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So, who actually enjoyed the movie? I liked it, but honestly expected more...It's like there was soooo much sespense and then the ending kind of fell flat. The fight scenes were alright, and I loved John Hurt as the Chaplin (BURN HERETICS!!!!).

All in all, I though it worth the money and I wasn't too disappointed.

Any thoughts from the people that have seen it???

I thought it was alright.

Not great, but decent in the fact that it may have proved the idea viable leading to some better 40k movies in the future. Well hopefully they make more movies, and better ones preferably not entirely centered on Space Marines.

It was ok, a few nice touches and some half decent animation for something clearly produced to a tight budget.

My only gripe is that having recently seen the original Dawn of War intro again I don't know why GW didn't ask the guys that made it (using the game engine and a very short amount of time) to do a whole film. That one fight trumps anything in the UM film.

I positivly despised it.
It was probably the worst movie I had seen In a long time. The characters were all the same. They were badly introduced, and the names were all so similar that I barely remebered anyones name. All I can remember was the apothicary was pythos, and there was a guy named prothius. I never got to know the characters, so when one of them died, I didn't really care. At all. It was just like, "Oh that guy died. I think his name was... uhh.. i don't remember."

There was way too much of them walking around aimlessly. Really, I think there should have been a scene at the beggining of the imperial fists desperatly fighting off an unseen enemy, while sending a destress call. That would have drawn people in. The walking around should have been used for character development. Instead it was squandered. If they used it to let me know the characters, I would have cared when they died. Instead I didn't give a feth. The only interesting characters were The two imperial fist guys and pythos. The captain was just the "Slightly more pious marine with chainsword."

There was little attempt at adding some humour and the couple of times they did it fell flat. I only realized they had been trying to be funny a minute later, and it made it even worse to realize how unnoticed their "Jokes" went. I Also hated how they just left the landspeeder behind. I kinda think that If all you had was a tactical squad and a land speeder, you would sacrifice a couple guys shooting boltguns in the place of a landspeeder firing a heavy bolter or flamer or something.

The fight scences were sub-par. The one where the captain came back should of had a more desperate air to it. They shot almost everything that came within ten feet, and the one guy that actually almost made it got his face seared off by the crouzios. The berzerkers should have gotten in to close-combat, and the marines should have had to do some elbow bashes and gun beat-downs, as well as some close-range bolter ownage. That way, when the possesed captain came back to save them, I would have felt releived that they were saved.

The demon scenes were totally lack-luster. They could've been a whole lot better. Also, when they were getting ready to face off the demon, they weere in the armoury. Someone tell me why they didn't decide to suit up in terminator armour with whirlwind missile launchers and thunder hammers and storm sheilds, while duct-taping heavy bolters to their arms or something? That would have made the fight a lot more epic and awesome. Instead they just walked past the rows of super-special-awesome wargear and decided to take on a demon prince with bolters.. All and all, I give it a half a star..

Sorry about the hater rant, I just had to let that out.

still wanna see it

It was alright... I watched it with a friend who bought it and i have to say, i wouldn't buy it myself. It isn't a must-see. But i didn't get in the fight scenes how a handful of loyal marines could take on so many of their chaos counterparts, when they surely should be equal in strength?

Bullfrog wrote:It was ok, a few nice touches and some half decent animation for something clearly produced to a tight budget.

My only gripe is that having recently seen the original Dawn of War intro again I don't know why GW didn't ask the guys that made it (using the game engine and a very short amount of time) to do a whole film. That one fight trumps anything in the UM film.

I think someone mentioned that THQ didnt animate the DoW intro and it was PlasticWax studios or something (it may be exclusive for DoW 2 though). The quality could be excused for budget, but the story was the main problem for me. For a movie that opened with "In the Grim Darkness of the 41st millenium there is only War" you'd have expected ALOT more fighting. Second nail in the coffin came when one of the tactical marines lampshaded the fact that the 10 of them were being sent in to a warzone where 100 Imperial Fists died.

loota boy wrote:I positivly despised it.
It was probably the worst movie I had seen In a long time. The characters were all the same. They were badly introduced, and the names were all so similar that I barely remebered anyones name. All I can remember was the apothicary was pythos, and there was a guy named prothius. I never got to know the characters, so when one of them died, I didn't really care. At all. It was just like, "Oh that guy died. I think his name was... uhh.. i don't remember."

