Ulduar By Jack By Jack. (Update x1)

Movie link!

Yep, that’s the tile on WarCraft Movies ^^ you can’t blame Jack for making sure his name goes onto it, there’s a never weave sack of Uldaur movies, some of which have Cranius raping- err, rapping in them!

Anywho! This is a PvE movie! Which means it has not place on Myndflame what so ever, but it still deserves an article as it’s a PvE movie that I like. Now I like many things: Long walks on the beach; running through enemy cities on a kodo mount naked; pestering Machinimasters for hours on end for cameos/interviews/comments on my reviews/pictures/home addresses, but I rarely feel a PvE movie can engage me in any way other than that sad sinking feeling you get when you fall into a bottomless pit. (In Memoriam: Retubution) but Jack seems to pull it off.

The older stuff that looks like this!

Burning Crusade The Movie (By Jack) was the first PvE movie that I actually really enjoyed. Jack presented the trip through T5 and T6 not only through truly epic editing and music work but with a general sense of a grueling journey. We followed ManThrall and NelfAkama through the bleak Outland landscapes and dungeons and it all lead towards Both Illidan and ManThrall’s deaths. Just like real raiding!

There was a story, but it was kept loose and easily ignored, it was only there to make the encounters more intense and real.  (Which is he complete opposite of what I normally go for in a Machinima, but if the explosions are meaningful I’ll gladly enjoy them)

I wasn’t all that impressed with the sunwell adaption’s (Infact there were a few PVE Sunwell videos with a Jack feel to them, good thing to, Jack knows what he’s doing and is a good guy to look up to) So I looked towards the inevitable Uldaur movie with hopeful glowing eyes.

Voice Actors! There's two of them! 

The most notable thing about Ulduar By Jack By Jack compared to The Burning Crusade The Movie is that Jack has made use of his own voice actors! Which, seems like both a good thing and a bad thing. Firstly we are spared having to have Major Lore Figures crammed into the bodies of us mere mortals, and Jack has more freedom with what he can have his characters say, I looked forward to dramatic conversations with raid bosses. But a big scary thought is that: Jack speaks French, I speak English, will all the great lines be lost in the translation?

I’m really not certain; I just can’t make up my tiny elvish mind about whether I like the voice acting as a whole. I liked Christopher M. Grant; Christopher M. Grant filled the dramatic role of the raid leader realy well! Sounding both intellectual and dramatic at times. I did not like Genna A. Bain, she’s got a lovely voice, but the soft genital soothing smoothie that is her voice just doesn’t fit when a 20 foot tall mechanical 3 year old is smashing you for play time.  

The divide between the two voice actors is widened by the strange way that Christopher get all the really good lines and Genna all the really bad ones. “Biggest” “Huge” “Strange” “Size” The way her character talks is very flat, and her introductory narration to the movie is the weakest part to it I think.  But then Christopher says “Is every one ready?” And I practically burst out of my chair! But then sat down very quickly when Genna said “I am.”

“We can bring the beast down, and put the beast down!” Is a great line, it just puzzles me how Christopher’s character is written so well but Genna’s isn’t. By the time Genna got to say “After winter, comes spring!” I just said yuck and ignored her completely from that point on.  But both the characters are over shadowed by the hilarious Brann as him self. Jack had a great library of Brann sound files to work with and he made him perfectly cheesy as the comic relief of the movie. While Christopher held the pep talks Brann held the dramatic banter with the raid bosses and it worked so well! Still Jack does make good use of his voice actors and the little bits where they try to figure out what to do before each fight was nice, although was a tad short of epic at times.

The fights themselves!

Jack perfected the presentation of the boss fight long ago; his editing his shots the directing but most of all the sound of the fight. Jack makes great choices in music that set the tone of the fight, be it victory or despair, but he also links it to the movement of the fight, the boss slams the ground and the drums start playing, the music goes quiet just as the boos utters it’s iconic line. Maybe it’s all coincidence. I am very glad that he’s moved away from the comic book like over blown footage he cut into his Sunwell movie, sure it’s fun to see flying mages turning pit lords into dust, but it just chucks a Kodo sized spanner into the movie. It’s The Tale Of The Past syndrome of turning your characters into super heroes, I’m glad he went back to his Burning Crusade ways.

Over all the only thing Jack did wrong with this was Gemma’s character. But I still think Jack can go further; as it rarely felt in the movie that the Characters where ever actually going any where, dramatically or emotionally. Not that they should be going anywhere far emotionally: This is a raid video and an emotional storyline will do nothing but give it multiple personalities disorder. But there still needs more over arching presences, a stronger build up to the final encounters and a change in the characters; Yogg-saron is meant to be messing with our raiders minds but not much attention is given to it in the first half. The second half was good, what with all the working towards entering the big boss room, it kept it in the forefront of our minds, but it was all exposition, in the end I just wanted ominous silent shots of the big scary door.

I would certainly expect a kick ass Icecrown movie from Jack once 3.3 is here (Or possibly 4.0, these things take time) I would also hope that Christopher M. Grant to stay with the guild and a focus on Magni, Varien, Tirion, Morgrain and Jaina (They will be no substitutes for Brann though) but most of all in Icecrown I want a big fat build up to the Lich King. The whole of Wrath has been leading up to that battle and so should Jack’s Icecrown movie I’d say. I would even go so far as to suggesting the 5 mans get a look in, as apparently we’ll be seeing old Lichy in that as well.

Should the characters have an emotional commitment to killing Lichy? It would be nice and help that build off and have a nice pay off at the climax of the film, but the revenge story is just so cliché now. If Jack tries it he should think of something original, like his character wanting to kill Arthas because he’s a great big Thrall/Jaina shipper.       

On a side note: There Was No In The Mountains Reference In The Entire Movie!! Jack SERIOUSLY dropped that ball on that one. 

UPDATE EDIT! 

After talking Gemma, or Intricacy as we all know her, she's informed me that her and Chris have both signed up for the next movie! Which is good to know. She also agreed with me on the subject of her part being poorly written, or more so translated, saying that for Icecrown: "Hopefully I can have a word with them about the script"

I feel really smug right now about getting a mini interview ^^ Sure it's because she thought I was calling her a bad VA, but I'll take what I can get.

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