i saw Ultramarines: The Movie

[blueshift]

yawn.

what did you guys think about it? dan abnett appears to be a lot better at writing for imperial guardsmen than space marines. would you all agree?

pros:

- john hurt
- gun porn (bullet view shots, slow-mo, etc)
- good tie-in plot point at the end when protius smacks the demon prince with the helmet
- good production effectiveness for limited budget (but i still wanted to see other races)

cons:

- protius never developed as a character the audience will root for. in fact he was quite the opposite
- john hurt's chaplain died way too quickly
- no orks/eldar/bugs/etc
- cookie-cutter chaos story of corruption and iron will

i'm ok with GW spending the money i gave them for physical items in this manner, however maybe they should save a little longer next time and go for michael bay?

[HsojVvad]

I haven't seen the movie yet. Please use a spoiler warning next time. I don't want to know who dies or lives. A warning would have been nice. I was looking for a review, but no spoilers.

[blueshift]

merry christmas sir!

[Connjurus]

i'm ok with GW spending the money i gave them for physical items in this manner, however maybe they should save a little longer next time and go for michael bay?

Games-Workshop didn't put any money into Ultramarines, and if Michael Bay did the movie I would just not watch it on general principle.

[DarkLink]

i'm ok with GW spending the money i gave them for physical items in this manner

Since when did GW need your approval to spend their money? You gave up any say in how the money was used when you traded it for pieces of plastic.

[scadugenga]

Since when did GW need your approval to spend their money? You gave up any say in how the money was used when you traded it for pieces of plastic.

Now..be fair: I'm guessing some of the money was traded for paper with words printed on it too. :)

[Aldramelech]

On the whole I quite enjoyed it.

[Gir]

Games-Workshop didn't put any money into Ultramarines.

If anything, it was the other way around.

[SotonShades]

Overall I did enjoy the film. As has been said, there are a few flaws but that is to be expected with such a small production company and budget.

The art style used throughout the film is fantastic. There are so many fantastic references to John Blanche's work in particular, not to mention a host of models we all know and love (especially in the terrain!). For the first 40k movie, I'm glad they stuck to just a single enemy. Trying to explain the subtleties of Eldar manipulating other races worked really well in Dawn of War, but we had a lot more time to experience that compared to the length of a movie. I wasn't so keen on the fact that the loyalist space marines were so much better than the chaos marines. Could have been a really good point for suspence with the squad being massively outnumbered by their approximate equals (although as they are newly promoted to full astartes, that may be a bit of a stretch).

I'd love to see more from Codex Pictures. Given more time and more films, I'm sure they can take some deeper looks in to the grim dark we all love so much. I really like the plot, given it was Abnett's first screenplay. I think that's more the problem than his ability to write for Guard or Marines. Once he's had a bit more practice at it, I'm sure he'll get better. I'd also love to see a few more of the Black Library authors trying their hand at it.

[Grailkeeper]

I didn't think it was great.

The voice acting was ok, not as amazing as I had imagined. Terrence Stamp was particularly bad- I'vee never seen any of his otehr films apart from priscilla- going on this one alone I would doubt he's an actor of any great quality. He sounded like he was reading lines from a page in his space marine voice rather than acting. Sean Pertwee was actually the best imo.

The plot isn't that complex (spoiler free) marines go to a place, do a thing and come back.

(possible spoilers)
The only references to 40ks past i noticed were teh stained glass window which is pretty obvious and the space marines dialogue, particularly after the openeing scene, contained a few classic 40k litanies and quotes.

I would give this movie 5/10 - wouldn't recommend you buy it

[justsam]

i thought that a lot of the scenery was great, but some of the facial animation was just ghastly. however, i would love to convert up a chaplain to look the way hurt's character did. the story was very simple, but it kind of had to be for a first go at it. i think a greenskin incursion would be a good second movie plot, though.

[GM Rex Nihilo]

''Terrence Stamp was particularly bad- I'vee never seen any of his otehr films apart from priscilla- going on this one alone I would doubt he's an actor of any great quality''

If you have only seen one role than you aren't qualified to comment on his ability as an actor, watch the Limey a the very least then comment. So please refrain from commenting until you have seen more of his body of work.

I haven't seen Ultramarine so I'll not comment but until I do I may end up agreeing with you or maybe not, we'll see.

[Mystery.Shadow]

My two cents, the movie was merely ok. Not some great Hollywood piece. I think being a 40k movie there should have been a LOT more action and (obviously) a LOT more gore! It had a "R Rating" so why make the most of it you can!

The voice acting was excellent. The only problem most people had was determining who was speaking when. I know it's not fluffy or practical, but how about a light that comes on when they speak, a lighted mouthpiece, or something to represent they are the one(s) speaking.

I'm sure I'll get flamed for this but.... Buy it!

I'd like to see them make more movies. Let's hope they learn from the floods of feedback to make the next one better!

[Grailkeeper]

''Terrence Stamp was particularly bad- I'vee never seen any of his otehr films apart from priscilla- going on this one alone I would doubt he's an actor of any great quality''

If you have only seen one role than you aren't qualified to comment on his ability as an actor, watch the Limey a the very least then comment. So please refrain from commenting until you have seen more of his body of work.

I haven't seen Ultramarine so I'll not comment but until I do I may end up agreeing with you or maybe not, we'll see.

I had heris reputation as an actor is a good one, but he is going through the motions in this film. The important word is would, making my judgement conditional not absolute.

Watch the limey at least once then comment? I have watched him at least once- in Ultramarines the movie and also Priscilla queen of the desert (I can't remember which role he played)). Then I commented.


Incidentally does anyone know if Sean Pertwee is any relation of John Pertwee?

[Spider-pope]

I had heris reputation as an actor is a good one, but he is going through the motions in this film. The important word is would, making my judgement conditional not absolute.

Watch the limey at least once then comment? I have watched him at least once- in Ultramarines the movie and also Priscilla queen of the desert (I can't remember which role he played)). Then I commented.


Incidentally does anyone know if Sean Pertwee is any relation of John Pertwee?

Yes, he's his son (assuming you are talking about the late great Doctor Who star).

As for Ultramarines, as i said on my blog (shameless self promotion there) it was average on the hole, saved from complete disappointment by the high quality voice acting. They just need to spend a bit more money and time on the next one to get it to a standard we can all live with.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

I thought it was Okay, watchable. Story could of been better, but many of the negatives I feel about it I put down to the fact its a new company and first time/pilot. I tend to be softer on "pilots" as they are never awe-inspiring. Theres certainly room for improvement - the animation cycles, more consistancy of visual quality.

I'd like to see them do more and better ones in the future. I hope they never use Orks though, I would not even bother watching it, if I want chavs, i'll watch an episode of Misfits. If they keep to the smaller scale of things like this film they should focus on more obscure elements of the mythology - a deathwatch killteam facing down umbra or enslavers would be interesting. A guardsman movie would be cool too, especially if it featured necrons/death korps.

still, it was entertaining for an animated movie. I enjoyed it as much as any of the DC animated films coming out these days - i.e. not something I really invest in a lot, but certainly entertaining. And besides,IMO when compared to the other stuff coming out of the UK these days (new dr who, primeval, torchwood and other such rubbish) I'd rather watch ultramarines any day of the week - it's platinum in comparison to that other stuff IMO. And for that alone - I support this company.

[WereWolf_nr]

Overall, it wasn't the greatest movie ever. However, I am glad to see that 40k is being considered as a potential I.P. for movies and would like to see the future of such movies.

[Denzark]

I thought it was Okay, watchable. Story could of been better, but many of the negatives I feel about it I put down to the fact its a new company and first time/pilot. I tend to be softer on "pilots" as they are never awe-inspiring.


What about the Battlestar Galactica remakes? I thought the pilot was FRAKKIN AWESOME!!!!+111

[justsam]

What about the Battlestar Galactica remakes? I thought the pilot was FRAKKIN AWESOME!!!!+111

but then the first chunk of season 3 happened :(

[newtoncain]

I'd give it a C+/B-. But I think I was expection something more. It was better the 2nd abd 3rd time I watched it. Not worth $35.
I do think they did a good job on what the SM are for the most part.

[Valkerie]

Overall I did enjoy the film. As has been said, there are a few flaws but that is to be expected with such a small production company and budget.

The art style used throughout the film is fantastic. There are so many fantastic references to John Blanche's work in particular, not to mention a host of models we all know and love (especially in the terrain!). For the first 40k movie, I'm glad they stuck to just a single enemy. Trying to explain the subtleties of Eldar manipulating other races worked really well in Dawn of War, but we had a lot more time to experience that compared to the length of a movie. I wasn't so keen on the fact that the loyalist space marines were so much better than the chaos marines. Could have been a really good point for suspence with the squad being massively outnumbered by their approximate equals (although as they are newly promoted to full astartes, that may be a bit of a stretch).

I'd love to see more from Codex Pictures. Given more time and more films, I'm sure they can take some deeper looks in to the grim dark we all love so much. I really like the plot, given it was Abnett's first screenplay. I think that's more the problem than his ability to write for Guard or Marines. Once he's had a bit more practice at it, I'm sure he'll get better. I'd also love to see a few more of the Black Library authors trying their hand at it.

It might be more than just lack of experience writing screenplays. I would be interested to learn how much control Mr. Abnett had over the screenplay once he turned it in to the company, and how much it might have been changed from what he wrote.

[blueshift]

i gotta get a screencap of all the dead ultrasmurf noobs pan shot after the first ambush and set it as my avatard

[DarkLink]

Yeah, for such highly trained elite soldiers, they sure didn't know much about military tactics other than "take the high ground". Someone with military experience as an advisor could have fit in so many little details that would have made the film better.

And for God's sake, drop the stupid banner. It makes absolutely no sense to see any modern, competent military force actually carrying a banner around. Banners made sense when you had to line up rank and file. People don't do that any more. It's fine to hear about it in the fluff, but actually seeing it makes me want to bang my head against a wall.

And what was up with the guy using the flamer as a flashlight? Are space Marines too ill equipped to carry around more than one flashlight per squad?



All in all, I wasn't really impressed. It needed significant polish. I can't blame Codex for it, however. They did what they could with the resources they had. And while it wasn't that great, I had fun with it, and if they come out with another movie I'd be willing to see it.

[Fellend]

Yeah, for such highly trained elite soldiers, they sure didn't know much about military tactics other than "take the high ground". Someone with military experience as an advisor could have fit in so many little details that would have made the film better.

And for God's sake, drop the stupid banner. It makes absolutely no sense to see any modern, competent military force actually carrying a banner around. Banners made sense when you had to line up rank and file. People don't do that any more. It's fine to hear about it in the fluff, but actually seeing it makes me want to bang my head against a wall.

And what was up with the guy using the flamer as a flashlight? Are space Marines too ill equipped to carry around more than one flashlight per squad?



All in all, I wasn't really impressed. It needed significant polish. I can't blame Codex for it, however. They did what they could with the resources they had. And while it wasn't that great, I had fun with it, and if they come out with another movie I'd be willing to see it.

I'm sorry but you want to complain about the fact that they make no sense in a modern military? Neither does chain swords, or the lack of artillery or lack of airsupport. Or space marines at all, seriously, let's drop down in a middle of a horde of aliens and bash them to death....

The fact that they stick to stupid ideas that makes no sense is what makes them awesome, let's face it, if it was anything like real life space marines would be Black Ops and how fun would that be? Watch our brave guys hiding in the shadows, striking and then disappearing...

Rant aside.

