Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie (2010)

Who payed the critics

Beautiful, moving film.

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Having enjoyed the computer games and artwork of Warhammer 40,000 I was very curious about the new film. I always have mixed feelings when watching game adaptations because in my experience they often turn out to be awful, unfaithful to the game or both. Compared to the likes of Dungeons & Dragons (2000), Doom or Wing Commander I would say this one does all right - but also no more than that.Visually, I think they have done a great job at capturing the dark, grim and gritty Warhammer 40k universe. The music with its military drums and religious choir pieces supports this very well. The voice cast is impressive although the plot and its characters don't give the actors much room in terms of the emotions they can work with. I did notice that the production didn't seem to have spent much time on the characters' facial animations as if they knew that. From the trailer I saw it seemed there would be non-stop action but as it turned out the movie was often very quiet and slow. And this is, I believe, the major weakness of the film: there's not enough action and there is too little characterisation going on to fill the rest. The tone, mimics and dialogues feel flat and it's hard to connect with any of the characters - even to tell them apart sometimes. Ultimately, I guess your average fierce, grim, zealous space marine does not make for an interesting character: he will rush into combat, die horribly, be corrupted by daemons or survive to do the same thing over.On the whole the plot is linear and without any surprises. In fact, the whole film seems much like a rendering of a Dawn of War 2 mission. So, I'd say if this is what you're looking for you'll be fine. It's an evening of dark, gritty entertainment. But I'd don't think it's of much interest to anybody not already a fan of the Warhammer 40k universe of narrative.

I've always been ambivalent about the idea of there being a Warhammer 40,000 movie. It sounds like a wonderful idea, yes, but the setting that's been built up over the decades is so detailed and varied that I can't help but feel it couldn't be done justice in a single feature length narrative. The universe is also so harsh, alienating, sombre and overflowing with religious mania and entropic hopelessness that trying to appeal to a mainstream SF audience would probably gut it of the things that made it unique.So, when Games Workshop said they were creating a Warhammer 40,000 movie as a direct-to-DVD film available through mail order... I wouldn't say I was looking forward to it per se, but it did pique my interest. They're selling it directly to a limited audience of fans who already like it, ergo they can cut loose and deliver something that's true to the universe without worrying about demographics. And Dan Abnett's writing it! So, even if it does reduce the entire universe to a couple of pitched battles and a squad of not-very-interesting space marines, it'll at least be true to the material. A fanservice-y animated companion to the game, like the art books and source books they release, only in movie form.Even on these terms, I was disappointed. Aside from the superficial details, the story takes no advantage of the setting - a squad of soldiers go to a featureless desert planet to investigate a mysterious signal, wander around, have a firefight, rescue some guys, have another firefight, escape and then have a pointless non-fire fight after the predictable last-act "twist". Yeah, the spaceship has stained-glass windows and they detect the monsters using an enchanted banner rather than a bio-scanner, but so what?Why not give us something we can't get in Every Direct To DVD SF Movie Ever? We could be seeing the feudal system that creates the Ultramarines. See the role they play on their home world, as defenders and as aristocrats. See how they're selected, what happens to them, what drives them, whether they ever question their belief system, how well they get on with factions who interpret scripture differently - in other words, it could have been ABOUT them while maintaining a strong action / suspense narrative. The setting calls for something along the lines of Kingdom of Heaven, or The Seventh Seal, or even Alien 3. Instead, it's about a squad of identical blue dudes shooting a squad of identical black dudes.But that's not the big problem with Ultramarines. The big problem with Ultramarines is that it's incredibly boring. The first half an hour - of a seventy-six minute film! - consists almost entirely of the characters wandering around a featureless desert without finding anything. There's no mounting tension, or sense of discovery, or even character interaction; it's like watching someone get lost in a video game and not know where to go next. I'm not joking when I say that the big turning point at the end of act one is the discovery that some people were killed during a war.Ooo.Show the audience a pile of bodies in a setting where there normally wouldn't be a pile of bodies and you've got their attention. Show them a pile of bodies in a war zone and... well, that's business as usual, isn't it? There's a hint of something potentially interesting and disturbing in these scenes, because the bodies have been mutilated and arranged in what appears to be a demonic symbol, but it's never really dwelt on, it just exists on the edge of the frame in a couple of shots. There could have been some real suspense built up here, but it comes across as just another day in the Ultramarines. If the characters aren't affected by what's happening, then why should we be?Oh God, the characters.Almost every character in this movie wears identical blue armour, including a helmet which covers their face. Because they all lead lives of fanatical, monastic devotion to the Emperor of Mankind, there are no differing views beyond "Let's rescue the captain" "No, it's too dangerous", which means no conflict, which means no drama. We can't tell who's who and we don't know what they're feeling, so how are we supposed to care about what's going on?When the "hero" character defeats the demon at the end, it's meant to be a moment of apotheosis for him, except I honestly couldn't remember what he'd done prior to this point or why his heroism was more notable than anyone else's - even with their helmets off, they're all lantern-jawed white men with shaven heads and British accents.Now, there's a (hugely predictable, mostly because the plot's finished fifteen minutes before the movie has) "twist" finale in which one of the marines is revealed to have been possessed by a demon. Fine, "daemon". This strand of the plot exists solely to pad out the story to feature length, but had some more attention been paid to it then we might, MIGHT have had a decent story going. Show how someone raised for a life of pious devotion can fall and become the thing he's been fighting. Does he doubt his faith? Has a life of poverty and chastity left him unfulfilled? Was his zealotry really just an outlet for the uncontrollable rage of a psychotic monster? Is he fighting against it, or does he enjoy the power? Not a clue, he just got possessed.The animation isn't great. It's not the overall quality that's the issue, it's that nothing moves seems to have any weight or physical presence. These guys are in what amounts to plate mail armour, but they're jumping around like they're on the moon. This totally destroys any threat generated by their presence - they seem hollow, not imposing.Even at 76 minutes, it's still too long.

