# Ultramarines The Movie. Advance Screening feedback and reviews.



## Jezlad (Oct 14, 2006)

Just got back in and looking forward to the fight tonight so I won't go into detail right now.

What I would like to say though is the naysayers can rest assured that the animation is not as bad as first feared. On the contrary in fact, the level of character detail is pretty impressive. The facial expressions are good too with some great touches.

I'm not going to share plot specifics but there's a nice twist and the stakes are epicly high for our protagonists. It's a very well directed movie too with some great shots thrown in that really stand out. One in particular springs to mind looking down the barrel of a boltgun and a silhouette viewed in a puddle. Props to Martyn Pick, top drawer.

The overall style is impressive with a few "box art" shots thrown in. They've reproduced some of the scenes on the boxset covers which was a nice nod to me as a wargamer and GW in general.

The landspeeder isometric shot is pretty breathtaking. The speeder overall was great. *cries for his 4th edition speeder spam army*

Great effort.


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Nice to hear these things, they make me want to see the movie even more...


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## Brother Emund (Apr 17, 2009)

Jezlad said:


> Just got back in and looking forward to the fight tonight so I won't go into detail right now.
> 
> What I would like to say though is the naysayers can rest assured that the animation is not as bad as first feared. On the contrary in fact, the level of character detail is pretty impressive. The facial expressions are good too with some great touches.
> 
> ...


Flippin' ek Jez... that was quick. You got on here before me! You must have rushed back... beers not appeal to you? :drinks:

I Second *Jez*… the trailer does not do the film justice. Overall I quite liked the film. The animation is very good and the attention to detail is impressive. Don’t worry, the Ultra’s armour is suitably worn and weathered, and all the equipment looks used. The facial shots are good and I especially liked the close up of the helmets.
Loved the scene when they are ‘prepping’ for battle, with them going through all the rituals and each of them uttering the _litanies_. 
The Landspeeder is a lovely toy (if you can get hold of one), and is correctly depicted, down to the nuts and bolts. 

Without giving too much away… my only negative points were; the UM’s apparent lack of urgency, considering what was going on. They all speak veeerrryyy s-l-o-w-l-y, and when they come across ‘something’ they decide to carry on, rather than fuck off back to the Thunderhawk on the hurry up! 

You will not be disappointed… and, according to the company who made the film, if all goes well, there is the possibility of more films featuring other inhabitants of 40K.

*8/10*


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## Bindi Baji (Apr 23, 2009)

Ok, leave it to me then, the question on everybodys lips is..........................................................

How long in before Squats appear?


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## the-ad-man (Jan 22, 2010)

Bindi Baji said:


> Ok, leave it to me then, the question on everybodys lips is..........................................................
> 
> How long in before Squats appear?


they do a small musical intro to a curtain backdrop, and when they are done the curtains come back to reveal a squat face-raping the emperor, who is black 

good to hear is quite good


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## Amenhotep (Mar 13, 2009)

Well, being one of the lucky individuals to get into the preview screening in Soho today, i thought id post a few thoughts on the new Ultrasmurfs movie while it was all still reasonably fresh. 

Gotta say, i did have some reservations before hand, the animation style not being perhaps my favourite, and it's only just under 1 hour 20, which is a little on the short side. However, that aside, we're talking about an animated movie with space marines in it. Plus the voice talents of people like Terence Stamp, Sean Pertwee, and of course the venerable John Hurt. Also, whatever else it was just really cool seeing the Emperors Finest go forth and kick ass. 

So, story wise it's completely new material written by Abnett, so if you were hoping for it to be based on some of the current books, i'm afraid you'll be disappointed on that side. It is however a decent and tight script, and for Abnett's first screenplay, a very solid job done imo. Scale wise it covers the mission of a squad of Ultrasmurfs, led by a Captain (i did find this kinda strange, as i'd have thought there would have been more marines before you had a Captain getting involved), but then that was all there seemed to be aboard the strike cruiser at the start, so perhaps the others were already deployed somewhere else, or maybe even just dead - who knows. The Plot builds quite nicely in terms of tension, although it takes a bit to start really getting to the action - i've got mixed feelings about that tbh, although on the whole it's quite nice getting to see the marines right from mission start to effectively mission end, and this does mean of course it's not all just battering the enemy with bolter and chainsword. So, while i'd have perhaps liked to see more action, and stuff getting stomped into the ground by dreadnoughts and terminators (maybe in the next movie!), it still does a good job of keeping your attention focussed, and still delivering some solid quality action scenes, which i felt actually worked well given the scale of things. 

Music score wise, nice and dark and gothic (literally gothic choir music, which really nicely sets the scene) - and i think they do get the overall dark and gritty setting down well. 

Certificate wise, it's a 15 - which considering that theres no swearing or sex scenes in, means that's all about the splutch factor, and there are some great scenes in for that (for an animated film that is). 