I think the movie was quite okay as fan fiction, not great as a cinematic piece or an art piece but it did what it was meant to do. I felt like shouthing for the Emperor and wanted to buy some more space marines.

Pros:
Action, some of the scenes were pretty awesome
The Falling Banner: Just awesome
It's a warhammer movie!

Cons:
Why did all the space marine look like they were about to be retired?
There was alot of... walking and much of it felt badly animated
The banner, Seriously, weather phenomenon? Deamon detector? and in that case why did it not detect the demon in the first place but waited untill the oppertune ambush moment?

[DarkLink]

Except theres a difference between chainswords and banners.

Chainswords are awesome. Fully automatic rocket launchers are awesome. Beating people to death with either is awesome.

Carrying around some stupid banner that isn't much more than a clumsy spear, though? Not so awesome. The only purpose it served was to alert them to daemonic presence, and as you mentioned that was kinda stupid. They should have found a better way to handle that.



And if you think that having an ounce of actual military tactics would somehow make things boring, you haven't seen black hawk down. Or band of brothers. Or generation kill. Having the heroes make intelligent choices makes them look competent, which makes them look much more bad@$$, whereas if they make stupid choices it just makes them look retarded.

[Bigred]

What I really enjoyed was the dedication to the grimdark.

Thus we saw (without spoiling things) a couple of instances where important characters wandered off, or had things happen to them that would have turned out for the better in a Hollywood piece...

But in the grimdark of 40k's universe, it was just too bad for them. You all know who I'm talking about and how there is no way they would have had the same fate in a 200 million dollar movie staring Brad Pitt and Christian Bale.

-Larry

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

And if you think that having an ounce of actual military tactics would somehow make things boring, you haven't seen black hawk down. Or band of brothers. Or generation kill. Having the heroes make intelligent choices makes them look competent, which makes them look much more bad@$$, whereas if they make stupid choices it just makes them look retarded.

I always thought Band of brothers should be the template/reference point for military sci-fi. Replace the humans with imperial guard and the enemy with something like necrons or dark eldar and you get the idea of what id love to see. Probably unrealistic wishlisting though to be fair.

[DarkLink]

Admittedly, Band of Brothers is more of a frontline grunt perspective. Black Hawk Down, on the other hand, is a perfect high-speed, elite unit fighting hordes of enemies. So Guard should be based on Band of Brothers, while Space Marines on Black Hawk Down.

[MarneusCalgar]

Well, a IG movie should also be great!!

And even watching Nids!!

[HsojVvad]

Wait a second here. Some of us are complaining because a movie company is actaully sticking to the source? How many complaints we have when a movie is made on a comic book or novel and the movie drifts away from the book. Now we complain that they stick to it? LOL.

My beef is with the opening line. "They are the Best" then you see UTRAMARINES. I thought Grey Knights were suppose to be the best. Best of the best.

I liked it. It was ok, not worth the $40 sure. My only other complaint was the voice when they talk is boring. Droned out stale and boring. While I guess this is how they would talk a few of them is ok, but every single one? This is a movie after all, and it should keep us entertained. Myson fell asleep watching it.

I thought this was supposed to be released in cinemas. Now I see why it hasn't been. Being a Direct to DVD quality it is.

I don't want to sound racist here, but this is jut my ignorance. I live in Canada. So I know how all Canadians and Americans and Mexians talk. For us, it is lively upbeat and fast. Watching Ultramarine, everything is slow, boring and drawn out. Is this how people talk in England, slow and boring or I should say, slow with low bass in their voice? I know watching a few English TV shows, alot of them talk slow and boring. Is this the case, and that is why they talk like this in Ultramarine movie?

I guess I am to use to watching American TV and movies. If this was made as an American movie, I guess the talking would be more upbeat and lively. It would sound less fluffy though, but wouldn't put me too sleep.

[HsojVvad]

Watching the movie a 2nd time since we both fell asleep trying to watch it the first time. Now when the Ultrmarines are crossing the landscape in the begining of the movie, where is the foot prints? Well the weather looks so dusty and yet, when the SM are walking, no foot prints are left behind. You see sand blowing all over the place and the ground looks dusty dirty, it's not stell plated, so why no foot prints?

Yeah I know a minor tidbit.

Also I thought the Space Marines espically the Ultramarines are suppose to be the "best", why do they shoot at anything on first site? I always thought you make sure youi know what you are shooting at. To watch these marines, they do not look like the best of the best at all.

It loks like they should never have left training camp as scouts or todays version of cadets.

but still, graphics are not bad, I enjoyed it, and it is an ok, movie.

*edit* LMFAO, just noticed one of the SM with a loin cloth infront of him, on his groin. First time I saw it, I thought it was a shreded newspaper. LOL.

[DarkLink]

Right. Like I mentioned, a military advisor to coordinate the combat scenes would have been a big improvement.


Wait a second here. Some of us are complaining because a movie company is actaully sticking to the source? How many complaints we have when a movie is made on a comic book or novel and the movie drifts away from the book. Now we complain that they stick to it? LOL.

There are certain aspects of 40k that fit in well with the fluff, but when you actually see them on screen you realize how utterly stupid it is and why no one does it in real life. The only one that really stuck out much was the banner they carried around.

When war consisted of stabbing each other in the face, it was easy for even highly trained troops to break and run. So military forces had them carry banners and the like to serve as a rallying point. For a Roman Legion to lose it's eagle standard was a serious failure, and legionnaires would fight to the death to protect it.

Nowadays, though, gunfights aren't quite so intense. You can pause to duck behind cover, reload, etc. You're not constantly in the other person's face. And even if you start to get overrun, you can fall back to a new position and reset your defensive line. Amongst well-trained troops, moral is much less of a problem. Thus, no need for a banner. Doubly so considering that these guys chant "AND WE SHALL KNOW NO FEAR" every five minutes.

Banners were also used to coordinate maneuvers on the battlefield. Each unit had a banner or standard, so the general could keep track of them and give orders. Do you really think a squad of 12 Space Marines (with vox casters, I might add), would need to carry around a big stick in order to keep track of where they are?

Plus, banners just get in the way. At least in the past not all troops were engaged in combat. A standard bearer wouldn't have to be on the front line, and so it wasn't a problem carrying around a big stick. But with firearms, everyone is in the fight, and carrying a banner just gets in the way. It's like voluntarily taking one of your own guys out of the fight.




I liked it. It was ok, not worth the $40 sure. My only other complaint was the voice when they talk is boring. Droned out stale and boring. While I guess this is how they would talk a few of them is ok, but every single one? This is a movie after all, and it should keep us entertained. Myson fell asleep watching it.

I don't want to sound racist here, but this is jut my ignorance. I live in Canada. So I know how all Canadians and Americans and Mexians talk. For us, it is lively upbeat and fast. Watching Ultramarine, everything is slow, boring and drawn out. Is this how people talk in England, slow and boring or I should say, slow with low bass in their voice? I know watching a few English TV shows, alot of them talk slow and boring. Is this the case, and that is why they talk like this in Ultramarine movie?

I guess I am to use to watching American TV and movies. If this was made as an American movie, I guess the talking would be more upbeat and lively. It would sound less fluffy though, but wouldn't put me too sleep.

Same thing here. It seemed like every conversation was full of pauses and people glancing at each other.

Like when they find the Chaplain:
"Hold fire".
pause
"Who are you"
pause
"Carnak"
pause
"Are you alone"
pause
"No"
pause
...and so on and so forth...

[Fellend]

The banner I think is important, at least during my military service we were taught to salute and respect the banner and it's even a criminal act to purposely damage or drop the banner. Banners are still used among all forces around the world as far as I know but only for ceremonial purposes. Infact the nations flag are the exact same thing!

How many scenes in warmovies haven't you seen where the heroes stuggle to keep the flag up high, or it falls as they die and so on, it's an iconic image. This banner represents the honor of the company, the chapter, the primarch and the Emperor. To let such an icon be defiled is would be tantamount to heresy!

Sure is it logical to carry it around? No, is there a need in modern warfare? No, is it realistic? No.
But remember company banners do give one extra attack (or fearlessness or whatever) and the simple reason is that the soldiers fight better because they have something to rally upon. This is a real effect even in modern military, someone says, we can't let this hill fall, it's of great tactical importance and if we hold it we might win this war... the soldiers are going to go meeew, let's try.
But if someone says, our damn flag is up there, are you going to let them defile the symbol that represents us and everything we stands for, the guys are going to run before you give the order.

My issue with the banner was that at first it was just a weather phenomenon, and then occasionally it started to dectect demons out of nowhere, but only when it was appropriate for the story to do so, not like say... the demon returned in another form.

And having written fluff for the space marines... having them actually converse is insanely hard, what the hell do these people talk about? they can't complain because thats not marine like, they can't talk about girls because that's not marine like, they can only talk about home so much before it becomes whiny, which leaves short, quotesque like sentences. (yes this is probably mainly my and dan abbnets fault but still)



to long defense speech but... yeah, you get my point

[DarkLink]

I'm not debating that having a banner is bad. I'm saying that carrying into combat is stupid. Would a squad of Green Berets HALO jump into enemy territory carrying a US flag? Would a Delta Force team on a mission to go kick down some doors bring their unit banner with them?


If part of the movie had an Ultramarines base under attack, I could see the banner being a minor plot point. But for a squad out on patrol?

[Grailkeeper]

Even in 40k only command squads would use such a banner and then in a large scale mission. There's only one squad here - a captain sheperding some rookies on a routine mission. Its not all that fluff form a 40k perspective for the captain to drag out the company banner on every piddling little mission

[Nightwing]

I have mixed feelings towards the movie. It is better than I feared but far worser than I had hoped.
The grafics and animations weren't too horrible (although I still think they look to old and not bulky enough for Astartes).

But what really annoyed me was the fluff inaccuracy. How can it be that battle brothers have seen no combat at all? And how could it be, that the scout squad directly became a tactical squad without any experience and without undergoing the Devastator/Assault Marine aspects first? (Especially being Ultramarines, this should mean that Tacticals are the Elite and not the rookies). And how could the tactical most advanced Chapter lack any kind tactics or systematic approach to a military situation?? The same with the enemy. Why the hell are they behaving that incredible stupid and ineffective?

And it was disappointing that save from some quotes, they didn't show any qualities of a real Astartes. No superhuman strength or speed, no superhuman discipline or dedication (I mean come on, everyone knows that an Astartes would continue to fire his bolter even when he is wounded. But no, not in the movie), no superior equipment (at least non that mattered). Power Armour was just for decoration (not one single bullet or hit, was deflected by the armour).

The Music on the other hand was superb (Does someone know what they are Chanting?).

Altogether I still do not regret to have bought the movie and I highly recommand everyone to do the same, for it is still worth seeing. But I really hope the future 40k movies do not lack so much fluff cohesion and portrait Astartes in a different light.

[Cherub]

First off its about ultramarines not real world army forces so who cares about what the delta forces would do? First off where you guys expecting aminmation like final fantasy? we knew a long time ago that this company's track record was making movies for what lego? Come on get real here they put all the money to make the movie up front. I had really really low expectaions going into watching the movie and it blew them away. Sure there are little errors in fluff and some annoying animation movements but damn the graphics where alot better than I expected and the story was pretty good and the music wqas amazing.
To be perfeclty honest my wife who hates 40k with a passion after watching this movie with me now wants to paint some ultramarines. And if they made another one I'd buy it.

[Defenestratus]

Cheap plug - I'm selling my copy. If you want a laugh, check it out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160526200582#ht_500wt_1156

[Mystery.Shadow]

$13.04 Standard Shipping ?!?!

