WesternAnimation 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.
WesternAnimation Better than expected, worse than hoped for
So certain head-scratching moments aside, the movie was a good, if relatively bland outing for the 40K universe. The budget shows itself pretty heavy in certain situations; most of the time the Marines appear to be moving "through" or "over" the environment rather than "within" it... is it possible to have conspicuous CGI in an all-CGI movie? The actual combat scenes are usually pretty good, even if the diversity of tactics for BOTH sides seems limited to a choice between "hold your ground (even if you're out in the open) and shoot anything that moves" and "charge headlong, screaming bloody murder."
The overall look of the film is fantastic, with highly detailed and interesting environments, and wonderfully crafted characters (for instance, the new recruits' armor is shiny and near-perfect, while the older veterans show heavy weathering, minor repairs, etc.) Unfortunately, most of that is only noticed during close-ups, while so much of the movie is pulled back to give more of a landscape.
All in all, while not horribly disappointed, my number base reaction can be summed up thusly: "Wow, that was a phenominal mid-game cutscene I just watched. Now, where's the actual direct-to-DVD movie?"
WesternAnimation Not bad for a first outing
The Ultramarines film tells the story of a squad of, well, Ultramarines, sent to investigate a distress signal coming from an Imperial shrine on a remote planet. Needless to say, this does not end well. It's not exactly original, but it's a solid formula that works well with the setting.
What took me by surprise was the dark atmosphere. The picking off of the characters one by one is reminiscent of Aliens, and Dan Abnett's script creates a lot of tension. The characters take some time to find their voices, and there are a few plot holes, but when was the last time you saw a movie that didn't have plot holes?
The main failing of the film is the CGI - it's not so great. In particular, the facial animations are partway into the Uncanny Valley. However, this can mostly be excused by the budget, and they did the best with what they had. The fight sequences, especially those where all the Marines have their helmets on, are done quite well. The sand blowing around during the long walk also helps add to the tension - for all we know, there could be an entire army of daemons lurking nearby.
To sum it all up, this film marks a decent first outing for a Warhammer 40000 film. Emperor willing, we will see another one in the near future, possibly focused on the Imperial Guard or Inquistion.
I give Ultramarines a 7 out of 10.
WesternAnimation Whatever happened to courage and honor?
Well... lets just get this over with. I'll start by saying that I love Warhammer 40,000. I love Space Marines, and I like the Ultramarines as long as I am allowed to ignore Ward's fluff. So I came into this movie pretty optimistic.
Its started good with that action sequence. And then I heard the Ultramarines' new catchphrase, "We march for Macragge and we shall know no fear!". Yeah, whatever happened to "courage and honor"? That was a perfectly good battle cry. Also, why do the marines act like fresh recruits? They've been scouts for more than fifty years. But ok, thats fine, lets move on. Lets follow the movie through the plot.
So the Imperial Fists are guarding a shrine. I can see that, they are great defenders and fortifiers. So how many marines are there, ten? Twenty? The whole Fifth Company? Are they kidding me? Ok thats fine. So there is a lot of walking through dust. I can understand that because the people had virtually no money. Its looking ok right now.
The land speeder was awesome. I loved every second of it. Then we get to the first action sequence. I enjoyed it. The bolters, while not sounding as well as they do in Dawn of War, sound ok. There is also a good amount of blood. The chaos space marine that Verenor killed also seemed pretty threatening, taking almost 10 bolt rounds to down. Then the marines cross the wooden bridge. The wooden bridge. The 800 pound space marines cross a wooden bridge. Ok movie, a crane couldn't suspend my disbelief.
The shrine was cool and everything in it. The chaplain was my favorite character and at this point I was looking forward to the main fight. That is where the problems start. I understand the lack of budget, but they can't expect me to believe that the Ultramarines are going to stand in the open while the World Eaters, excuse me, Black Legion, charges them. But fine. These Black Legion are stupid; maybe they are new, weaker marines that go down in one shot. But they don't even get a chance to kill an Ultramarine in close combat!
So now we move into the end of the movie. I'm not going to spoil anything. But I'm going to say that it looked stupid. Completely fucking stupid. It didn't look cool in the slightest.
Despite its flaws, I was still happy to have a Warhammer movie. Just make a better one next time.
WesternAnimation We march for Macragge, from Macragge, and then back to Macragge
Remember scene in "Clerks II" when Randall makes fun of "Lo TR"? Well, he practically described this film. Space Marines are walking. Through dusty planes. And through some fortress. And then they go back. Only people who can find this movie exciting are those who get pumped up by the very fact of seeing Space Marines. Because there is nothing else there, no plot, no characters, no nothing.
WesternAnimation Passable, especially for a low budget film
"Ultramarines" isn't the kind of movie that will win awards or much praise from the likes of Roger Ebert because it's not even supposed to. It just follows one Ultramarine squad on a single, short mission, that's its whole scope.
It has the general feel of an episode of Generation Kill except with the Warriors of Ultramar instead of First Recon, and in this viewer's opinion it gives us a very solid picture of what a Space Marine actually is - that is, not really a human anymore.
The Ultramarines do have personalities (thin ones) and some bone-dry humour, but it's all overshadowed by their fanatical devotion to Emperor, chapter and to the warrior ethos in general. The scene in which Proteus assumes command conveys this brilliantly, showing how easily the battle brothers' personalities become subsumed once their commander shouts one of the slogans that have been burned into their minds. Even Pythol, a 100+ year veteran and by far the most cynical of the lot, is not exempt, nor is he any slower to take up the chant.
The whole movie is full of subtle hints about the dehumanization of the Marines, but they're not needed because of the big one that's rubbed in our faces throughout: "And we shall know no fear," the aforementioned chant, said in response to the commander's "We march for Macgragge". Fear is one of the most important tools of survival and a very important part of what makes us humans, for better or worse.
Certainly, Space Marines were never meant to be used as focus characters for high drama.
Perhaps even the unimaginative fight scenes were intentional, or make a point by accident: they show that because of their insane bravery on both sides, the Marines all use very naive tactics. As for the Black Legion dashing at the enemy in a Zerg Rush, it seems from the fluff that, aside from the World Eaters, they (and the Black Templars, maybe others too) would actually do it. Conversely, the Big Bad, while not a genius, is not adverse to ambush tactics and knows how to use its Super Speed... most of the time.
All in all, it's not great but worth a watch for anyone with at least a passing interest in Warhammer 40 K, and it's only a bit over an hour of your time.