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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!

2 STARS:

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!

Disappointed, but not disgusted.

2 stars.

3 1/2

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'.

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 went with 2 stars - I expected more. The plot was meh and the graphics were even more MEH.

Hats off to them for making it. They were catering to the avid gamer - it should have been fighting start to finish.

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."



Happens every time.

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.

I feel it was about 3 stars.

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.

Melkhiordarkblade wrote: 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.

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.

All things considered, it wasn't bad.

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.

3.5 as I was only disappointed with
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.

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)

You order it and watch it on a TV.

The plot was slow and and the characters were fairly flat. Reviewing it objectively I gave it 2 1/2.

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.

Looking forward to the next one.

I also enjoyed that it accurately displayed the height of the marines so we can finally put that to bed - 9 to 9.5 feet tall.

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.




The plot made very little sense and was just a poor medley of cliche fantasy/scifi moments.



I really can't believe Dan Abnett was involved in this... I would expect a movie script from Swallow perhaps.

Ouze wrote:I also enjoyed that it accurately displayed the height of the marines so we can finally put that to bed - 9 to 9.5 feet tall.

Except that the film botched so much fluff that there's just no reason to believe them on that aspect.

And I've got so many official sources that say seven feet tall that I have a tough time just letting go of that.

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:


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.

The only way to get better is to try again

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...