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Massawyrm enjoys the hell out of the Warhammer 40,000 CG feature film ULTRAMARINES
Hola all. Massawyrm here.
The first thing you need to know going into this is that ULTRAMARINES was not made for anyone but established fans, so if you were hoping for this to be some kind of primer ushering you into the universe, you will be sorely disappointed – and more than a little lost. Made on a shoestring budget and written by veteran Warhammer 40,000 novelist Dan Abnett, this thing is not exactly what one would call accessible. But for those of you 40k nuts jonesing to see some Space Marine action, this thing will do the trick nicely. In fact, it’s pretty kick ass.
The entirely CG film is a lean 75 minutes that pretty much fly by, following a tactical squad of first time marines sent on a recon mission - with a Captain and an Apothecary in tow – in order to investigate a distress beacon pinging from an Imperial monastery. Their slow crawl through hostile terrain and eventual clash with the forces of Chaos are pretty much the bulk of the film; there are no sweeping battle sequences between hundreds of individuals or grandiose vistas. It is a straight forward man on a mission movie set on a single planet with additional scenes on the Ultramarines ship. For those unfamiliar with the history of the Imperium or the Space Marines, this will seem like a senseless trudge with almost no exposition whatsoever and very little development of the threat. But for longtime fans, it is a fairly tense mission into the unknown, riddled with clues and foreshadowing, pitting our heroes against one of the Imperium’s most iconic foes: the Black Legion.
The film is chock full of great visuals and exactly the kind of detail fans are looking for. Every piece of stained glass in the background tells a story, the equipment is everything you want to see in action and when the violence ramps up, it is bloody and brutal in all the ways you expect 40K to deliver. There are a few bits of character design that are pretty much jaw dropping, with two characters in particular stealing the show (though mentioning them would take us into spoiler territory). When the film is at its best, it is everything you’ve been hoping to see in a 40K film.
But it’s not perfect. Sadly, the film’s biggest problems all stem from the budget constraints on Codex pictures; this wasn’t a big budget production, and it shows. There are a handful of shots that look like they needed a few more passes through the computer, and one tracking shot that looks exactly like a gameplay cut scene from a Space Marine video game. And while these are admittedly very short, and I was watching the film on an HD projector and 8’ screen, it is still something folks are going to notice. Fortunately, not only are these sequences few and far between, they are also each placed near absolutely gorgeous - and occasionally brutally disturbing – patches of ornately designed, perfectly rendered CG. Though the lack of budget certainly also contributes to the small amount of characters and locations available for the film. If there is one oft repeated complaint, it will be that fans want more – and hopefully now that they’ve got these designs and locations on file, they can move on to expanding into some of the Ultramarines other toys – like terminator armor, Dreadnoughts and maybe some time with everyone’s favorite chapter master, Marneus Calgar.
This is a fanservice movie – nothing more, nothing less. It will do little to nothing for anyone who hasn’t played either the tabletop wargame or several of the videogames. If you have, however, ULTRAMARINES is a lot of fun, a good old fashioned R-Rated, sufficiently badass, bloody fight against the forces of darkness, with plenty of references to the canon you hold quite dear. It should be played loud, watched with friends and followed up by a night of gaming – possibly Killteam if you can swing it. Definitely worth checking out. ULTRAMARINES is available on a limited edition DVD November 29th here.
Until next time friends,
Massawyrm
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If you've never read his Marvel work with Andy Lanning (NOVA, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and all those cosmic miniseries that have been popping up since 2006) then you have not lived.
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Psyched that it's available so soon - was banking on having to wait 6 months or so to grab it. Also, with Abnett at the helm, it's sure to be awesome.
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Machinema, making movies using just the ingame tools provided with current games (MMO's in particular) has a solid following. As the editing tools become more accessible, both for video and audio, and CG animation gets easier, we'll be treated to full slates of these types of projects. The great majority will be crap, but the cream will rise. Or something...
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even if it's not, I'm gonna have to pick that up. Ultramarines vs Chaos film = 20 year dream come to pass...
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...I've said it before and I'll say it again: an IG-themed movie would kick all sorts of ass. As cool as Mehreens are, Guard are more relatable if you're not 100% familiar with the franchise and would go a long way to bringing new folks into the fold.
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...in the best possible way. His work on the Marvel cosmic universe in recent years has been nothing short of phenomenal - he's breathed new life into Thanos, who was a character in danger of growing quite stale, as well as doing a fantastic job of introducing newer readers (including myself) to characters such as Novar, Quasar, Guardians of the Galaxy and so on.
His name was the only reason I read this post in full in the first place. Despite dabbling with WH40K in my younger years, but long since losing interest and probably being totally out of touch with the background material, his name is enough to make me desperate to check this out regardless. -
considering that looks like a feature length video game cut scene, i was surprised to not only hear Terence Stamp but Tom Hardy and maybe Sean Bean?
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Lame.
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So yeah, picking this up.
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So say we all.
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Too busy laughing.
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It was a very good, deep, science fiction story. I'm liking this stuff.
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It was a very good, deep, science fiction story. I'm liking this stuff.
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...this looks totally awesome, seriously! Dunno what the real fans think, though, but for me this looks like a great deal of fun!
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It is time for the DC Universe to upgrade to stylized computer animation!!!
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...it's no wonder the budget for the CG is reduced. Still, as long as you have serious actors treating the material with the respect it deserves (and not hamming it up) I guess you can forgive the lack of Pixar quality graphics. Should be quite entertaining and violent even for a non-Warhammer viewer.
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"How do you recognize the taint of evil?" BWAHAHAHAHA!!
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Its the taint of chaos, not evil. But I'm pretty sure their taints look pretty similar. LMAO!
