Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie

The movie is mediocre at best, not only if you are a fan, but if you are completely uninitiated to the universe of Warhammer 40K. Scene quality is mixed. Some scenes are clearly much better than others in terms of design, and CG quality, still better than the trailers though. The story is decent enough, but the dialog is too limited to make the voice actors' time on screen worthwhile. The voice acting is good, but the vaunted lip syncing that Codex pictures was supposed to use, is actually used in very few scenes and then looks like an animated cut-scene from a game was used. Concerning the atmosphere, it's grim, it's dark, and it looks very lonely out there. The massive Imperium is not conveyed to the viewer. Overall, this movie has the feeling like it was an extra added to a book or game, and not a feature-length movie, at least not one worth going to the theater for. If you are a Warhammer 40K fan, you will not be pleased with the result. If you are not a Warhammer 40K fan, I don't think you will be thrilled with the thought of becoming one.

This movie is an easy 10 for long time Warhammer 40k fans like myself, but I am looking at it through the viewpoint of the average viewer for the sake of fareness.

The plot was good and was very true to the lore of the gamesworkshops Warhammer universe. While the dialogue was sometimes short one liners and cheesy, the voice acting was magnificent. Terrance stamp and John hurt offer up truly inspiring performances along with the rest of the cast. The choral and atmospheric music is very well done and they avoided using gloomy or intense mash ups of sounds clearly stating what the mood should be, telling you how to feel. The downside is that the animation is somewhat low quality CGI, although not as bad as many people make it out to be. The story grabs your attention so well that you soon forget about the low quality animation. As far as run time, 76 minutes is not ideal, but you rarely realize how short it was unit you actually inspect the clock. Lastly, this film is aimed at a very small fanbase, being us Gamesworkshops wargamers. I look forward to more Warhammer 40k films in the future and I hope that Codex Pictures continues to produce them with the same quality and attention to detail as this one.

So here we have our first Warhammer 40,000 movie.

Immediately there are some flaws that need to be addressed: Codex Pictures, the company responsible, have created this movie out of nothing less than a love of the background. While this is not a problem (and you can tell that they're not about to make any mistakes with the lore) this does mean that they've done it out of their own pocket. Games Workshop who own Warhammer 40,000 did not put any money into the movie! What we're left with is a CGI movie which suffers from bad CGI in many places. At worst, this can mean that shots look like they're from ancient video games (Ages of Empires I's cutscenes spring to mind). At best, which seems to be just as frequent, the shots are actually quite stunning. Mostly, it averages between the two.

There you have the first fault, the second is camera-work. Yet again, this is variable and at the start of the film I thought it was awesome. However, as the film progressed I felt that the camera shots managed to spot and point out the bad CGI. And while the beginning is strong in this film, the middle seems to hold on to lingering camera shots just a little too much. This, I fear, is the reason a lot of the action is not quite as exciting as in the beginning. That, and a lack of the mighty soundtrack to accompany these scenes.

Now, before I commence with the good I must address that this film is for fans of 40k. An ingrained knowledge of the background and understanding of Space Marines and Chaos is required to get full enjoyment out of the movie. It is not to say that you won't find it entertaining as a newcomer but you may find certain mannerisms of the protagonists strange, or not understand what an astropath is, or find it difficult to believe that this elite squad is after a relic that happens to be a book... the list goes on.

Warhammer 40,000 is an established background which started rooting itself in '87. No exceptions are made to explain it's immensely vast background in this movie. As a matter of fact, it focuses on relatively little when you look at ALL of the other things that didn't make it into this movie.

Now for the good:

The first thing that springs to mind is the Story. Given reign over the script for the first 40k film is top 40k novelist Dan Abnett. He delivers. Whenever there wasn't enough happening a timely line would add depth, humour or character to the film, keeping my interest throughout. It's great how the soldiers who refer to themselves as brothers feel like a brotherhood, and that each character acts as an individual (though it may be a little hard to tell more than four apart when they don helmets) with their own personalities and motivations.

The plot is pretty strong for a 70-minute flick. As far as I could see there were no plot holes and as far as plots go this one seems straight forward but still manages to pack a few surprises.

Next for kudos is the soundtrack. Though tastes may dictate whether or not you like this soundtrack, it is very appropriate for the movie. The kind of Latin chant is very fitting for Astartes warriors and their monastic-militant lifestyles. The sound of these chants are very strong and evoke powerful emotion. The opening scene aboard the Ultramarines' Strike Cruiser is a high example of this and is used well to implement the action and dialogue.

Thirdly comes the voice actors. These voice actors are brilliant and fill the boots of Astartes perfectly. Though you may prefer the baritone thunder of THQ's Space Marines in Dawn of War II, the voices chosen make characters more distinguishable and less like generic action heroes.

Lastly a mention goes to all the parts in this movie that rang true to fans like me. With any other company such a movie would look a hundred times better but would be at massive risk of not being true to the lore. We've seen it a million times before, it's just good to see it done right.

Overall, the film starts strong, wavers in the middle and builds again in momentum near the end. It isn't perfect but with all considerations on the table - it's good - 7/10.

A Final Note: If you love Warhammer 40,000 and want to see better movies in future, go and buy this. Buy it for you, buy it for other people you know'll like it. Buy it even if you didn't like it. It took Games Workshop 20 years before they let any company make a move, and it was this one. Future Warhammer 40,000 movies with other races and new stories (maybe even Horus Heresy movies) rest with the amount of money this film makes. Codex are out on a limb here. Furthermore, if you've watched this and are able to make videos, upload a review to the Ultramarines website. They can't improve their movies without knowing what they need to improve (and I'm sure they'll be happy to hear the positive feedback too!).

I think this film is 100% faithful to it's source material, which was a brave step, and may alienate the mainstream a little. This in my opinion was well worth while, because to a fan of the old Games Workshop franchise this film was all I could have hoped that it would be.

I found the animation really appealing and an ideal route to use. The voice overs chosen were perfect, especially the great John Hurt. I loved the way the story went full circle, it worked just like a good graphic novel which I understand is writer Dan Abnett's day job. Fans of 40K won't be disappointed in my opinion.

I couldn't stop smiling with every bolter shot!

After watching this animation, I had very conflicting feelings about it. I was a bit disappointed because it didn't work, for me, as a sci-fi movie. But then I also realized that I wasn't happy about the choice of the races portrayed, as I think the Eldar Harlequines would make for a much more visually pleasing experience. Nevertheless, as a sci-fi movie, it might not have delivered anyway.

Then I had another, retrospective, look at what the movie presented, and realized that some essential aspects of the Warhammer 40.000 universe were touched upon in a balanced way. It doesn't distract the casual viewer, and it probably wets the palate of the die-hard Warhammer 40.000 nerd. (I am neither, I just happened to study this universe for a few weeks.)

The plot is vaguely interesting, though the action suffers from tempo issues at times, which I am sure any viewer will notice and be a bit frustrated about. The action sequences range from boring to fascinating. Here, too, I have some conflicting impressions.

The characters are clichéd but one is really not expected to care much about them in a personal way. They are all warriors, and in that sense, the Warhammer 40.000 universe's flavor comes through and it probably doesn't disturb too much.

All in all, I think I could have spent these 70 minutes in worse ways, and hope most viewers will gain at least the same amount of fun as I did.