Latest Warcraft movie trailer teases more war, less craft

The latest trailer for director Duncan Jones' Warcraft movie has dropped, teasing the epic battles that give the franchise its name.

The movie, which appears to draw inspiration more from Blizzard's original strategy Warcraft games than the World of Warcraft MMO, explores the early days of the conflict between orcs and humans, with Travis Fimmelas a young Sir Anduin Lothar and Toby Kebbell as Durotan, leader of an orcish tribe willing to seek peace.

While fans of the series know the animosity and rivalry that eventually blossoms between the factions, the film looks set to tease a possible union between human and orc -- before it's tragically stolen away thanks to fear and distrust.The trailer more or less lampshades that direction at least, with humans advocating wiping out the orcs, and only Lothar and Durotan showing any spark of camaraderie.

The official synopsis for the film reads, "The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonise another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people and their home. So begins a spectacular saga of power and sacrifice in which war has many faces, and everyone fights for something."

The effects-heavy movie uses a mixture of performance capture technology and prosthetics for its orc cast -- which features Rob Kazinsky as warchief Orgrim Doomhammer,Paula Patton as the seemingly half-human Garona, andDaniel Wu as warlock Gul'dan -- along with vast physical sets, and detailed armour for its humans. It certainly looks authentically Warcraft -- hopefully the screenplay, co-written by Jones and Charles Leavitt will do the material justice, and not suffer the fate of most video game adaptations.