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and looks much better.
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Half expected to see two space marine grunts spooning in a cot. So juvenile, dumb, and homoerotic. So Warhammer!
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makes me want to dig out my Khornate army and kick some ass. . .
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never done that and I think it's about time
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Hilarious. I'm going to use that as my new screen name.
The CG looks very 'meh'. Sorry, Massa. -
You won't be sorry, but fair warning, it will suck you in. I'm about 3/4 of the way through my current army and it's addictive as all hell. Let me know if you want any pointers.
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Makes me really want to see a Starcraft movie. =)
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but I'm hoping this is allright. Trailers looked like garbage.
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Nov 24, 2010 12:24:09 PM CST
I predict that video game movies will catch on like wildfire soo
by codename
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on Atari ST when this shit was huge.It's really funny how my role playing destiny was forever altered by one asshole. Basically I never played D&D or StarFleet battles or anything because the very first time I tried- asshole dungeon master killed me when I put a pair of jet boots on. Said I turned on the boots, and rocketed into the ceiling splatting. I was like- ok that was fun. I'm going to fuck my highschool girlfriend now
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Did he just ask how to recognize a taint?
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but graphically this looks about on par with any decently done machinima. Just not very visually impressive.
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Nov 24, 2010 2:29:34 PM CST
Warcraft Cut Scenes and Trailers Dominate this petty garbage!
by hemi_roidal_tendencies
Hell, Diablo 3 trailers are done better in 70 seconds than this unholy crap.
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better ingame graphics... that was CGI?? jesus..
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Well that's easy, it's right between Chaos' ass and...
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better than half the shit out now. It looked about ten times more intersting than the green hornet. Since new movies are all recycled, you can basically tell the whole movie just from the trailer.
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Sick and tired of those lame fucks. Let's see Blood Angels get some love.
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taint means perineum, hahahahaha and stuff
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The CG intro for Dawn of War was 1000 higher quality than that. The lip-syncing was awful and you can tell a mile away that 'desert backdrop' was chosen so they could skimp on the detail. The whole thing looks like a graphics student's first year work.
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..it does look bad, or at least not great. A bit too 'cartoony' - I'm not getting the sense of how large and heavy everything should be. And too much contrast. Whatever - just lame CGI. Needs a lot more work. The opening movie from 'Dawn of War' looks 100 times better (and as someone else has said, 'Roughnecks' looks better as well). Still, John Hurt? Terence Stamp? Dan Abnett?! Cool. Being a WH40k fan, I'm gonna have to check it out. Never was much of an Ultramarine boy though - Make Mine Space Wolves! I've always thought the only way to make a Space Marines movie was with CGI (unless you do as someone else in the TB said and focus on the IG). Hopefully we get to see more of this type of thing, with a bigger budget and a lot more polish.
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for a 75 minute "movie"? Oh but wait, there's more:
YOUR ULTRAMARINES SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR’S SET CONTAINS:
- Original SteelBook™ case, featuring embossed Ultramarines logo and Aquila emblem
- Two discs
- Disc One - DVD of ULTRAMARINES movie
- Disc Two - Unique Warhammer 40,000 Bonus Content
- Specially commissioned hardback graphic novel, Hard Choices, written by Dan Abnett with pencils by David Roach (English language only)
- Sturdy slipcase
Okay, maybe with the hardcover GN it's not so bad, but the rest of it I can live without. It's off to the torrents, I guess! -
Nov 25, 2010 8:14:39 AM CST
Wonder if Grant Morrison has a lawsuit?
by harryknowlesnonexistentinceptionreview
He had a group of "Ultramarines" in his JLA book back in the 90's. Go Grant, go!
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Grant morrison doesn't own those "Ultramarines" because he wrote it work for hire for DC. Also, 40k Ultramarines were around for years before he wrote JLA.
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They are all evil - are they not? That is my view and that is what I like about the world of W40K. But I guess geeks generally are fascists.
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you bitches complain about the quality of the CGI in this low budget fan service? Comparing it to video games like that is supposed to make sense? Video games have bigger budgets than mainstream movies nowadays. Goes to show how much you know...
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Nov 25, 2010 7:18:43 PM CST
That movie was clearly made using some beefed up version of the
by flipao
Nothing more than a 75 minute ingame cutscene.
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Damn shortened titles.
Anyway, I hope it at least pleases fans, it's glorified machinima. -
When you make your own 75 min. CGI movie on a budget of probably less than 10% what it cost to make the game and 1% of a hollywood big budget movie you can call this shoddy. Until then why don't you have a can of STFU.
This looks like a labor of love made for a small budget. You can't compare it to something made with a real budget.
I bet you've never made anything in your life except what you flush down the toilet. -
So you've got all thi heavy armor on, but helmets are optional and swords can cut straight through said armor?
I know Warhammer is supposed to be a medieval war meets Scifi future, but that's kind of ridiculous.
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'labours of love' do not get to charge $40 for a 75 minute cutscene from the Playstation 1 era. 'labours of love' would have alot more attention to fucking detail to show the, you know...LOVE. This looks hacked together. I stand by my post.And you're right I wouldn't make something like this. I'm quite fond of 40k, and would want to do it justice or not at all.
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the day. Citadel figurines looked like they were designed to look like what an eighth-grader would think was bad ass. So tacky, those Warhammer llustrations.
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I can see your point, but you don't have to spend the $40 if you don't want it. They've made a movie for a limited audience are just trying to recoup their cost and a little money for their time.
I've worked on many, many movies and all were budget challenged. You make the best movie with the resources you have. I guess in the end, the audience doesn't care that you didn't have millions of dollars. All they care about are results. Being on the end where I wished I had more, I tend to give people a break.
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