There was way too much of them walking around aimlessly. Really, I think there should have been a scene at the beggining of the imperial fists desperatly fighting off an unseen enemy, while sending a destress call. That would have drawn people in. The walking around should have been used for character development. Instead it was squandered. If they used it to let me know the characters, I would have cared when they died. Instead I didn't give a feth. The only interesting characters were The two imperial fist guys and pythos. The captain was just the "Slightly more pious marine with chainsword."

There was little attempt at adding some humour and the couple of times they did it fell flat. I only realized they had been trying to be funny a minute later, and it made it even worse to realize how unnoticed their "Jokes" went. I Also hated how they just left the landspeeder behind. I kinda think that If all you had was a tactical squad and a land speeder, you would sacrifice a couple guys shooting boltguns in the place of a landspeeder firing a heavy bolter or flamer or something.

The fight scences were sub-par. The one where the captain came back should of had a more desperate air to it. They shot almost everything that came within ten feet, and the one guy that actually almost made it got his face seared off by the crouzios. The berzerkers should have gotten in to close-combat, and the marines should have had to do some elbow bashes and gun beat-downs, as well as some close-range bolter ownage. That way, when the possesed captain came back to save them, I would have felt releived that they were saved.

The demon scenes were totally lack-luster. They could've been a whole lot better. Also, when they were getting ready to face off the demon, they weere in the armoury. Someone tell me why they didn't decide to suit up in terminator armour with whirlwind missile launchers and thunder hammers and storm sheilds, while duct-taping heavy bolters to their arms or something? That would have made the fight a lot more epic and awesome. Instead they just walked past the rows of super-special-awesome wargear and decided to take on a demon prince with bolters.. All and all, I give it a half a star..

Sorry about the hater rant, I just had to let that out.

Gotta agree with this. I watched the movie with some friends and we will never go back to it. Plus, the animation and the general plot were not really convincing enough.

loota boy wrote:I positivly despised it.
It was probably the worst movie I had seen In a long time. The characters were all the same. They were badly introduced, and the names were all so similar that I barely remebered anyones name. All I can remember was the apothicary was pythos, and there was a guy named prothius. I never got to know the characters, so when one of them died, I didn't really care. At all. It was just like, "Oh that guy died. I think his name was... uhh.. i don't remember."

There was way too much of them walking around aimlessly. Really, I think there should have been a scene at the beggining of the imperial fists desperatly fighting off an unseen enemy, while sending a destress call. That would have drawn people in. The walking around should have been used for character development. Instead it was squandered. If they used it to let me know the characters, I would have cared when they died. Instead I didn't give a feth. The only interesting characters were The two imperial fist guys and pythos. The captain was just the "Slightly more pious marine with chainsword."

There was little attempt at adding some humour and the couple of times they did it fell flat. I only realized they had been trying to be funny a minute later, and it made it even worse to realize how unnoticed their "Jokes" went. I Also hated how they just left the landspeeder behind. I kinda think that If all you had was a tactical squad and a land speeder, you would sacrifice a couple guys shooting boltguns in the place of a landspeeder firing a heavy bolter or flamer or something.

The fight scences were sub-par. The one where the captain came back should of had a more desperate air to it. They shot almost everything that came within ten feet, and the one guy that actually almost made it got his face seared off by the crouzios. The berzerkers should have gotten in to close-combat, and the marines should have had to do some elbow bashes and gun beat-downs, as well as some close-range bolter ownage. That way, when the possesed captain came back to save them, I would have felt releived that they were saved.

