Monday 24 January 2011

Angry Movie Lurker Review 24: Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie (2 STARS)

.....back on the horse after internet and phones returned yesterday late evening, did some painting, took some pictures and watched a lot of movies and this was one of them.



All I knew about this movie was a trailer I had seen on a blog and I was interested because I have always been a fan of WH40K especially space marines (dark angels), imperial guard and orks in that order.This movie was a bit of a let down and I realise it was made on a minimal budget but my only problem with this movie is the portrayal of the space marines, they are showed as less than superhuman, constantly bickering and making snide remarks at each other, they die after one shot mostly ( but 6-7 shots to take out a chaos marine) , keep taking their helmets off in the battlefield?.The marines I remember reading about over the years in novels and the magazines were insane killers who were virtually one man armies held in awe by their own people and in fear by other races.

Their is beautiful stuff here, battle barge, thunderhawk gunship, power swords, chainswords, heavy bolter, flamer etc......but one squad on a battle barge (12 men), some of the visuals are excellent (the scenes of the imperial fist battlefield devestation), the black legion chaos marines and the imperial fist chaplain but some of the rest is terrible.

The story is that an ultamarine squad plus apothecary and captain head to a planet and a shrine guarded by a company of imperial fists after an emergency beacon is activated, when they arrive they find most of the imperial fists dead and the mark of chaos is everywhere and they fight to find out what happened and get off the planet alive but chaos is everywhere and has plans of its own.I watched it until the end and I applaud the movie been made in the first place but what could have been with a better budget and a different chapter......Ultramarines have always been a problem for me too perfect and a bit preachy for my liking.

26 comments:

  1. I saw an ad for this a while back and was looking forward to seeing it... I'm disappointed to hear it was sub-par... Glad you got your internet back!

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  2. Good to have you back. Your review is yet another hint it might be better to hold on.

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  3. I started watching but had to stop after about 5 minutes. I cringed.

    I'll get back on the horse and finish it, but my hopes are very low. Hehe!

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  4. Well,I haven't been interested in 40k since the original concept and portrayal of them in the Rogue Trader version many moons ago.Each addition after that I liked them less and less.
    Space Marines started out as more like our modern day marines only in power armour and of course more hard and tougher then your average Imperial soldier for sure.They drank,whored around,bar fights and were more convinced of their superiority based on their combat expertise then anything racial,although they did have their bias no doubt,but not like they are portrayed now.Basically,they were much more human then later versions and I liked that.Ahh,the good old days of Rogue Trader and 3rd edition fantasy when it geared more to adults then kids..... as much as us playing with toy soldiers err models can be that is!(LoL)
    So,maybe I would like this film as it sounds more like the original space marines,but since I'm not that into 40k anymore it still might not grab me.In other words I should probably watch it and then comment.(whistle as he finishes).

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  5. I watched the movie last week at a friend and I am not disappointed at all. It was exactly as bad as I excpected it to be. The first half of the movie is plain horrible and in the last half it's quite some action but it just a wannabe movie.
    Just as you say they die quickly, they could even have replaced them with some guardsmen and that would have given the film at least some "Rambo" feeling.
    After all it reminded me on the cutscenes from the "Chaos Gate" Game and even those scenes where better animated.
    I'm glad I didn't pay to watch that movie.

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  6. Glad you got back online - funny how you miss it, isn't it? Thanks also for the Ultramarines review, which was useful. I was really looking forward to the movie coming out. I'm not a huge 40K fan, but I do like the fluff. Your review sits well with the other reviews I have read online and, despite the Dan Abnett screenplay, I'm thinking of spending the cash I would have used on the movie on a copy of the "Deathwatch" RPG instead...Thanks again for the head's up!

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  7. I witnessed so many people getting this movie and sat back and wondered why?

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  8. A warhammer movie??! Never heard of this one...still I´m out of touch with a large amount of stuff these days...I should get my nose off the painting table occasionally :-D
    So it´s not worth a look or?
    Cheers
    paul

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  9. For a low budget animated tie-in it was pretty good. I hope they now get the budget to do a more ambitious WH40k film. (Or a series like the old Roughnecks.)

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  10. I don't know it. Maybe that's a shame, as I am a Scifi addict...

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  11. Welcome back!

    I find it hard to credit that identifying the 'banter gene' was high on the Adepticus scientist's agenda. I'd always imagined Space Marines as classic Schwarzeneggers and Lundgrens, with fewer witty one-liners.

    Ditto Axebreaker's comments about old school Space Marines though... but I'll give it a miss aqs your reviews are generally on the money.

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  12. GW's inability to widen their market into good movies has always baffled me. You would think it would be a no-brainer. Did you buy it or rent it?

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  13. Glad that you got your Internet and your anger back!

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  14. Haven't seen it yet! I'm not expecting much either ^^

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  15. While interesting that they have a movie for this, I think based on what you said, I won't be seeing it. I'm a huge fan of space marine portrayal in the Dawn of War games, so I don't think I'd enjoy what happened with them in this film. Thanks anyway.

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  16. yeah i'm not certain i'd like this movie, but i might find a torrent and add it to my HD just incase i feel like watching it sometime

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  17. @CPBelt: I was loaned a copy by the poor schmuck who bought a copy.

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  18. It's all interpretation bro, I was kinda disappointed in that Halo anime movie they made too

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  19. 2 stars, I will probably watch anyway because I am bored.

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  20. Well now I'm torn whether it's worth a watch or not.

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  21. Marines are not supposed to be constantly bickering, and being catty with each other..especially ULTRA marines.

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  22. Considering I like just about any movie with a
    sci-fi base and plenty of blood and @sskickin.
    I Actually enjoyed the film, although I could pick apart some of the production value's.
    still overall I liked it.

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