[Defenestratus]

I didn't come up with that - its what ebay put in there. I just selected UPS ground.

I don't send stuff USPS. Its horrible. I'm going through a huge crapstorm right now with Asurion about a broken cell phone that I returned via their pre-paid USPS priority envelope that, apparently never got there. Now I'm on the hook for $500. Never USPS, ever.

[Gotthammer]

"Try to remember that the universe of the future is vry different to that of today, brute force and fear are the most potent of all weapons. Th hand to hand reputation may be in itself sufficient to put down a rebellion!" Rogue Trader, pg68.

There's a quote in the old Space Marine Painting Guide (from the boxed paint set) about marines unfurling their backpack banners to intimidate the enemy and bring the spirits of war on their side before an attack.

The banner isn't to tell the marines were to form up, it's to tell the enemy "Hello, we are the Ultramarines. Perhaps you have heard of us? Feel free to start crapping yourself now."

[Defenestratus]

The banner isn't to tell the marines were to form up, it's to tell the enemy "Hello, we are the Ultramarines. Perhaps you have heard of us? Feel free to start crapping yourself now."

Or perhaps it is all part of their plan to colonize the other planets through the cunning use of.... flags.

[RocketRollRebel]

TAINT!

I simply felt that the ultramarines were not all that "Ultra". Less walking walking walking and then when we hit combat its bolter bolter bolter. When I think space marines up close with the enemy I imagine blinding fast combat of awesomeness. Also what was up with the wave after wave after wave of CSM just sprinting to be cut down by bolters?...lame. The animation didn't bother me all that much (although I am hardly and expert) but cmon the DoW trailers were way more exciting and cooler looking than the whole movie. Also the Apothicary was pretty lame. What happened to ATSKNF?!?

I went into it with an open mind hoping for the best but in the end was let down and had to keep from loosing due to the liberal use of the word "Taint".

Heres hoping they take another whack at a 40k movie and come up a little more awesome!




...TAINT!

[Gotthammer]

But you've got to remember the DoW intro had a bigger budget than the entire Ultramarines movie. the UM movie could have ben shortened by a bit, made it an hour or 45mins long.
Dan Abnett's writing strength (to me) has been his prose, not his dialogue - and it shows here by the fact that without the emotive, expressive descriptions around it, the dialogue suffers. Writing movie dialogue is also different than writing for the screen.

[Mortagon]

I have mixed feelings towards the movie. It is better than I feared but far worser than I had hoped.
The grafics and animations weren't too horrible (although I still think they look to old and not bulky enough for Astartes).

But what really annoyed me was the fluff inaccuracy. How can it be that battle brothers have seen no combat at all? And how could it be, that the scout squad directly became a tactical squad without any experience and without undergoing the Devastator/Assault Marine aspects first? (Especially being Ultramarines, this should mean that Tacticals are the Elite and not the rookies).

This is explained in the mini-comic that is included with the collector's edition. Basically they were on their first scouting mission on a planet invaded by tyranids when the ultramarines got a distress call from the Imperial fist. The command didn't want to send their best warriors but couldn't ignore a plea from a fellow chapter so they did a hasty non-standard initiation as full battle brothers as seen in the movie. I think this should have been included in the movie, but it probably got cut due to budget restraints.

[gwensdad]

Less walking walking walking and then when we hit combat its bolter bolter bolter.

I know, what did they think this is? Lord of the Rings?*

(*for those that have seen Clerks 2. If not please substitute "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" as the punchline)

[OdinStormfist]

I patiently waited to receive this as a Christmas present. On Christmas day I opened the copy I was given and went to put it in the DVD player. Surprise no feature disk in the set just 2 friggin Disk 2 Bonus Content Disks! Have sent 3 e-mails to Codex Pictures since Christmas Day and have yet to have had a response.

This is starting to become annoying. After hearing reviews on 40K radio I was really psyched to watch this. But now the whole situation is becoming more frustrating by the day.

[RocketRollRebel]

I patiently waited to receive this as a Christmas present. On Christmas day I opened the copy I was given and went to put it in the DVD player. Surprise no feature disk in the set just 2 friggin Disk 2 Bonus Content Disks! Have sent 3 e-mails to Codex Pictures since Christmas Day and have yet to have had a response.

This is starting to become annoying. After hearing reviews on 40K radio I was really psyched to watch this. But now the whole situation is becoming more frustrating by the day.

Seriously? Thats teh sux dude

[DarkLink]

The banner isn't to tell the marines were to form up, it's to tell the enemy "Hello, we are the Ultramarines. Perhaps you have heard of us? Feel free to start crapping yourself now."

Those Chaos Marines sure were quaking in their boots:rolleyes:.


That fluff is nice and all, but it's still stupid in anything close to reality. So if you're going to break with reality, then give us absurd Matrix/300 style action. But if you're going to stick with gritty realism, then stick to it.

[Spicer]

Seriously? Thats teh sux dude

I have the same issue- I got 2 "disk 2" and no disk 1- no movie. Emails to the only email addresses found anywhere on the UltaMarines web site have not been replied to. Note (and this is an alert for the next time I buy anything off a site) that there is no "Contact Us" section on that site- it's impossible to communicate with them! I sent an email to the delivery service they use in Howell, MI., but I doubt that will help. The only thing left is to dispute the credit card charge. What a bad way to do business!:mad:

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

I am still waiting for my copy.

[Mystery.Shadow]

For those of you who have received two copies of Disk 2, have you tried taking it (the entire thing - metal case, comic, discs, etc) to your local Battle Bunker/Games-Workshop store? If anything, try contacting G.W. Headquarters instead of Codex Pictures.

At least you'll have someone to complain to, and maybe, just maybe they could do something for you.

As service-minded as Games-Workshop is, I'm surprised they couldn't do something for you.

[OdinStormfist]

Well,
It appears from the Codex Website, these problems have overwhelmed their Customer Service ability. I am out here in Odessa, Texas. The nearest Games Workshop store is not less than a 6 hour drive to Grapevine Mall.

However, since Games Workshop has been playing silent partner in this venture and probably would just use this as a nail in the coffin of any future production with Codex. I am still aghast as to why Games Workshop hadn't offered to carry this product through their distribution, other than they are taking a "Sink or Swim" method with some of these outside companies using the IP.

I will offer Codex the chance to fix this problem. I know the holiday schedule and being across the pond can also hamper their personal response. However they have been posting some notices on their website but have not posted anything since 12/24/2010.

[Steps up on his soapbox]
What I know of Customer Service, (having worked as a movie theatre General Manager for 10 years) The longer they take to correct this problem the more they need to "sweeten the deal". Just like leaving an audience sitting in the dark with a broken projector, not getting any information. Folks get angry very quickly. In those cases the best thing that can be done is get them information quickly, provide frequent updates and be prepared to make them happy (a free pass for a future film, free refills on drinks and popcorn).
[Steps down off his soapbox]

[rustbucket]

[QUOTE=DarkLink;112848] It makes absolutely no sense to see any modern, competent military force actually carrying a banner around. Banners made sense when you had to line up rank and file. People don't do that any more.[QUOTE]

Are you kidding me??? Better get used to following that guidon all over Quantico this summer:D Evey battallion and company has one and they're used during PT runs and embarkations to changes of command and in the field for dog and pony shows for inspections. Now you are right that it isn't practical to carry them into battle, but that doesn't mean that any recent military hasn't (The Vietnamese regulars carried them into battle along with bugles) But you'll see them all over the place. Hell they even have them hanging in the Applebees down near MCAS Cherry Point!!

[Mystery.Shadow]

This explains it all!

http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/comics/2011-01-03-ultramarines.gif

Tee hee hee!

[JMichael]

Just finished watching the movie. meh...Not terrible, but not great.
It felt like the animation was done by digital artists as opposed to actual trained animators.
Glad I didn't pay for it myself.

[DarkLink]

Are you kidding me??? Better get used to following that guidon all over Quantico this summer:D Evey battallion and company has one and they're used during PT runs and embarkations to changes of command and in the field for dog and pony shows for inspections. Now you are right that it isn't practical to carry them into battle, but that doesn't mean that any recent military hasn't (The Vietnamese regulars carried them into battle along with bugles) But you'll see them all over the place. Hell they even have them hanging in the Applebees down near MCAS Cherry Point!!

Oh, outside of battle is totally different. It's common practice then. The VC were a little crazy, though. Plus they didn't have quality radios to the extend we did, so bugles would make sense. I just wouldn't expect a platoon of Marines on patrol to be carrying one over in Afghanistan, is what I'm saying.

Some Guard units, I could see, as in the case of the NVA/VC you mention. Just not Space Marines.

[eldargal]

Watched my copy last night, a little review below. Bear in mind I'm an Eldar play with only a passing interest in the Space Marines:

Graphics:
Not the best, obviously, but they got the job done and in no way detracted from the film in my opinion. Some scenes were really very impressive.

Sound:
I really enjoyed the sound, the voice acting was excellent, the music was rather good (I have a soft spot for Gregorian chants) and the bolter sound was perfect.

Story:
About what I expected, a decent little adventure story. Nothing superb, but I felt it was well done. I like the way the shrine was depicted, it seemed appropriate to a backwater planet. Its always strange to see some little isolated planet for some reason have this huge gleaming shrine or something in other stories.:rolleyes: I didn't feel the enemies died too easily as some people claimed, given the ease with which several Ultramarines were despatched. The reason why an entire company of Imperial Fists were guarding such an isolated shrine seemed believable too.

Delivery:
It took a month for mine to be delivered from when they said they would be mailing them out, give or take a few days. A bit annoying, but I ordered a dress from London at the same time which still hasn't arrived, allowances have to be made for he weather and postal disruptions. Thankfully there were no problems with the parcel when it arrives, both discs present and no damage to the packaging.

Overall:
Not a great piece of cinema, obviously, but for a low budget, niche market film it was extremely well done.
C+ as a film
B+ as a Warhammer 40,000 film.
It seems to have sold well, I hope it will be a financial success and we will see more films to follow. With Eldar.:cool:

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

I just finished watching the movie about thirty minutes ago. My copy arrived today in the mail.

Well, overall, it was great. The movie was paced very well, with an excellent build up. Everything was atmospheric, and at times the tension was palpable. Whilst I could not connect to any of the characters, and they were pretty two-dimensional, they worked for me. But the acting was very well done.

The story was nothing great, but nor was it bad. If anything, it was straight forward, but it had an interesting twist at the end. Not that the twist was too surprising.

Loved how the handled the Chaos Space Marines, but I really liked the depiction of the warp - a unique, almost surreal art style that evoked the Immaterium's alien nature.

Some excellent scenes, and my favourites were not even combat-oriented. Such as the running up stairs sequence with the camera bobbing behind the marines. Most of the shrine scenes were well done.

I'm giving the movie 4 out of 5 stars.