The demon scenes were totally lack-luster. They could've been a whole lot better. Also, when they were getting ready to face off the demon, they weere in the armoury. Someone tell me why they didn't decide to suit up in terminator armour with whirlwind missile launchers and thunder hammers and storm sheilds, while duct-taping heavy bolters to their arms or something? That would have made the fight a lot more epic and awesome. Instead they just walked past the rows of super-special-awesome wargear and decided to take on a demon prince with bolters.. All and all, I give it a half a star..

Sorry about the hater rant, I just had to let that out.

Well, I agreee with several points, but I try to put into perspective that it wasn't a big-budget movie (I'm suprised John Hurt and Terence Stamp were in it to begin with) and I really wasn't expecting much...I guess that's why it didn't dissapoint

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

Bullfrog wrote:It was ok, a few nice touches and some half decent animation for something clearly produced to a tight budget.

My only gripe is that having recently seen the original Dawn of War intro again I don't know why GW didn't ask the guys that made it (using the game engine and a very short amount of time) to do a whole film. That one fight trumps anything in the UM film.

I think someone mentioned that THQ didnt animate the DoW intro and it was PlasticWax studios or something (it may be exclusive for DoW 2 though). The quality could be excused for budget, but the story was the main problem for me. For a movie that opened with "In the Grim Darkness of the 41st millenium there is only War" you'd have expected ALOT more fighting. Second nail in the coffin came when one of the tactical marines lampshaded the fact that the 10 of them were being sent in to a warzone where 100 Imperial Fists died.

As I understood it whoever was originally going to make the intro pulled out at the last minute and someone (no idea who) knocked it up using the game engine in a couple of days. No matter who it was they did a sterling job and I've always wanted there to be more of it.

You sure the original DoW was done with the game engine? It look very different (although there are some similarites, so I can see it happening). The Dark Crusade and Soulstorm ones were definately done with the game engine.

I thought it was awful. Too much "for the honorable glory of the gloriously glorious honor of glory!" and terrible representations of Chaos Space Marines as brain-dead cannon fodder human wave attacker enemies, along with AP2 bolters everywhere. Mediocre animation, terrible dialogue, and relatively cut/paste plot.

On top of it all was the pants on head slowed way the Ultramarines, supposedly tacticians without equal, operated.

Generic action movie #112: waves of entirely irrelevant enemies, mary-sue characters, awful dialogue.

This could have been almost any action movie from the 80's or early 90's, all they did was reskin it with a 40k visual. If they're gonna just reskin old movies, give us All Quiet on the Western Front, Requiem for a Dream, or a "Der Untergang" in the 40k universe instead.

I'd love a 40k movie showing the slow descent into madness on the path of the heretic and fall to Chaos of a Guardsmen stuck in the trenches being oppressed by an overbearing religously zealous buearucratic nightmare of an uncaring government. Or hell, give us a Lord of the Night movie. Just not more of this "Ultramarines" crap.

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:You sure the original DoW was done with the game engine? It look very different (although there are some similarites, so I can see it happening). The Dark Crusade and Soulstorm ones were definately done with the game engine.

It wasn't. The original DoW intro was done by the same people who did the DoW II intro.

loota boy wrote:Someone tell me why they didn't decide to suit up in terminator armour with whirlwind missile launchers and thunder hammers and storm sheilds, while duct-taping heavy bolters to their arms or something?

Sure thing!

To be able to equip, much less use, Tactical Dreadnought Armour, the veterans of the first company with terminator honours (or, in the case of BTs, Sword Brethren with terminator honours) recieve additional training. You don't just "equip" TDA (in before "In Soviet Russia, TDA equips YOU!), it takes a while. As for the Thunder Hammer part, they did? The thing is, they were all pretty new as marines, and their favoured weapons were probably the humble bolter. Earlier during the film, they WERE kinda cocky, and it wouldn't be the first time that Ultramarines charged in first and asked questions later (Uriel Ventris and the Nightbringer anyone?).

I'd actually like to see more of them, see what they do different.

