I’m totally stoked for the upcoming release of Ultramarines The Movie, scheduled for shipment of December 13th 2010. It’s a first of its kind; a full length, CGI, sci-fi thriller, set in the Warhammer 40K universe and based on, you guessed it, a squad of Ultramarines.
–>warning I’ll be talking a little about the content of the film based on what I saw in the trailers and promotional clips. If you haven’t seen them and you don’t want to know anything about the film before you see it then avoid reading on. I just don’t want to diminish the experience for anyone, so you’ve been warned.
Personally I’m not a huge fan of the Ultramarines, I’m more of a Chaos Daemons girl myself but I can see why they chose to make their first full length film about the most popular chapter of Space Marines and the most popular army in Warhammer 40,000. I was glad to see they would be going up against Chaos, though from the previews I didn’t see any sigh of Daemon’s but those Chaos Space Marines sure look badass and there’ still hope some daemons will make a fierce appearance.
In all honesty the art and CGI seemed pulled from a game and a moderately low budget one at that. I would have loved to see graphics that reached for such heights of perfection as those of the Final Fantasy Films but obviously they didn’t have the same budget backing them (not that Games Workshop couldn’t afford it with how much they charge us for the mini’s and everything else). I only hope that the success of this title will secure the production of another full length Warhammer 40k film and one with a bit more polish to it. On the positive side from what I have seen in the trailers the story has sparked my interest, the ever important fight scenes seems engaging enough to keep me wanting more and the voice acting was believable, complimenting the characters rather than drawing one away from the focus of the story, like we see/hear so often in animated films. So I give them kudos for that. Oh and as far as the character designs themselves, I rather liked the rugged feel of the Marines, these are true manly men, rough around the edges and made for combat, no fluff here and that’s the way it should be.
With that being said I can’t wait to sit down with my hubby to watch this one. I hope to order my copy of the special edition collectors set this weekend. I’ll let you know my opinion of it and of the film after I watch it.
If you haven’t already heard about Ultramarines The Movie and your dying to find out more, check out the official site http://www.ultramarinesthemovie.com/ for news, information, pics and trailers. You can also order your very own limited edition copy while you’re there.
Further reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarines:_The_Movie
Official YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/UltramarinesTheMovie
Support this endeavor by purchasing the Movie, so we can see more Warhammer 40,000 full length films in the near future.