I was excited as the rest of the fanbase when I heard of the Ultramarines movie, and even more so when it was announced Dan Abnett would be handling the screenplay. Unfortunately, while Abnett writes excellent books and decent comics, screenplays are clearly not his strong point. The plot of this film boils down to the eager recruit, the battle-scarred veteran and the stoic leader, accompanied by seven Red Shirts, answer a distress call from an ancient fortress, pick up a couple of survivors, fight their way out, then encounter a highly forseeable twist, resulting in a final boss, defeated of course by the eager recruit. It's all very generic and predictable, which is a shame coming from a usually talented writer.
On top of this, the actual animation budget was pretty sparing. The characters' movement is rather robotic-looking, and instead of the sweeping, grand Gothic scenery one would expect from 40k, 80% of the backgrounds are simply swirling clouds of dust. Hell, 80% of the movie is swirling clouds of dust, with the Ultramarines squad strolling through it. There are four short, unexciting fight scenes, and the rest of the movie is a lot of standing around and halfhearted platitudes about courage and service to the Emperor. The premise was apparently designed to accommodate the budget, as there is very little of the massive scale one usually sees in the setting. The only characters are marines—not a single living human, let alone a female, is seen throughout the film, and the setting consists of dark interiors and flat, desolate exteriors, more conducive to the swirling dust clouds, of course. Even the graphical effects are lacking, barely up to par with what Blizzard was doing with cutscenes back in 2003.
There are a few good points, however. There is some thrill in simply seeing Space Marines being Space Marines, and their design and accessories were fully realized. Donald Sumpter, who we now know better from Game Of Thrones, puts on an excellent performance as the cynical apothecary Pythol, and John Hurt and Terence Stamp do a decent job as well.
Overall, though, it somehow managed to make the concept of eight-foot-tall super soldiers kicking ass for their God-Emperor a boring one. It's a disheartening start to a 40k film library, and doesn't come near its full potential.
A disappointing attempt at a 40k film.
I was excited as the rest of the fanbase when I heard of the Ultramarines movie, and even more so when it was announced Dan Abnett would be handling the screenplay. Unfortunately, while Abnett writes excellent books and decent comics, screenplays are clearly not his strong point. The plot of this film boils down to the eager recruit, the battle-scarred veteran and the stoic leader, accompanied by seven Red Shirts, answer a distress call from an ancient fortress, pick up a couple of survivors, fight their way out, then encounter a highly forseeable twist, resulting in a final boss, defeated of course by the eager recruit. It's all very generic and predictable, which is a shame coming from a usually talented writer.
On top of this, the actual animation budget was pretty sparing. The characters' movement is rather robotic-looking, and instead of the sweeping, grand Gothic scenery one would expect from 40k, 80% of the backgrounds are simply swirling clouds of dust. Hell, 80% of the movie is swirling clouds of dust, with the Ultramarines squad strolling through it. There are four short, unexciting fight scenes, and the rest of the movie is a lot of standing around and halfhearted platitudes about courage and service to the Emperor. The premise was apparently designed to accommodate the budget, as there is very little of the massive scale one usually sees in the setting. The only characters are marines—not a single living human, let alone a female, is seen throughout the film, and the setting consists of dark interiors and flat, desolate exteriors, more conducive to the swirling dust clouds, of course. Even the graphical effects are lacking, barely up to par with what Blizzard was doing with cutscenes back in 2003.
There are a few good points, however. There is some thrill in simply seeing Space Marines being Space Marines, and their design and accessories were fully realized. Donald Sumpter, who we now know better from Game Of Thrones, puts on an excellent performance as the cynical apothecary Pythol, and John Hurt and Terence Stamp do a decent job as well.
Overall, though, it somehow managed to make the concept of eight-foot-tall super soldiers kicking ass for their God-Emperor a boring one. It's a disheartening start to a 40k film library, and doesn't come near its full potential.