Kanluwen wrote:

MechaEmperor7000 wrote:You sure the original DoW was done with the game engine? It look very different (although there are some similarites, so I can see it happening). The Dark Crusade and Soulstorm ones were definately done with the game engine.

It wasn't. The original DoW intro was done by the same people who did the DoW II intro.

They should have used them. The DoW cinematics are the best visual representation of 40k outside of actual minis and most of the art. Period. Remember the first time you saw the beginning movie for the original DoW? Every single facet of that was perfect.

Hell, even the Firewarrior cinematics were cooler. Ultramarines was about as blande and sterile as youd expect from a flick where they put the most boring protagonist against the most boring antagonist in the entire fiction. Seriously, SM v CSM? Might as well be guys in white v guys in black.

*sigh*

We've gone through this before.

The animation budget for the DoW opening cinematics, the Fire Warrior cinematics and the like was huge because they were being done by THQ.

Those animations, short as they were, also are more expensive than the entire movie.

Kanluwen wrote:*sigh*

We've gone through this before.

The animation budget for the DoW opening cinematics, the Fire Warrior cinematics and the like was huge because they were being done by THQ.

Those animations, short as they were, also are more expensive than the entire movie.

Dude, its GW.

Making it's first full length movie.

Featuring, almost exclusively, its most popular product....

The budget for this flick deserved to, could have, and should have been huge.

Dude, GW didn't put any money into this movie.

Why? Because it's not a "sure thing". You don't funnel tons of money into it when you license out a property.

Kanluwen wrote:Dude, GW didn't put any money into this movie.

Why? Because it's not a "sure thing". You don't funnel tons of money into it when you license out a property.

Thats the exactly it. If they werent gonna do it properly, they shouldnt have at all. The movie is a mess, sure it can be kinda entertaining in the same way the box art for the minis are, but to do such a disservice to their own brand is just sad and kind of smacks of the problems most people have with the company.

This is the same company that broke UK law and allowed the CEO to also be the Chairman of the board, and then *borrowed* money to pay Dividends to stockholders, thus doubling his yearly income (and a good example of why its a bad idea to have the CEO be Chairman of the Board). Business savvy is not GW's strong point.

AdeptusAssfartes wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:Dude, GW didn't put any money into this movie.

Why? Because it's not a "sure thing". You don't funnel tons of money into it when you license out a property.

Thats the exactly it. If they werent gonna do it properly, they shouldnt have at all. The movie is a mess, sure it can be kinda entertaining in the same way the box art for the minis are, but to do such a disservice to their own brand is just sad and kind of smacks of the problems most people have with the company.

"If they weren't gonna do it properly"?

What they did is entirely the proper way to do it.
You test the waters for the demand, and you test to ensure that your licensee really can deliver the way they're promising.
You do not invest tons of capital into the company, only for them to never deliver. That's what happened with the company that was originally doing the Warhammer Online game--which GW did put money into. They broke the cardinal rule of licensing with a company you've never dealt with:
You give them aid--but not financially.

I mean, you don't think Dan Abnett was put in charge of the project just for giggles do you?

Well however the "water" turned out, there's definately not going to be a market for 40k movies now, not unless PlasticWax would be the animators.

Then there's not going to be any more 40k movies, because quality animators aren't cheap--and many of them don't do movies.

Kanluwen wrote:

"If they weren't gonna do it properly"?

What they did is entirely the proper way to do it.
You test the waters for the demand, and you test to ensure that your licensee really can deliver the way they're promising.
You do not invest tons of capital into the company, only for them to never deliver. That's what happened with the company that was originally doing the Warhammer Online game--which GW did put money into. They broke the cardinal rule of licensing with a company you've never dealt with:
You give them aid--but not financially.

I understand how it works from a business and financial perspective. But that doesnt change the fact that the product is of extremely low quality. Movies get made every year in similar fashion and yet many of them manage not to suck, and thats without a pre conceived fluff well that goes as deep as GW's. The movie is a failure, financially as well as artistically, however we all know that it didnt have to be. Much of the reasons for that come from the fact that it clearly did not get the support from GW as it needed.


