great background noise when your eyes are otherwise occupied. The static images that you see while glancing up for seconds at a time look great. This movie, for me, is audio drama/soundtrack with visuals that is some of the best background noise for painting. Other than background noise, it is worth paying attention to one time through. Paying more than 5 bucks for it nullifies anything good I have to say about it, however.
I'm so surprised that 34% of people either have not seen the movie or don't know what an Ultramarine is. If you are a 40k player and don't know what an Ultramarine is, that is very sad.
I gave it a 3. I'll agree that the game's fan base was the target audience, and am glad it wasn't handled in the way reboot Hollywood films are done. My biggest issue is that it's another "a day in the life of..." which is all fine and great, and admittedly that could happen to the scale I'd prefer, but I'd want to see a much bigger scale situation. Titans vs. Hive Fleet, epic campaigns like BA vs. Orks, Necron origins...
- with a book - in a fancy box - in a sleeve. Just gimme the disc in a plastic box and charge me about £12 (or whatever DVD's sell for new these days - yes I know I'm out out of touch with these things - but I only ever normally go for the 3 for £10 selection).