This review contains spoilers, don't read if you haven't seen the film!They had it all: a fan base of millions, big financial backers, a setting that has mesmerized people all over the world, great actors and a huge expectancy from all the people who wanted to see it.And what did they do? They made a film that's infinitely weaker than the much shorter computer game intros that were made for the Dawn of War games! The people that made the intros (especially for the first DoW game) is immensely more gifted and has more insight, know-how and general interest in the WH40K setting than the ones making this "film".I am astonished, sad and tremendously eager to know just how this was possible? How can the makers of the game, the company of Games Workshop for instance, even begin to contemplate giving this so-called movie a "go". It's totally inconceivable.1. The so-called "marines" are on an IQ-level similar to the Orks.2. The "tactic" that these super humans use while going on this mission is so full of holes and generally just without any sort of prepared thought. Remember; these are the Ultramarines, the same warriors whose leader wrote the Codex of the Adeptus Astartes. This codex allegedly tells how a successful strategy can be obtained from thousands of different battle situations, like Sun Tzu's "The Art of War".3. The chaos marines also behaved totally without thought, and only threw themselves against the imperial marines in wave after wave. All the imperials had to do, was standing put and shoot. And these, the chaos marines, are supposed to be descended from Warmaster Horus himself, the ones that calls themselves the Black Legion. These should be the best of all chaos marines! No, this has to be forgotten and the filmmakers need to go back to their draw boards. Make a new, much improved film, and maybe I'll watch.

plot holes the movies have got plot holes the size of a space hulk first Astartes are immortal soldiers whose purpose in live is to serve the emperor whenever where ever however they have no other live and they cant turn the job down ,they fight when all others had failed they dive into the maelstrom of battle killing aliens mutants and heretics alike they cleanse whole worlds in a company no bigger than about 200 man in most cases when they were human they were fearsome warriors who are the best in there death-worlds and show will,power and potential behind that of a normal man then they most pass initial test of some sort -like fighting to death - and probably they almost die that is when the SM appear get the aspirates and put them through hell were their hearts and will and strength will be tested a hundred times at last the get there gene-seed which is a test of some sort for it can kill them or change them into mindless beast and if they survived all that stuff then they become scouts where they will fight for decade or so before receive the honor and get there power armor and that is just the beginning for they will fight for thousand of years after that so when you compare the behaviour of the Space Marines in this movies to the real version you get the following -they wont disobey orders and when their captain tell them to cover fire they will and wont move an inch -they wont die that easily of curse for they have their power armor which will inject drugs to reduce the pain dramatically also they have a second heart so yeah if the movies was made wright they would not die with a single bolt -what in the warp can kill a full company of the imperial fists ? don't tell me chaos daemons because a number of things first the imperial fists are a first founding not only that they are specialist in siege warfare not only that but they are the guys that defended the imperial palace on Terra during the Hourus heresy against a never ending tie of chaos filth and that should give you a lot of exp in defending a place + they had only one fort to protect and that is a peace of cake for them i mean trying to defend a city or world is pretty tough,but when you have 100 battle brother + probably a company commander and a librarian so again what could kill them ? also is the emperor that stupid to give the imperial fists a book that is actually a warp gate ? and if you were going to kill a daemon and you were in the armory wont you pickup perhaps a heavy Bolter and maybe a lascannon or something heavy quick question :if a an imperial general -Zyvan for instance- had a couple of psykers and deployed them on star ports -cc Traitor's Hand- wont Macragge have any ? that is just the w40k plot holes *now the common sense plot holes the sound was awful the movies had not shown us the w40k world for all we saw was just a big star ship and nothing more the the CGI simply sucked to make a long story short the movies sucks if you were a w40k fan if not then please don't think wrong about the w40k for its way better than shown of them movie