Also, comparing the feasibility of an MMO in an over saturated market with a niche film aimed at an incredible specific and already captivated target audience is a huge stretch.

Kanluwen wrote:
I mean, you don't think Dan Abnett was put in charge of the project just for giggles do you?

Well, he sure as hell wasnt there to write a good script, apparently.

AlmightyWalrus wrote:

loota boy wrote:Someone tell me why they didn't decide to suit up in terminator armour with whirlwind missile launchers and thunder hammers and storm sheilds, while duct-taping heavy bolters to their arms or something?

Sure thing!

To be able to equip, much less use, Tactical Dreadnought Armour, the veterans of the first company with terminator honours (or, in the case of BTs, Sword Brethren with terminator honours) recieve additional training. You don't just "equip" TDA (in before "In Soviet Russia, TDA equips YOU!), it takes a while. As for the Thunder Hammer part, they did? The thing is, they were all pretty new as marines, and their favoured weapons were probably the humble bolter. Earlier during the film, they WERE kinda cocky, and it wouldn't be the first time that Ultramarines charged in first and asked questions later (Uriel Ventris and the Nightbringer anyone?).

Well, ok, I admit I'm not the number one guy when it comes to fluff accuracy, but they could've grabbed something simpler. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you're a devestator before you're a tactical, so they could've grabbed some missile launchers or lascannons or something, which they would know how to use. I'm pretty sure I would tool up with all the awesome wargear I could if I was getting ready to fight a demon.

They could have just done a movie adaption of one of the Horus Heresy Novels, or DoW (the original one, not WA, DC or SS).

AdeptusAssfartes wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:

"If they weren't gonna do it properly"?

What they did is entirely the proper way to do it.
You test the waters for the demand, and you test to ensure that your licensee really can deliver the way they're promising.
You do not invest tons of capital into the company, only for them to never deliver. That's what happened with the company that was originally doing the Warhammer Online game--which GW did put money into. They broke the cardinal rule of licensing with a company you've never dealt with:
You give them aid--but not financially.

I understand how it works from a business and financial perspective. But that doesnt change the fact that the product is of extremely low quality. Movies get made every year in similar fashion and yet many of them manage not to suck, and thats without a pre conceived fluff well that goes as deep as GW's. The movie is a failure, financially as well as artistically, however we all know that it didnt have to be. Much of the reasons for that come from the fact that it clearly did not get the support from GW as it needed.


Also, comparing the feasibility of an MMO in an over saturated market with a niche film aimed at an incredible specific and already captivated target audience is a huge stretch.

Dude. Go watch any animated movie out there and then look at GW's financials. They do not make half as much money as you think; at the very best with GW hemorrhaging money into the project-- we'd see something on par with Halo: Legends.

Oh wait...that's actually what we saw.
And I didn't "compare the feasibility of an MMO". I pointed out that GW once did a project using the licensing ideas that you put forwards. The people took the money and ran.

The Stargate franchise had the same thing happen with their "Stargate: Worlds" project.

Kanluwen wrote:*sigh*

We've gone through this before.

The animation budget for the DoW opening cinematics, the Fire Warrior cinematics and the like was huge because they were being done by THQ.

Those animations, short as they were, also are more expensive than the entire movie.

I believe there was a thread about the movie that totalled the budget for Ultramarines as around $13 million dollars. That's chump change compared to what blockbuster movies are given (easily $100 million). Compared to that, It should be obvious that this movie's animation wasn't going to be all that great.

Please realize that the movie also wasn't really made by GW, rather by Codex pictures. Codex Pictures is the ones who made it and will receive the lions share of the proceeds, they are merely licensing GW's material and giving GW a cut.

It wasn't really GW's to duff or not. Anymore than Warhammer Online was. A 3rd party licensed the background and made a product. It's not like GW made the movie themselves out of their own pockets, nor did Tolkien's estate make the Lord of the Rings movies.