[rle68]

If i had paid 35.00 for this id have been pissed i didnt thank god

i was expecting dawn of war i got land of the lost

never mind the lack of quality animation and expresionless mugs

what self respecting ultra marine capt goes out with a bolt pistol and a chainsword? no plasma pistol combi bolter or power sword?

flamers as flashlights? uhm werent we all taught that their helmets had all these high tech huds and light filters and what not..

and last but not least a single bolt pistol shot kills a chaplain with artificier armor? NO WAY JOSE and just what the hell did he cast out of that crozious cus i want an update to the codex NOW.

if you can get it for free do so do NOT PAY FOR THIS

[Defenestratus]

If i had paid 35.00 for this id have been pissed i didnt thank god

i was expecting dawn of war i got land of the lost

never mind the lack of quality animation and expresionless mugs

what self respecting ultra marine capt goes out with a bolt pistol and a chainsword? no plasma pistol combi bolter or power sword?

flamers as flashlights? uhm werent we all taught that their helmets had all these high tech huds and light filters and what not..

and last but not least a single bolt pistol shot kills a chaplain with artificier armor? NO WAY JOSE and just what the hell did he cast out of that crozious cus i want an update to the codex NOW.

if you can get it for free do so do NOT PAY FOR THIS


I have a good friend who keeps telling me that I'm being retarded in my criticism of this movie. I have to think that people's fanaticism of 40k is coloring the glasses through which they watch the movie. Sure it was about as major a production that we've seen as fans, however, it could be so much better in just so many areas that I can't help but feel let down by it all.

Having been involved in 3D graphics in the past, the scene where the thunderhawk left the strike cruiser just made me cringe as I could count the number of polygons on the cruiser model on both hands.

[Mystery.Shadow]

This....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO0yXC0oyIA

Was made for FREE! Games-Workshop needs to hire these people.

[Defenestratus]

This....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO0yXC0oyIA

Was made for FREE! Games-Workshop needs to hire these people.

That was incredible.

Thank you for sharing.

[Cowboy247]

That was incredible.

Thank you for sharing.


Amen to that, it was awesome, was a sad ending though :(

[Defenestratus]

Amen to that, it was awesome, was a sad ending though :(

I actually shed a tear then had to go hug my dog.

[Laodamia]

Yeah, this video is definitely amazing, thanks for the link Mystery.Shadow.


I actually shed a tear then had to go hug my dog.

If your avatar is a picture of your dog, I would hug it too! : )

BTW, I just watched Ultramarines (downloaded it). I think I agree with most of the previous comments. The only cool thing about this film is that it is based on the W40K background and features bolters, flamers, SM, CSM, etc...

Don't bother buying it. If you're a fan of the Ultrasmurfs (they definitely look like ultra-morons in this film) or the W40K universe in general, then download it or watch it in streaming. And invest the 25 quids you just saved by buying a new tactical squad. That's my best advice.

[odinsgrandson]

Thank you for sharing, Mystery.Shadow


Games-Workshop didn't put any money into Ultramarines, and if Michael Bay did the movie I would just not watch it on general principle.

You know, I'm with you. Micheal Bay seems to have this way of taking both good ideas and bad ideas, and making soulless films out of them.

Mind, I think he is an Auteur, but his crowning mark seems to be the plot hole.


Now, I'm not saying that I would expect a film based on 40k to be any good. The guys making the film would be far too interested in playing it safe to do anything interesting with it.

The real drama of the 40k universe isn't going to be very focused on the invincible super-human soldiers. Especially when you present them using the Movie Marine rules from White Dwarf 300.

[rustbucket]

Thanks Mystery.Shadow for posting that link, it was awesome! You nailed it on the head. GW should get ahold of these guys and drop Codex.

I bought the movie, waited forever and a day for it to come in, and then had to hear from my wife how I basically threw $35 dollars down the drain. Had to buy it on principle that it's a collectors item even if the quality was terrible! It definitely won't be winning any awards, but it's a start at least. Maybe they should actually have hired some consultants ie gamers from the closest store to their studio, to give them their setup for visuals/ equipment/etc. Next time (if there is a next movie) they'll take the time to work on more of the small details in scenes like footprints and skin tone, dull down the eyes, and maybe put a little more development into characters and their rivalry? Just my 2 cents.

Rle68 - Gotta agree w/ you the Crozius rules should totally be rewritten to work like that!!

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

I have to think that people's fanaticism of 40k is coloring the glasses through which they watch the movie. Sure it was about as major a production that we've seen as fans, however, it could be so much better in just so many areas that I can't help but feel let down by it all.


Why must people try to undermine other people's opinions? I honestly don't care if you don't like Ultramarines, and would expect the same respect in turn. Whilst it is true that many opinions are probably affected by hype, I'm sure some people - like myself - were able to appreciate the film without bias. The fact of the matter is, I'm not a Space Marine player and I actually prefer the xenos. You're looking at someone whose favourite movie is German, can lecture you on techniques of suspense used by Andrei Tarkovsky, prefers movie where people just talk (my second fav movie is two hours long and set almost entirely around a dinner table), and deeply appreciates European cinema. So, what I am trying to do here is, show you that I am a mature film watcher who is probably not very likely to be biased watching most movies. After all, I hate what Michael Bay did to a franchise I love.

People shouldn't get so concerned over opinions.

[Defenestratus]

Nevermind, I'm already on badboy suspension.

I'll just say this.

When you claim that people care way too much about opinions, you shouldn't spent so much time trying to marginalize others' opinions. It seems you cared a lot about my opinions.

[eldargal]

Of course, it would help if people could learn the difference between 'I don't like' and 'it is bad.:rolleyes:

[DarkLink]

That was an impressive little animated movie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO0yXC0oyIA), there.

Related to that, Monty Oum (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=monty+opum#hl=en&safe=off&q=monty+oum&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=vid:1&source=og&sa=N&tab=wv&fp=2d04ec30df84d994) made a series of awesome fight videos with little formal training. RoosterTeeth (http://redvsblue.com/home.php)was so impressed that they hired him to work on Red vs Blue.


And defenstratus has a point. It's a little odd to say that you don't care about other's opinions (if they don't agree with yours), but then criticize them for their opinion.

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

When you claim that people care way too much about opinions, you shouldn't spent so much time trying to marginalize others' opinions. It seems you cared a lot about my opinions.

Sorry, but you are way off. I said don't try to undermine others' opinions. Where did I marginalise your opinion? How is defending my view on the movie undermining yours?

Anyway, debates on opinions are a waste of time.


And defenstratus has a point. It's a little odd to say that you don't care about other's opinions (if they don't agree with yours), but then criticize them for their opinion.

Where did I criticise his opinion?

[Tynskel]

Well, I just watched the movie, and I thought it was awesome.

The animation was well done, as well as the voice acting.

Whoever had issues with the 'hud' in the Space Marine helmet, 1, has not played Dawn of War-- there's a intro with the hud, and 2, every thing you read about autosenses is pretty much exactly what you see in the helmet in the movie.

And the chaplain's crozius--- uh, 'special' characters in the game have all sorts of cool wargear that is unique, why can't a chaplain have a cool crozius of anti-chaos in the movie? To me, it explains why the Chaplain and Imperial Fist Marine Nidon have been able to hold off the forces of Chaos.

[rle68]

Well, I just watched the movie, and I thought it was awesome.

The animation was well done, as well as the voice acting.

Whoever had issues with the 'hud' in the Space Marine helmet, 1, has not played Dawn of War-- there's a intro with the hud, and 2, every thing you read about autosenses is pretty much exactly what you see in the helmet in the movie.

And the chaplain's crozius--- uh, 'special' characters in the game have all sorts of cool wargear that is unique, why can't a chaplain have a cool crozius of anti-chaos in the movie? To me, it explains why the Chaplain and Imperial Fist Marine Nidon have been able to hold off the forces of Chaos.

1: i have played more then my share of dow
2: it has been well documented that sm helemts have night vision light filters etc etc .. so spare me if i have an issue with a flamer being used as a flashlight
3: name me one chaplain that has an area of affect spell like that no one exists.. im talking game play not those made up books that have no connection to the codex

[eldargal]

I thought the flamer was being used to burn away the fog, not as a flashlight.

[DarkLink]

Either way, it was annoying.


Sorry, but you are way off. I said don't try to undermine others' opinions. Where did I marginalise your opinion? How is defending my view on the movie undermining yours?

Anyway, debates on opinions are a waste of time.

Where did I criticise his opinion?

The whole point of this thread is to discuss our opinions on the movie. Whereas you seem to be saying "I don't care what your opinion is, why did you even bother to post here?".

All defenstratus said was that he thinks people are being nicer to the movies simply because they like 40k. That's his opinion. If you have a problem with his opinion, then either respectfully disagree or take it elsewhere.

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

Whereas you seem to be saying "I don't care what your opinion is, why did you even bother to post here?".

Which I never said. With all due respect, please don't put words into my mouth to prove a point. Please note your use of 'seem'. My main stance is that people shouldn't try to undermine others' opinions.


All defenstratus said was that he thinks people are being nicer to the movies simply because they like 40k. That's his opinion. If you have a problem with his opinion, then either respectfully disagree or take it elsewhere.

No, he said: "I have to think that people's fanaticism of 40k is coloring the glasses through which they watch the movie." Which is akin to questioning their opinion due to perceived 'fanboyism'. I hardly think that asking for someone to stop undermining opinions is an attack on their opinion. I don't have an opinion with his view of the movie - please quote me where I say that - but I take issue with people who say, 'oh people that like x only do so because they are obsessed with y'.

Anyway, have me not derailed this thread? ;)

[DarkLink]

Why must people try to undermine other people's opinions? I honestly don't care if you don't like Ultramarines, and would expect the same respect in turn...

People shouldn't get so concerned over opinions.

:p

Anyways, it sounded to me like you were saying "why would you post an opinion like that".



No, he said: "I have to think that people's fanaticism of 40k is coloring the glasses through which they watch the movie." Which is akin to questioning their opinion due to perceived 'fanboyism'.

His quote sound pretty much equivalent to "I think they liked the movie better than they otherwise would have because it's 40k." The details are semantics.



Anyway, have me not derailed this thread? ;)

Probably:D

Half the fun of the internet is arguing over stupid stuff, though

[MrGiggles]

Well, I didn't mind it and honestly, I don't have an issue picking it up since it helps encourage the Codex Pictures folks to do another movie. Pretty standard deal. If you want folks to keep making the movies or games you like, at some point, you kind of need to kick in some money for them.

The animation wasn't perfect, but I think it was as good as it needed to be. It was good and consistent throughout which was a big plus and as folks have indicated, they got the look and feel of things right.

The story though just wasn't great. It reminded me very much of the type of flow we saw in the Ravenor novels (lots of mucking about punctuated by something occasionally happening). Lots of wandering with no terribly accessible characters. With the amount of content, a half hour could have been shaved off pretty easily. I've definitely seen worse first attempts at a series though.

The whole Space Marine vs Chaos Space Marine angle stuck me as an odd choice though. I think Codex Pictures really should have taken a page from GW's approach to the starter boxes. Do Space Marines and something else to start with. You really don't get a good perspective of Space Marines when they're fighting each other, Everyone is equally well armoured, armed with equally cool guns and an equally good shot, etc. If you want to showcase the Space Marines, stick them beside some Guard during an Ork or Tyranid invasion and let them shine.

Either way though, the movie was a descent watch and I'd like to see some more from the Codex Pictures folks.

[Tynskel]

Well, I didn't mind it and honestly, I don't have an issue picking it up since it helps encourage the Codex Pictures folks to do another movie. Pretty standard deal. If you want folks to keep making the movies or games you like, at some point, you kind of need to kick in some money for them.

The animation wasn't perfect, but I think it was as good as it needed to be. It was good and consistent throughout which was a big plus and as folks have indicated, they got the look and feel of things right.

The story though just wasn't great. It reminded me very much of the type of flow we saw in the Ravenor novels (lots of mucking about punctuated by something occasionally happening). Lots of wandering with no terribly accessible characters. With the amount of content, a half hour could have been shaved off pretty easily. I've definitely seen worse first attempts at a series though.

