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Ultramarines Movie Review

For the Emperor! And… Thou Shall Know No Fear!

40k Ultramarine movie Movie time over, let’s chat about the movie, Ultramarines The Movie. First, at the end of the movie, I did not stand up and shout “For The Emperor!” I did not seem to have the same feeling and inspiration as compared to watching the Dawn of War trailer. The impact factor seems to be missing, the wow and inspirational feel also seems to be missing. The movie did not have the “Emperor” level of hype I was hoping for.

The animation. Well, There are much better superior animation out there, this one I would say its only average. The smoothness of the animation is slightly less then smooth I would say. Some of the motion does not seems smooth and signs of slight jerk can be observe. The background and backdrop I thought can be much more detailed and more expressive. The desert waste land have too much mist, dust and sand… haha.

The storyline written by Dan Abnett, I guess it puts everyone to have a certain level of expectation. I was hoping for a much more “hype and into” kind of story, but the overall story did not wow me much, just probably an average story. The turn of event in the story did caught me though.

The screenplay I think is a bit draggy. Into about 20 min or so of the movie, the Ultramarines are still walking in an uneventful scenario. Even my son watching with me, asked why are they walking so long… haha. Actions only come much later part of the whole movie. The character development seems to focus only on the Ultramarines. Not much character developments for the bad guys, feel like they are just there to be there to be shot without knowing much about them…haha.

On the good side, I think the movie did a very good visual representation of the Ultramarines and the weapons of the 40k universe. The Thunderhawk and Imperial Cruiser were nicely rendered though. One question I ask while watching, there seems to be only those Ultramarines on the giant Imperial Cruiser, no others?

To sum it all, well, the movie did project a very good visual representation of the Warhammer 40k universe, along with the Space Marines and its armoury. I think fans of 40k would love to see the bolters and Space Marines in action. The bonus DVD features the armoury and weapons, characters and such, more for reference, nothing spectacular. For the story, screenplay and animation, there’s much more room for improvement. Probably maybe the Codex Pictures team should learn more from the THQ Dawn of War trailer animation team. Let’s hope future warhammer movies to come would fill us all fans with the hype to serve the Emperor!

Last but no least, the movie itself does not hype up and makes me feel “For The Emperor” and worth it to own a special edition copy, even though I own the special edition one already, haha.

FOR THE EMPEROR!

4 Responses

  1. You people that think this movie was good spend way too much time hiding from daylight in your mom’s basement playing tabletop. This movie was TERRIBLE. TERRIBLE. Its so god damn bad, I don’t even know where to start. You’ve done hit the crack pipe one to many times if you think there is ANYTHING positive to say about this film.

    First off, jesus christ, did anyone (anyone at all) research anything before making this film? I mean, could you maybe have had someone over at codex pictures actually do a little research about military formations, how squads move, how the 40k universe works, etc? How about the dumb ass marines walking around corners and through doorways with their bolters mag clamped to their legs! Really? I mean really? A space marine? Someone who’s fed tactical moves their whole life…..

    Then, the story sucked. Dan should stick to writing books, because I’m pretty sure you could read the 12 year old special Olympics sci-fi short story challenge and find better story lines. I mean seriously, I thought Dan would be your only saving grace, but christ this story line sucks. They go to a planet, kill a couple bad guys, a demon tries to come back to their homeworld? Christ, seriously, that’s it?

    The graphics consistently looked about as sexy as the fat girl that lives at the end of the block. I mean, I play video games on my blackberry that looks better than the crap you’ve cooked up.

    Sound was terrible, completely one dimensional. Bolter fire sounds like someone was shooting a .22 a half-mile away. Really, was your sound guy deaf? We are all just curious.

    You guys had a chance to really move warhammer to mainstream with this and you’ve epically, I mean epically, failed. And you the 40k fanboys need to put the god damn pipe down and be sure not to spout this off to family and friends already not familiar with the 40k universe. This will TURN PEOPLE AWAY, who are not already part of the fan base. And they’ll probably call you a nerd to boot (which you deserve if you found this movie anything above a D-).

    Don’t waste your money on this movie! If you really want to see it, find some who idiot who did waste their money and watch theirs. I’d ask for my money back, but this movie is so damn bad that the thought of dealing with it anymore makes me throw up in my mouth.

    -Sincerely Pissed off 40k fan.

  2. Wooah… calm down… πŸ™‚ Yap, I do agree the movie had some of us fan’s level of expectation greatly disappointed. But still this is probably one of the next closest visual representation of warhammer 40k out there, besides the Dawn of Wars trailer which are much better… Let’s hope there will be better ones in the future to come… Cheers!

  3. No, I value true opinions like Bob over bias review anydays.

    This movie was a let down, no it was worse than a let down…this thing shouldn’t even exist. The movie was unbearable to watch as it crushes EVERYTHING you know and like about 40K. Games Workshop must have been high to have hired a pathetic CGI team like CODEX to work on this movie. Many people have complained about the horrible CGI in the trailer, but still we all waited to see how the story turns out. TURNSOUT!! THERE IS NO STORY! a 5 years old could have wrote a better plot than Ultramarine the-freaking-movie. There is no relation to the 40K backgrounds beside the fact that they drawn Space Marines walking. CODEX have the WORST freaking writer team in the world, and holy molly do they suck.

    I have no idea what have gotten into Dan Abnett, but it have gotten down to two conclusion. One he smoked crack when he wrote the storyline. Two! CODEX production put a gun behind him and force him to slap his name on the title to lure all the little 40K kiddoes for a rape-train ride.

    This piece of turd…NEED MAJOR CLEANSING!

  4. yap… its was a pure disappointment, after the poor animation, especially when I was hoping for a good story from Dan Abnett, it continues to disappoint.. Let hope GW gather all the feedback and maybe there will be a better one in future… cheers!

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40k Orks BossWelcome to The Painting Shop
Just a typical guy who has made painting miniatures part of his daily routine life. As long as I have time in my hands, I will paint. Even with few minutes to spare at times, I will still pick up my brushes and paint a little. Nothing beats the satisfaction when you have your miniatures all done and and ready for battle!

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