Astartes

I know next to nothing about the Warhammer 40K IP. I stumbled across this because of a Youtube recommendation.

Simply amazing work. The visuls are good and improved through the first 5 episodes--but it wasn't the visuals that captured me--it was the directorial/editorial skill.

It is simply a superb example of minimalist storytelling. Tight editing, strong emotion, essentially no dialog--everything just clicks. I didn't need to know the IP in order to be sucked into the story and experience. It didn't matter.

There is a story here; a story about how awesome (yes, awesome) and ruthless the space marines are. It functions great in the last part as cosmic (Lovecraftian) horror. The rest of the parts are just a thrill ride of incredible directing, animation, cinematography, sound design, action, and style. The only problem is that the first parts are slightly worse when comparing to the last one as they are really short and their art/animation quality is a bit less detailed. There are a lot of dark shots where, when you are watching for the first time, you might not know what is exactly happening. Also, this is clearly for the fans of the 40k universe, thus someone who is going into this completely blind probably won't understand a thing, but they will enjoy it nonetheless.

This is how movies should and can be made, every fine detail, camera angle and visual effects are on point. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of the episodes besides how short they are. If this man hasn't already been hired by a big visual effects company they're all losing. I don't even like warhammer but man was this cool. It tells a story without even saying words. Mind blown.

This isnt just an animated fanfic of Giant Space Marines curbstomping the enemy, its far more then this:

• A top quality CGI film
• There is no dialogue, it conveys its premise with imagery, sound and violence
• It has Giant Space Marines curbstomping the enemy BUT the enemy are no push overs, they use actual tactics but against Space Marines.. its simply not enough. These Marines are professional beyond the limits of a baseline human.
• One man storyboarded and animated this all.

This is a masterclass in cinematography, sound design and story telling. Without dialogue the mood is still clear and the fast cuts aren't there to hide shoddy choreography but to cram information into a tightly constructed scene.

Just spectacular.