The whole Space Marine vs Chaos Space Marine angle stuck me as an odd choice though. I think Codex Pictures really should have taken a page from GW's approach to the starter boxes. Do Space Marines and something else to start with. You really don't get a good perspective of Space Marines when they're fighting each other, Everyone is equally well armoured, armed with equally cool guns and an equally good shot, etc. If you want to showcase the Space Marines, stick them beside some Guard during an Ork or Tyranid invasion and let them shine.

Either way though, the movie was a descent watch and I'd like to see some more from the Codex Pictures folks.

This was a pretty good critique.

I don't understand why someone would get mad about a Chaplain having a piece of wargear that no other chaplain has used in 40k. They are 'unique' items for a reason--- one of a kind.

The use of the Flamer as was is very common. It clears an area, and if there were bad guys there, you would have lit them on fire.

[HsojVvad]

I showed my wife a few seconds of the movie, and she had her fair share of the film. Unless you are a 40K fan, the movie really sucks bad.

She said the voice acting was boring, and dull. Rememeber a movie is to entertain, not be realistic. So the movie is realisitic or sticks to fluff in some sorts, it doesn't in other sorts. Where it sticks to fluff, it makes a bad, boring movie for non 40K fans.

I liked it for what it was. Then again, I am a 40K fan. But for the masses, this movie fails big time. It is just not enteratining enough to keep most people interested.

[Tynskel]

uh.

the movie is for 40k fans.

The movie is awesome. Obviously, your wife is not a fan.

[rustbucket]

The point of the movie is to draw in non gamers or potential gamers into the 40K universe. Therefore it should not just be geared towards the current fan base. My wife didn't particularly like it either and she's been around the hobby for nearly 15yrs.

[Tynskel]

The point of the movie is to draw in non gamers or potential gamers into the 40K universe. Therefore it should not just be geared towards the current fan base. My wife didn't particularly like it either and she's been around the hobby for nearly 15yrs.

what are you talking about?

the movie says it is for 'fans' of warhammer 40k. These are people who already ARE gamers and familiar with the 40k universe.

I am gunna go with the wild card here: there are no women in the movie.

[eldargal]

My mother and sister in law both quite enjoyed it. Generalisations are general. Besides, I've not seen anything from Codex saying the film was ever intended as a recruiting tool, they have the DoW series for that.


The point of the movie is to draw in non gamers or potential gamers into the 40K universe. Therefore it should not just be geared towards the current fan base. My wife didn't particularly like it either and she's been around the hobby for nearly 15yrs.

[DarkLink]

Yeah, I'm not sure such a limited release movie is the best way to draw customers. It just doesn't have enough exposure. I doubt many people outside the hobby would have heard of the film, let alone actually seen it.

[HsojVvad]

Wait a second? They made a movie for fans? As most people say, about GW making minis for money not fans, the same can be said about Codex making Ultramarines. It may be geared towards fans, but it wasn't made for fans.

It was made to make money. Simple as that.

[Tynskel]

Wait a second? They made a movie for fans? As most people say, about GW making minis for money not fans, the same can be said about Codex making Ultramarines. It may be geared towards fans, but it wasn't made for fans.

It was made to make money. Simple as that.

Yes, of course it is so it earns money, but that doesn't detract that the target audience is people who are fans of 40k.

[eldargal]

Of course it was made to make money, Codex is a business. It was made to make money by appealingto fans of 40k, the two aren't mutually exclusive. GW make money by producing miniatures for the fans, too.


Wait a second? They made a movie for fans? As most people say, about GW making minis for money not fans, the same can be said about Codex making Ultramarines. It may be geared towards fans, but it wasn't made for fans.

It was made to make money. Simple as that.

[OdinStormfist]

For those of us that received 2 copies of Disk 2.

I was able to get another e-mail address from Games Workshop
try [email protected].

I just sent an e-mail and put a read receipt on it. I have sent numerous emails since Christmas day and have had no response nor any read receipts come back.

...am starting to get a little pissed off

[geisthammer]

i was going to get it legit but looks like im going to get it the "other" way if people are getting screwed.

[Spicer]

I've sent complaints to all email addresses I can find assocaited with the film. Weeks have gone by. No reply. Nothing. So I am contesting this with the credit card company. The only thing left to do.:mad:
Which is too bad, as I bought the bloody thing just because I felt obliged to support the hobby and the film project.

[OdinStormfist]

Sorry about your problems guys. I almost would have rather have not gotten the item at all than to have it screwed up as it is.

[Laodamia]

Sorry about your problems guys. I almost would have rather have not gotten the item at all than to have it screwed up as it is.

Exactly!

And this is why I preferred to download it (as I'm a silly young university student who breaks the law five times a week by illegally downloading films).

[Defenestratus]

Exactly!

And this is why I preferred to download it (as I'm a silly young university student who breaks the law five times a week by illegally downloading films).

Do you walk into your LGS and pick miniatures off the shelf and walk out without paying for them too?

[Laodamia]

Do you walk into your LGS and pick miniatures off the shelf and walk out without paying for them too?

Uh, no (though this thought crossed my minds many times when I saw the price asked for just a small plastic tank or even smaller plastic soldiers).
Considering the fact that the film was the first real feature film (if we except those pieces of rubbish on Lego or bionicle that do not even deserve the name "film") of Codex Picture, that most of its actors were virtually unknown to me and that it was the frst time W40K was adapted into a film, I just thought buying the dvd of this film was not a good idea.
In fact, if I had bought this dvd, I would have watched the film one or two times before putting it in some dark and old place of my cupboard and forgeting I ever bought this dvd. Paying 25 quids for this final result sounds pretty harsh to me. I preferred to download it.

[Tynskel]

Uh, no (though this thought crossed my minds many times when I saw the price asked for just a small plastic tank or even smaller plastic soldiers).
Considering the fact that the film was the first real feature film (if we except those pieces of rubbish on Lego or bionicle that do not even deserve the name "film") of Codex Picture, that most of its actors were virtually unknown to me and that it was the frst time W40K was adapted into a film, I just thought buying the dvd of this film was not a good idea.
In fact, if I had bought this dvd, I would have watched the film one or two times before putting it in some dark and old place of my cuppboard and forgeting I ever bought this dvd. Paying 25 quids for this final result sounds pretty harsh to me. I preferred to download it.

You don't watch many movies, do you?

All of the lead roles for the 40k Movie were played by great actors, some, of which, have been in famous movies which date as far back as the 60's n' 70's.

[Laodamia]

You don't watch many movies, do you?

All of the lead roles for the 40k Movie were played by great actors, some, of which, have been in famous movies which date as far back as the 60's n' 70's.

Truth be told, I don't really consider myself as a "cinephile". But still, I stick to my point of view that the casting of Ultramarines was not particularily remarkable.

According to me, the only great actors of this film were John Hurt and Terence Stamp (Sean Pertwee is also quite well known, but most of his last roles were complete failures, but this is only my point of view). What is left of the casting cannot really be described as "great actors". For some of them, I could not even find any form of information on the internet, so I really don't know where Martyn Pick found them.

If you tell me you heard of "Gary Martin" and "Christopher Finney" before Ultramarines the film, I will remove all my previous statements, but I seriously doubt anyone knew these two actors before watching this film.

[! : ?]

hey !

Well, finally got around to seeing it .. i really appreciate any kind of endeavours that goes towards gettin' the hobby into a more mainstream media, oi oi to that! that aside,, there sure is a lot of walking around in this movie and seeing that they don't event talk whilst walking it gets boring quite fast,, also, the dialogue is not at all snappy enough which gives the movie a quite unreal feel to it, i mean the marines seems bored to the point of apathy! and, why does that flamer guy keep firing his flamer all the time to produce light, it seems absurdly stupid!! i really really liked the parts of the movie wherein the marines moved around acrobatically,, jumping around in a power armour seems like great fun :) i have not read any of abnetts stuff but i think he captures the background feel of the universe quite nicely,, evidently abnett sucks at writing dialogue and the producers and directors should have tackled that problem once it became evident but alas they didn't... all in all i think they should have made the movie into a three part series of 30 minutes apiece since writer and movie crew quite obviously wasn't up to the task of pulling a full length version off. that aside,, make more 40k series/movies its absolutely fantastic seeing your hobby up on the big screen!!!

! : ?

[Defenestratus]

Uh, no (though this thought crossed my minds many times when I saw the price asked for just a small plastic tank or even smaller plastic soldiers).
Considering the fact that the film was the first real feature film (if we except those pieces of rubbish on Lego or bionicle that do not even deserve the name "film") of Codex Picture, that most of its actors were virtually unknown to me and that it was the frst time W40K was adapted into a film, I just thought buying the dvd of this film was not a good idea.
In fact, if I had bought this dvd, I would have watched the film one or two times before putting it in some dark and old place of my cupboard and forgeting I ever bought this dvd. Paying 25 quids for this final result sounds pretty harsh to me. I preferred to download it.

Regardless of your personal opinions of the film, or your rationale for stealing it - what you did is break the law and is no different than walking into a store, grabbing something from the shelf and walking out with it. You took what wasn't lawfully yours.

I'm sure pickpockets and thieves rationalize their decisions to part people's possessions from them, just as you have.

Instead of downloading the movie for yourself, perhaps you should have listened to movie critics, other gamers, or friends who have seen the movie as a basis upon which you decided to trade your money for their property.

[Laodamia]

OK, this kind of debating is starting to piss me off, but I will remain calm and polite.

I did what I did, I don't regret it, I feel no shame for downloading a movie based on some story involving plastic miniatures, and I do not expect others to tell me how I should act, especially on this forum, which is meant to discuss the W40K universe, not the "illegal habits" of others.

And actually, I WAS considering buying this dvd before reading the first comments of this thread. So I HAVE listened to other gamers and talked about it with some of my friends before taking my decision. Now defenestratus, if you disapprove what I did, keep your thoughts for yourself, because I don't think anyone on this forum cares about what you think about illegal download. At least, don't bother talking about it that much, because we are diverting from the original subject of this forum and you will not make stop downloading films if I want to.

I consider this kind of silly talking closed and I won't go down that road any further. If you want to have the final word by posting another off-subject comment about my habits, please do, I could not care less.

Apart from all this sterile arguing, I think ! : ?'s post summarized quite well the general quality of the film, and I totally agree with his comments. Actually for future films, I would hope they rather comcentrate on a good short film than an average, sometimes boring full-length film.

[Defenestratus]

I did what I did, I don't regret it, I feel no shame for downloading a movie based on some story involving plastic miniatures, and I do not expect others to tell me how I should act, especially on this forum, which is meant to discuss the W40K universe, not the "illegal habits" of others.

What University do you go to again? I'd like to come find you, and take everything you own. Based upon your own statements, you'd have no problem with me doing it since my own rationale justifies it. Laws be damned.


And actually, I WAS considering buying this dvd before reading the first comments of this thread. So I HAVE listened to other gamers and talked about it with some of my friends before taking my decision.

Your options were, A) to listen to your peers and purchase the movie, B) To listen to your peers and not purchase the movie but NOT C) Listen to your peers and use it as morally relativistic justification for taking Codex Picture's property illegally.


if you disapprove what I did, keep your thoughts for yourself, because I don't think anyone on this forum cares about what you think about illegal download.

Sorry, I must speak out when I see criminals admitting to their crimes in a public forum. Perhaps because I speak up, you'll realize what you have done is wrong, illegal and morally vapid.


I consider this kind of silly talking closed and I won't go down that road any further. If you want to have the final word by posting another off-subject comment about my habits, please do, I could not care less.

^The crutch of a person who knows that they stand on no grounds to support their ideas. Go ahead, continue breaking the law - its not hurting anyone right?


Actually for future films, I would hope they rather comcentrate on a good short film than an average, sometimes boring full-length film.

You do realize that you're being the ultimate hypocrite in that you make recommendations for future films, yet your actions have directly, measurably harmed the impetus for the creators, and GW itself to create more intellectual property for you to steal without compensation.

[George Labour]

I'm just going to say I got this for my birthday. I also enjoyed it immensely and disagree with anyone who says that the Dawn of War intros had better production values.

Now keep in mind I'm not a fan of any marines that aren't daemon hunters, or vikings so to make me actually try to remember an ultramarine's name and which helmeted figure he is takes at least some effort.

It's a good first effort, I feel my money was well spent as I enjoyed the extras and graphic novel, and the movie was about what I expected. It's at least a 6 or 7 out of 10. 8 if you REALLY like the sound chainswords make when they go through other marines.

Only real critique I have is that the opening dueling scene looked a bit awkward, but I don't know if that's just the power armor, or the animation being a bit lackluster. Probably a bit of both.

[HsojVvad]

Regardless of your personal opinions of the film, or your rationale for stealing it - what you did is break the law and is no different than walking into a store, grabbing something from the shelf and walking out with it. You took what wasn't lawfully yours.

I'm sure pickpockets and thieves rationalize their decisions to part people's possessions from them, just as you have.

Instead of downloading the movie for yourself, perhaps you should have listened to movie critics, other gamers, or friends who have seen the movie as a basis upon which you decided to trade your money for their property.

You have never done anything to break the law? You never spat on the sidewalk? You never jay walked? You never ever ever downloaded music in your life?

Everybody breaks the law. You have never broken the law? Those without sin cast the first stone. What he did isnt good, it's stealing, but nobody is perfect you don't need to be harping on what someone did.

I am not saying what he did was right or wrong, but if you find this so wrong, contact a mod to close the thread.

[DarkLink]

Why would he try to have a mod close the thread because one of the people on it is a thief?

[Defenestratus]

You never spat on the sidewalk? You never jay walked? You never ever ever downloaded music in your life?

No , No, and yes - but it has been through services that you pay per track.

Nor did I come onto a public forum and boast about how I had broken IP laws either.


Everybody breaks the law.

Moral Relativism. Just because everyone does it doesn't mean that its right.


You have never broken the law?

I have in the past and I have paid the tickets/fine for it. I also didn't boast in a public forum about how I speed around town at 85 mph. (partly because I don't)


Those without sin cast the first stone.

In this case, consider me without sin. As someone who has to deal with infractions on his own IP and I've measured the impact is has on my personal income - I can say that this issue hits home, and I never take someone elses property that isn't mine. If you want to cite a single instance of a speeding ticket in my past - then so be it, guilty and atoned.


What he did isnt good, it's stealing, but nobody is perfect you don't need to be harping on what someone did.

I disagree that I should stop harping on what he did as long as he insists that what he did isn't wrong and he feels no guilt for it. Its become second nature in today's electronic society to just poach that which isn't yours because its available and because there will be no repercussions. Its heinous and evil - its no different than walking up to the owner and grabbing the bread from his table.

Now, because I told Duke I was done, I will stop.

[Laodamia]

Guys, stop this!

I don't think anyone in this entire forum cares about what we think about breaking the law and downloading films and music! This is not the point of this thread!
We came to this thread to discuss the film Ultramarines. That is all! There are probably lot's of people on this forum who download films, and a couple of them probably did so with this particular film. It may be good, acceptable or totally wrong, but this is not what we are supposed to discuss!

@defenestratus: when I said my point of view about future films, I was simply trying to bring back our attention to the subject of this forum, not being hypocritical. Now, if you really want to discuss the problem of downloading films and stealing minis in a GW store, feel free to create a new thread about it, and I will be more than happy to discuss about it with you. But I'm afraid we are gonna be the only users of this thread...

For instance, ! : ? and George labour both made interesting comments about this film which were completely ignored because of our silly arguing. Since you are obviously quite concerned about moral issues, then you should realise that we are being unfair to the people of enjoyed reading some info about the film and now see their thread being ruined by a bunch of idiots arguing about illegal download.

[Duke]

I finally got a chance to watch this movie and here are my thoughts.

1.GRAPHICS: I had been throughly "warned," about the CGI quality. But all in all I didnt think it was that bad for the budget they were woking with. Especially considering that there are a lot of start up costs that eat into that original budget that wont be there in future films. All in all, I thought the graphics could be a lot better but didn't stop me from enjoying the film... The best advice I was given is "it is a great crtoon"

2. SCRIPT: when I heard Abnett was writing the script I was excited... He can write a great novel but in my humble opinion this script was trash. The dialogue was drivel, "I'm going to get first blood." " no, I am!" blah blah blah. I felt no personality, no character development and not a care in the world for who was who. Not to mention the whole "and we shall know no fear," sentence they kept throwing in our face. Perhaps the next movie should be about space wolves who have a natural character built into them. Long story short, the script felt too artificial and boring, I don't think it is because they characters ar space marines, but more just simply poor writing, which I wasn't expecting from a writer I normally think very highly of.

3. PLOT: Thisis supposed to be a movie for 40k fans, not the general public... So why are the bad guys so thin then? I don't care about the characters and as such i didnt care a bout their struggle against their opponents. It is like they thought that just because they were chaos marines we would be all excited. Also, the whole thing with the captain was pretty transparent, there is foreshadowing and there obvious. Also, the whole thing about how they killed an entire company of imperial fists, yet a squad of ultras walk in, get the objective, and hump out with little problems was riddiculus. Also apparently chaos marines can't shoot worth crap and though the ultras were standing still only a couple got hit... Yet meanwhile the chaos marines are moving and get hit like puncks... Whatever.

Well that is all I have for now.

Duke
P.S. Any more off topic comments about downloading (or any other off topic post) will be summarily executed, and infractions will be given out. Regardless of your opinion it is illegal activity and obviously we do not support posts of that nature especially in the main forum. if you want to discuss the merits/demerits of such activity click on over to the oubliette and have at it (within reason)

[HsojVvad]

As for the graphics, I thought they were good. I can't understand what people were complaining about. I don't think I want to see a movie like Dawn of War II for an hour and a half or just a bit over an hour. I thought the graphics were quite done well.

I am not too impressed with Dan Abnett writing skills. Now after watching the movie, I am positive he is not a good writer at all. The story telling wasn't very well done at all. Like Duke said, a movie made for the 40K fans and not the general public, WTF?! Why go against what all the fans know of?

All in all, it is just another GW product (even though it was done by Codex) that is over priced for what it actually should cost. I guess they think since 40K fans overpay for GW products that they could do the same. If they make another movie, I will not be dishing our $40 for what they are asking next time. Simply not worth it at all. For $40 I expect something like Avatar. I don't care for the extras that came with it. I wanted the movie and that's it. This is a $15 movie at the most.

I can go buy Avatar for $30 or cheaper on Blue ray and get a way better and more enjoyable experiance. Even if you don't like Avatar, name any movie you like and it will be cheaper and a better experiance than Ultramarine. Agian you going to charge $40 for a movie, you better deliver. They didn't deliver.

Yes it's an ok movie, but definently not for the price they are charging for.

[Duke]

And what ws the whole thing with the crozius not being used to hit people? Who would have thought that it is not actually a power weapon as much as it is a "power megaphone" that s seriously lame and against a lot of the fluff I have ever heard of.


Duke

[HsojVvad]

What I want to know is, how do I use my flammer to kill a whole unit of Chaos SM or any other unit I am going up agaisnt next time I play DA.

Maybe Abennt was thinking the flammer was a Pyrovore and that it exploded when killed?

[Duke]

Well apparetly flamers are ap3, not to mention the template we should all get for the crozius. Lol

Duke

[George Labour]

1) The imperials fists were wiped out by a massive daemon incursion not just the chaos marines. In fact those marines almost seemed to be stragglers, possibly low on ammo, and maybe a bit crazed and or posessed.

2) The 'evil' plot required the marines to escape, so they were pretty much let go once the stage had been set.

3) As for the crozius I looked at it from two ways. It emitted some manner of stasis beam which either

a) Was a way of visually demonstrating the chaplain's in game special ability.

b) It was some manner of bad arse relic. Carnak did say he'd been there a long time after all.

Now I know none of this is never explained in the film, so yes it is just me guessing on the rationalizations. But to me they didn't detract from the film.

But then I don't mind if marines use multi lasers instead of heavy bolters....

[SierraFiveOne]

I'd really like to see it. Unfortunately I ordered my copy on the 9th of December intending for it to be a Christmas present and have yet to receive it. None of my emails have been replied to and I'm really wondering if I'm going to get the friggin' thing at all.

That and I want my comic book.

[George Labour]

I was lucky/unlucky in that my FLGS got a copy in through their GW distributor. Annoying part is, it was ten dollars more than buying it from the website.

OTOH I did get it without having to wonder if it's buried in some snowstorm, or stuck on a loading dock.

[Mystery.Shadow]

Some comments stolen from another Forum:

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

So, [someone] loaned the move and I watched it last night. It LOOKS amazing! The graphics are awesome, and they look like a GW painting brought to life. All the shots of Ultramarines walking, and posing, and thinking, and not shooting....well they look great.

Plot isn't horrible, its Aliens. Its got a great McGuffin, go get this relic, and all the scenes leading up to the action have a creepy "what's gonna happen?" feel to them.

The problem for me is twofold. 1. Ultramarines. They are called vanilla marines for a reason, they are boring. Even [someone else] calls his painted Ultramarines "Blue Blood Angels...see the red?"

2. I can't invest in any of the characters. SPOILER: Its pretty obvious Terrence Stamp is the demon when he comes back. You don't cast Terrence Stamp if you want a good guy. He's brilliant at playing evil/good characters. But really, the whole point of marines is a faceless, helmeted protector of the imperium, so I don't care when one gets shot and a different one lives. There is no character to follow or invest in.

SO: I disagree with [another person], its TOTALLY worth forty bucks. If you like Ultramarines. Let me know when Blood Bowl the Movie comes out, Space Wolves, or even Dark Eldar.




SPOILER WARNING!: You don't cast General Zod for your movie unless you want an evil role played.
My two cents: The movie doesn't look nearly as bad on a fast response-time monitor. It's appearance projected onto a wall doesn't do it justice. The guys at Codex deserve more credit than they got.
The sound is 'pants' tho. The Bolters sound like @$$ and the Landspeeder and Thunderhawk truely sound like a teenagers' Honda equipped with Fart Cannon! -Really!
Personally, if you want to make a good 40k movie, it would have to be filmed at an Imperial Guardsman's point of view.
Oh yeah, and it helps to watch it on this: http://album.warpshadow.com/d/61989-1/01050007.JPG
I'll admit, it's a pretty good start. But not great. Let's hope their next movie will be a lot better! (And have Tyranids!)




I thought it was good overall I just think 40 dollars is a lot of money for what is a very short movie. The plot was good standard fair for 40k, and if you didn't know who Terrence Stamp (I didn't) was then you didn't know he would turn evil.

[eZieweZie]

In order to better comprehend the impact the movie had had on the community, an extensive survey has been created. The idea is for as many people as possible who have watched the movie to fill it in and a thorough statistical analysis will then be performed on the collected data. The results should give a pretty solid impression of how people reacted to the movie and why. The information could also prove useful in order to improve any next W40k movies, if there will be any.

More information here:

http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?p=116566#post116566

[Gir]

Well apparetly flamers are ap3, not to mention the template we should all get for the crozius. Lol

Duke

It's almost as if the game is an abstraction....

[Sister Rosette Soulknyt]

Ok, actors aside for who they are and all, i found that it was boring dialog. Seriously they all looked the same, and what is with these guys being new?
If they reached to their positions through being a scout how do they avoid combat? Why do they all look like there 40+ in appearance?

Next issue i have with it is, i now understand why the Horus Heresy started, im jut perplexed the Ultramarines didn't join them...you want to talk SIN, try Pride.
Ultramarines seriouslly suffered from it i think in this movie. They kept doubting each other, argueing, and not trusting in there faith of their brothers, more like each other. And where very quick to judge a brother Chapter with equal Honor to them.. the Imperial Fists no less.
"im going to spill first blood"
"no your not i am"
"im better than you"
blah blah blah.

What happened to repsected honoured members of your Chapter when they looked down on the Apothecary? Or when Proties doubts his Captains ability to lead???
Talk about doubt, fear, Pride and Taint.

Another issue, if the Chaos Marines are equal to loyal marines, they seriously are bad shots, there was more of them, the Ultramarines where not dodging and yet only the guy with the flamer died, one got hit with a axe and another i think took a hit, in all i think they managed to kill what 30+ chaos guys.
Odds would suggest more Smurfs should be dead through skill, numbers, stationary targets, but i guess you cant kill off to many good guys.

All in all, i loved the scenery, graphics, and some of the acting, i guess the story could have been better.
Combat and show of what a bolter shell does in flight was awesome, chainswords are deadly, but i agree can i have a banner that burns with eldric fire everytime it gets near chaos?
The only army that has excuses to carry a real banner is the SoB.

[DarkLink]

What happened to repsected honoured members of your Chapter when they looked down on the Apothecary? Or when Proties doubts his Captains ability to lead???
Talk about doubt, fear, Pride and Taint.

Yeah, in most real military units, casually talking down to a superior officer or higher ranking enlisted is a very, very bad idea.

Plus, never make enemies with the Medic.

[Tynskel]

Watching the movie, again!

Has anyone noticed how much a Bad Mofo Nidon is? His bolter has something around 23 tick marks on it. You can see them when he points his bolter at verenor just before they leave the chapel.

[Psychosplodge]

Bit TL;DR but anyway,

I didn't have high expectations for this film , but it still missed them by a mile...


The entire movie felt like an excercise in look what we can do with CGI, and even then they failed the DOW cut scenes/intro does a better battle scene.


The insubordinate ultramarines dialoge would have been more suited to catchens or some anarchist space marine chapter, think this is the first thing I've seen of Dan Abnett's that has genuinely disappointed me.

Think they choose the wrong factions, wrong animation style, and compromised the fluff.

Would have been better in an anime style, with guard, vs xenos, then we could have concentrated on the story rather just how 3d they tried to make it look.

Quite disappointing really.

[HsojVvad]

I keep reading TL;DR alot lately in alot of threads. What does it mean?

[DarkLink]

The entire movie felt like an excercise in look what we can do with CGI, and even then they failed the DOW cut scenes/intro does a better battle scene.


The DOW cutscene probably cost as much as this whole movie did. Very high quality CGI is expensive. It's feasible when you have a 3 minute video, and a game that will make good profits. When you're 90 minutes long and selling to a very niche audience, though, you can't afford that quality.

[dethangel]

the movie was mildly entertaining. the true failure is the writing. a better story would have made up for any of the bland cgi. the voice acting was good.
im just glad my friend spent the 40bucks on it and not me.

[Chuck777]

The entire movie felt like an excercise in look what we can do with CGI, and even then they failed the DOW cut scenes/intro does a better battle scene.

You can't compare a cut scene of a video game to the actual game. Its very easy to make a single scene look gorgeous, quite a different story for the whole game. That single scene from DoW most likely had a very large budget and an entire staff devoted weeks to making it look great. You can't expect that kind of effort for the whole game. Its the same with a movie, especially a movie with a small budget like this film. :(


The insubordinate ultramarines dialoge would have been more suited to catchens or some anarchist space marine chapter, think this is the first thing I've seen of Dan Abnett's that has genuinely disappointed me.

IIRC, he wrote the screen play and then, as with most movies, that script is taken by other authors and fleshed out, cut down and changed to suit the whims of the producers. His original work was probably great.


I keep reading TL;DR alot lately in alot of threads. What does it mean?

Too Long; Didn't Read. :)

[Psychosplodge]

The DOW cutscene probably cost as much as this whole movie did. Very high quality CGI is expensive. It's feasible when you have a 3 minute video, and a game that will make good profits. When you're 90 minutes long and selling to a very niche audience, though, you can't afford that quality.

Possibly, but surely with the technology advancing since the original DOW something close to that could be acheived for a fraction of the price, as I said though an animated rather than cgi film would have probably been better, and cheaper considering the niche themes that come out of the east at reasonable quality.


You can't compare a cut scene of a video game to the actual game. Its very easy to make a single scene look gorgeous, quite a different story for the whole game. That single scene from DoW most likely had a very large budget and an entire staff devoted weeks to making it look great. You can't expect that kind of effort for the whole game. Its the same with a movie, especially a movie with a small budget like this film. :(

I'm not comparing it to the game, I'm comparing one medium of CGI, to another medium of CGI with about a decade betwenn the two. It still doesn't take away from the minutes spent circling the characters, slow zoom in for a bullet time bolter shot etc which was little more than a glorified tech demo/cgi pRon, adding nothing to atmosphere or story.




IIRC, he wrote the screen play and then, as with most movies, that script is taken by other authors and fleshed out, cut down and changed to suit the whims of the producers. His original work was probably great.

I'm a fan of Abnett's work, having most of the 40k stuff, but that doesn't make me automaticlly assume that everything he does is epic, sure he may have had constraints placed on him by the brief and
of course script suffers during the transfer from writing to performance, but there are fluff lines in the 40k universe that the Custodians of the Lore shouldn't have allowed to be crossed, especially considering this is a niche market and was never going to attract mainstream audiences anyway.

[HsojVvad]

You can't compare a cut scene of a video game to the actual game. Its very easy to make a single scene look gorgeous, quite a different story for the whole game. That single scene from DoW most likely had a very large budget and an entire staff devoted weeks to making it look great. You can't expect that kind of effort for the whole game. Its the same with a movie, especially a movie with a small budget like this film. :(



Actually you can compare them. It is not our fault that Codex didn't have a big budget. It's like going to a gala. You expect to have rich expensive food when you go there. You don't expect McDonalds when you go to a high expensive gala.

So when you go see a movie, you expect to see great visualizing stuff, espically when they themselves hype up the movie. Maybe Codex and GW shouldn't have hyped up the movie so much and trumped their own hornt then eh?

I think Codex deserves all the critism they get. I don't care if their budget wasn't big and the DoW II was only a few mintues long with a huge budget. That is their problem not mine. You want me to come back again, stop making excuses and man up. Simple as that.

I am getting tired of excuses all the time. All I rememeber before the movie was released was, how great this was suppose to be. How realistic to GW fluff this movie was suppose to be. How great the graphice were suppose to be. (maybe I don't get out much, but I thought the graphics were great, but others don't.)

So not having a big enough budget doesn't cut it, sorry. If the story was better, the acting was better, then nobody would have been bothered mentoning the graphics. Becuase the story IS LAME and BORING, you loose interest and then start nit picking. Codex has noone to blame but themselves and Dan Abbnert.

[DarkLink]

It's not Codex's fault, either. It's not anyone's fault that they didn't have a massive budget, really. But whining that Codex should have done a better job despite the fact that they didn't have a fraction of the money required for it is like complaining that BMW's aren't a mere $5000 each, and only $2000 after mail in coupon.



Possibly, but surely with the technology advancing since the original DOW something close to that could be acheived for a fraction of the price,


No.

Technology doesn't advance that fast (if you look at video games, you'll find that they're looking better and better because more and more money is spent on them. Sure, the ceiling is higher, but it's still extremely expensive to reach that ceiling).




as I said though an animated rather than cgi film would have probably been better, and cheaper considering the niche themes that come out of the east at reasonable quality.

Yes. Though a lot of people irrationally look down on animation as children's stuff. Several of the best movies and shows I've ever seen were animated.

[Tynskel]

I think the Hype was fine for the movie. The hype was not beyond anything they were saying the movie had. They said it was fun, looked good, and had a fun story. I agree with every one of those statements.

[Tynskel]

The DOW cutscene probably cost as much as this whole movie did. Very high quality CGI is expensive. It's feasible when you have a 3 minute video, and a game that will make good profits. When you're 90 minutes long and selling to a very niche audience, though, you can't afford that quality.

Here's the thing--- there is more detail in the Ultramarines movie than in the Dawn of War cutscenes. Go frame by frame, and really look.

[HsojVvad]

It's not Codex's fault, either. It's not anyone's fault that they didn't have a massive budget, really. But whining that Codex should have done a better job despite the fact that they didn't have a fraction of the money required for it is like complaining that BMW's aren't a mere $5000 each, and only $2000 after mail in coupon.

Of course Codex is at fault here. Big massive budget or not, Codex wrote the story or approved it from someone else writing the story. This is not part of the budget problem.

You telling me if Dan Abbnett was paid more money he would have written a better story? They could have gone to a no name, and he or she could have written a better story than that we were given.

I think the sounding was awsome. I think the animation was great. It was the story telling, the acting or directing that was poor.

Again, Codex hired the director. The director did a poor job with the story he was given, OR the director did a good job with the poor story that he was given. In the end, Codex approved this so they ar erespoinsible for the decisons.

[Psychosplodge]

Here's the thing--- there is more detail in the Ultramarines movie than in the Dawn of War cutscenes. Go frame by frame, and really look.

That's what I thought initially, but because of it it lost the grittyness of the DOW cutscenes. Everything looked too clean, too shiny, too plastic, too sharp.

I would have been happy to watch 90 mins of this quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFkFo5SBx-g
(the story lines as good anyway.)





Technology doesn't advance that fast (if you look at video games, you'll find that they're looking better and better because more and more money is spent on them. Sure, the ceiling is higher, but it's still extremely expensive to reach that ceiling).

You're wrong, look up "Moore's law", technology in computing moves forward rapidly, driving down the cost of oldertech. for example we've had 2 versions of windows since the original DoW was developed (released 2004,guess 18months development?) , now compare the min specs to run XP with whats needed for windows 7, or compare windows 95 with XP.
The first announcement was
http://ultramarinesthemovie.com/news/2009-11-16/introducing-ultramarines-%E2%80%93-warhammer-40000-movie
and listed "state of the art" as a selling point, guess where the money went? yep SOA SOFTWARE, where as off the shelf nearly a decade old software would have been a damn site cheaper, also there would have probably been a wider available pool of "animators" who had worked with the older software, again driving down costs through supply and demand.
It should have been easily cost effective to produce a film to that standard, but it wouldn't have been as "cutting edge" .
Also nitpicking now, re-watching it the space marines look too "skinny".






Yes. Though a lot of people irrationally look down on animation as children's stuff. Several of the best movies and shows I've ever seen were animated.

Exactly.

[Chuck777]

Actually you can compare them.

Feel free to compare them. Just be warned, nothing will look as good as a trailer, ever.

[DarkLink]

You telling me if Dan Abbnett was paid more money he would have written a better story? They could have gone to a no name, and he or she could have written a better story than that we were given.


Oh, I was talking about cgi quality. Storyline is a different issue. Though money still plays a role in that. The more money you can afford to spend, the more time you can pay the writer to refine the script, and the more tweaks you can afford to make during the process if you catch any mistakes or errors. But, yeah, it doesn't have as big of an effect.



You're wrong, look up "Moore's law", technology in computing moves forward rapidly, driving down the cost of oldertech. for example we've had 2 versions of windows since the original DoW was developed (released 2004,guess 18months development?) , now compare the min specs to run XP with whats needed for windows 7, or compare windows 95 with XP.

I know what Moore's Law is. You'll note that I never said that technology is not advancing. I, in fact, said that it's not advancing that quickly. High quality CGI is still very expensive. Yes, the DOW cutscene would probably be cheaper to do nowadays than it was to do originally. It's still expensive, and Ultramarines was very low budget. Maybe in 20 years your 5-year old will be creating a CGI film for their kindergarden class because it's gotten so easy to do. That's still 20 years from now.

[Psychosplodge]

Oh, I was talking about cgi quality. Storyline is a different issue. Though money still plays a role in that. The more money you can afford to spend, the more time you can pay the writer to refine the script, and the more tweaks you can afford to make during the process if you catch any mistakes or errors. But, yeah, it doesn't have as big of an effect.



I know what Moore's Law is. You'll note that I never said that technology is not advancing. I, in fact, said that it's not advancing that quickly. High quality CGI is still very expensive. Yes, the DOW cutscene would probably be cheaper to do nowadays than it was to do originally. It's still expensive, and Ultramarines was very low budget. Maybe in 20 years your 5-year old will be creating a CGI film for their kindergarden class because it's gotten so easy to do. That's still 20 years from now.

But that's the entire point, it is advancing that fast,
and if my I had a five year old at kindergarden in twenty years, he'd have a long commute and I'd have left it a bit late lol:D

[Duke]

if I can add my .02... I didn't think that the animation was THAT bad. After a little bit I got over it, I just looked at is a a high def cartoon rather than a "Avatar," competitor.

What did bother me though, was the dialogue... Oh it was horrible! Dan Abnett can write a great book, but for some reason this script was (IMHO) just bad. The way they talked, seemed fake they didn't seem like brothers who had fought beside each other for decades, I really don't know how to explain it but it was really irritating.

Duke

[HsojVvad]

if I can add my .02... I didn't think that the animation was THAT bad. After a little bit I got over it, I just looked at is a a high def cartoon rather than a "Avatar," competitor.

What did bother me though, was the dialogue... Oh it was horrible! Dan Abnett can write a great book, but for some reason this script was (IMHO) just bad. The way they talked, seemed fake they didn't seem like brothers who had fought beside each other for decades, I really don't know how to explain it but it was really irritating.

Duke

You explained it pretty well. Brothers who hadn't fought beside each other for decades. I swear I was watching the IG or fresh recruits who should be scouts instead of wearing Power Armour.

Again, maybe this is how UK people talk, an is normal for them, but us North American people this is just plain torture. Again, I said it before, one thing to try and be true to Fluff, (but if you do this, then everthing should be fluff full wich the movie was not) it's another thing to entertain.

For me, this movie failed to entertain on that aspect. It's pretty bad, when as soon as I started the moive, my wife went to bed and said "no thankyou" into watching it, that yes, this movie fails big time on the "entertaining" factor for the general poplulance.

Btw, wasn't this move supposed to be released to the cinemas? Geez, at least WWE movies get the big screen at least for a few days. :eek:

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

The way they talked, seemed fake they didn't seem like brothers who had fought beside each other for decades, I really don't know how to explain it but it was really irritating.

Duke

Because they weren't brothers who had fought beside each for decades. In actual fact, they hadn't really had much exposure to battle at all. The captain was desperate to get marines and so 'upgraded' some scouts.

[DarkLink]

But that's the entire point, it is advancing that fast,

Not much point in saying "yes it is" "no it isn't" "yes it is" without actual numbers. Anyone have any evidence either way?

[Uncle Nutsy]

I watched it not too long ago so here's what I think of it.

Be warned: i'm going to do a take-no-prisoners, brutal and very blunt post so if you get offended easily or have a weak constitution, click back now.


okay, you're still here.

now that i've done the stupid disclaimer to keep the whiny brats at bay, I thought the movie was garbage.

that's right. garbage.

the writing was really medicore and just peppered with fanwank and the CG was just horrible looking.

The voices sounded like they simply picked people off the street and told them 'read this'.

And they had money for this? I've seen hobby projects that make this movie look a first year CGI student's work for crissakes. And those hobby projects were done with NO BUDGET WHATSOEVER.

[Tynskel]

the animation is much better than you think it is. Look again.

[Uncle Nutsy]

really? you think so?

The quality is nowhere near the quality of demo reels that students create.

lighting is bad, textures are flat, the faces don't have enough detail and the characters animations are extremely stiff. shall I go on?


I'm not the only one that's saying this. CG professionals that do this kind of stuff for a living are ripping it apart aswell.
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=925450

[HsojVvad]

I wonder why this is the reason they only sold the collectors edtion first and you can't buy just the DVD so they get more money? I have never ever seen where you have to wait to buy the regular edtion after the special edtion is released.

I guess this should have been a sign to show how bad the movie really is.

[Chris Copeland]

I really liked this movie and I'm glad I bought it. I think it nicely captures the feel of the 40K universe and tells an interesting little tale. I hope they make more of these and soon! Cheers!

[Tynskel]

really? you think so?

The quality is nowhere near the quality of demo reels that students create.

lighting is bad, textures are flat, the faces don't have enough detail and the characters animations are extremely stiff. shall I go on?


I'm not the only one that's saying this. CG professionals that do this kind of stuff for a living are ripping it apart aswell.
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=925450

I completely disagree. This is well above the quality of student reels.

However, the textures are much more detailed than your average movie-- each marine has more detailing on them anything you see in any of the dawn of war games/trailers. The faces have good detailing. all of these things use the same models and textures.

There are many things in the movie that are good.

What I do agree on is the Lighting, of which one of the hardest things to do. They captured it in some scenes, and fell flat in others. The scenes where the lighting fell flat is what makes one thing the textures are bad, or the faces don't have enough detail, or even animations not looking so hot.

But, there are some amazing scenes--- the fighting in the beginning, the Daemon, Captain Severus vs chaos hordes. Chaplain Hurt zapping everyone ect. Essentially, where they managed to get the lighting down correctly.

[Mellowshade]

Games-Workshop didn't put any money into Ultramarines, and if Michael Bay did the movie I would just not watch it on general principle.

Hear hear.

I liked the film. If any of you have seen Inquisitor, the collection of live action clips that comprise a loose (in the loosest sense) story you cannot deny that this is an improvement. There are a few things that need to be taken into account when you judge this movie. Most if not all relate to budget. Games Workshop granted the license but not much else. Having to raise their own capital means that the budget was limited especially as this is a first so there is no precedent to base its sucess or failure on within the community.

My own main gripes relate to direction. There were too many lingering quiet shots where nothing uch happened past what could be justified to give the inmpression of shock/horror/awe that such shots should be used for. This can be explained away by the budget issue but a little more imagination could have countered this surely?

Second, in the courtyard when the marines first arrive the camera pans around the characters 360 degrees. I would expect something like that from a 90's cgi animated feature to show off the new and exciting technology of computer animation and not something in this day an age. A sense of scale could be achieved though other methods.

Lastly was the anti climax of the countdown at the end. They have to stop the daemon before the engines fire and they break for the warp and then nothing happens, they slowly thrust away as they had been doing all sequence.

Apart from that :D I enjoyed it and would like to see more though hopefully it is successful enough to warrent more investor capital.

[Mystery.Shadow]

Problem is, when something is really good most people don't say much. If it's bad they tell the world....

I had a steak last night at Big Ben's Steak House*, it was AWESOME!! -You tell a friend or two.
I had a steak at Rodgers' Grill* and it was HORRIBLE!! - You tell everyone, post on BoLS, Tweet, and Facebook it as well.

* Names are purely fictitious.


I do wonder, what the numbers say. Has this thing sold well? Better? Worse? As expected?? Anyone know? Anyone? Anyone?

[SierraFiveOne]

Well I still haven't received my copy that I ordered in early December (customer service is slooooooowwww), but I did manage to see it through other methods.

I wasn't very impressed. I found myself having to justify why certain parts looked off (which is almost always a bad thing) and found the whole experience to be sort of "meh".

I am curious as to how the graphic novel that it comes with looks. Any opinions?

[Mellowshade]

Well I still haven't received my copy that I ordered in early December (customer service is slooooooowwww), but I did manage to see it through other methods.

I wasn't very impressed. I found myself having to justify why certain parts looked off (which is almost always a bad thing) and found the whole experience to be sort of "meh".

I am curious as to how the graphic novel that it comes with looks. Any opinions?

Not seen the graphic novel but it explains why there is a party made up of a captain, apothecary and a bunch of newly promoted recruits.

Problem with that is a lot of the context in the story is lost on those who have not read the book so have less of an idea what is going on. Same thing happened with Star Trek. Having read Countdown prior to seeing it I enjoyed much better than if I had just been thrown into it blind.

[HsojVvad]

Not seen the graphic novel but it explains why there is a party made up of a captain, apothecary and a bunch of newly promoted recruits.

Sorry I find this as a bogus excuse. I am suppose to read some graphic novel before watching a movie for something to be explained? All this tells me is that Codex doesn't know how to tell a story in thier movie.

When you make a movie you should never EVER have to go somewhere else to understand. To make a good movie it should all be explained in the movie you are watching. I hated in Star Wars Episode II they don't explain who Master Siphus (who ever ordered the clones 10 years prior) is. I still don't know who or why they were ordered.


Problem with that is a lot of the context in the story is lost on those who have not read the book so have less of an idea what is going on. Same thing happened with Star Trek. Having read Countdown prior to seeing it I enjoyed much better than if I had just been thrown into it blind.

What Star Trek movie are you talking about and what is Countdown? Never herd of it.

[BlackKnight15624]

I honestly found the comic book to be rather dull and lifeless, and not really contributing much to the overall plot of the movie. Even if it did, I would agree with the previous post that it's a weak cop out to not actually animating a whole other scene that explains it.

I find the movie itself entertaining- I finally get to see my boys in blue running around, shooting, walking (maybe a little too much), and dying. The crozius was funky, though.

[Mystery.Shadow]

This is amusing!

http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/comics/2011-01-24-ultramarines-2.gif
http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/comics/2011-01-31-ultramarines-3.gif
http://www.ninjabread.co.uk/comics/2011-02-07-ultramarines-4.gif

[eldargal]

'Obverse crest' haw, its transverse not obverse. Obverse is technical term for the 'heads' side of a coin, amongst other things. Aside from that, generalyl fairly accurate but I'm putting it up there with 'tv tropes' as annoying and unecessary over-analytical.

[Lexington]

Is Curis the best cartoonist to ever do a parody of Games Workshop material? I submit that it is probable.

[Kewlmon]

Overall, a good first start to 40k movies (as long as they learn from there mistakes). The walking was defiantly the most ridiculous part though; I sort of understand that they were trying to portray how Space Marines move, but they could have been using that time spent animating the movements to much better use.

Again, and I'll keep my hopes up, a good start to what will hopefully be the harbinger of good 40k movies

EDIT: also found these (quite good) 40k shorts
Part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOSsm7DTjMw
Part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0AiS8OPOL0