Overall thoughts? well, i'm not going to say it was the best film i've ever seen, but then realistically it was never going to be. However, it was a solid movie, very enjoyable, and a great first start at what will hopefully be bigger and better things to come. I really did like it though, and enough to have now actually gone and ordered the collectors edition on DVD - so there's a fairly decent seal of approval right there 



P.S. - my only real gripe? Ultrasmurfs being portrayed as the paramount space marine chapter - the paragons and suchlike. Hello? i think you'll find wolves and blood angels will both tan their blue hides from here to the Ultramar sector 

Oh, and as mentioned above - the land speeder kicks ass. Oh, if only there had been a dreadnought as well! And terminators. And perhaps a few other vehicles like rhino's etc. Would have saved them a heck of a lot of walking for starters! Ah well, next movie hopefully...


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## GrizBe (May 12, 2010)

Soo the real question is... do you think its worth the money, and would you buy it without feeling diapointed about how much you'd spent on it?


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## Dagmire (Oct 9, 2008)

I thought the film was good. Not great but worth the £17 or what ever it is to buy. I suggest you buy it if you like 40k.
The only down side is the graphics. They are much better then the trailers but not 100%
The story is awesome and some of the fight sceans are great too.#
7/10

PS who was it that had the nose bleed????


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## Catpain Rich (Dec 13, 2008)

Sounds awesome. Makes me glad i bought it already thanks guys! :grin:


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## zxyogi (Dec 7, 2009)

*8/10*

Yep,gotta agree with everyone else....a good solid film!! Enjoyed it! And would most deffo recommend it as part of any 40K freaks DVD collection!! Its gonna be in mine as have ordered mine a week or so back. 

My only major gripe[small one at that] would be the voices.....to me not what I expected,all the books I have read suggest Marines voices are very deep and when they speak with their helmets on the voices are "normal" not......as though coming through speakers.And when they talk privately on a vox link I would expect it to sound a little distorted/different.

Again a small gripe which didnt ruin it for me!! Go out and buy it....order it....so they can make another 40k film!!! Go on you know it makes sense!!!!!
:victory:


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## zxyogi (Dec 7, 2009)

Dagmire said:


> PS who was it that had the nose bleed????


Just too much excitement......proof of the pudding Chaps....go out and buy it!!!
:grin:

By the way it werent me!!


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## LazyG (Sep 15, 2008)

*tl;dr* - It was good fun, an honest attempt to stick to the backstory though imperfect in places. You should buy it as it is good and so they can make more of them. 7/10

Backdrop on my point of view - Played some 40k as a teenager, stopped playing but never forgot the feel of 40k. Got drawn back in by the computer games, and ended up reading quite a large number of Black Library novels. Neither a newby to 40K nor a true fanboy.

So, it goes like this. After arriving quite a bit too early and having to go lurk in soho for a while, I show up outside the venue to find a bunch of people I would describe as 95% make and 95% nerd (I count myself as both). I figured this had to be the right place. My +1 you lames out at the last moment as his flu was so bad he could not get out of bed (he is the biggest 40k fanboy i know by a mile), so it is just me on my lonesome. 

We get invited in and after the relief that my name _was_ on the list we go downstairs and stand around milling and picking up the Ultramarines chapter icon badges lying about. The vibe is a bit reserved I would say, and many people are skeptical of how the film will turn out.

Anyway, in we go, and one of the producers comes out to talk to us a little. He makes a few things clear that I think are important: They are a small independent British film company, and they raised the money for the whole thing themselves (unusual and not easy in the UK these days). From what was said after the film I got the impression it was basically a pretty small budget relative to any sort of Hollywood film. I think this is important to note though, you can't compare the move to Avatar or even to an averagely budgeted mainstream film.

So roll titles. Before thing sget going, one of the gang gets, presumably, so overexcited they get a nosebleed and have to run out. Now that guy deserves a fanboy medal of excellence. OK so lets get this straight, I don't want to blow the plot too much. They asked us specifically not to blow any twists etc, and given a: they were nice enough to give Heresy Online the tickets and b: that means they may well read what we write, I am going to respect that.

What this is not is a broad and epic view of the 40k universe. It is more a small unit action thing, close and atmospheric. Me I would have loved even a quick view of a massive battlefield but cost and story constraints made that a no go. Think of this more as an underground, plucky underdog entry into 40k film making, and its success or not will determine whether we get to see anything bigger and bolder. Wile the choice of chapter is probably not the most popular, i got the impression that that direction was preferred by Games Workshop as the best entry to the world of marines. As the producer mentioned, fi you started with Space Wolves then where do you go from there. People would assume they were normal. I guess Ultramarines are the definition of Vanilla.

The look is better than the trailers. I am personally not over enamoured with how old the older marines look (I asked whether they had any fear of non fanboys thinking it looked like 'grandad-in-armour' ) but in fact not long into the film i had stopped being so jarred by it. Their effort to true-scale the marines is good though. Compromises had to be made and i think they did as well as you could. The characters are also pretty nice and distinct, which is good, though only a few are concentrated on. 

That said I do have issue with how the marines feel in their environment. They look plausibly proportioned but I found they lacked weight. As others said at the screening the legs of the marines looked…wrong to me. From the first time I saw them walk i found it looked too floaty for my tastes. A scene during the film where a group of marines are climbing stairs also looked wrong in my eyes, a bit too floaty. The funny thing is this only seemed an issue to me in the out-of-combat sequences. In combat they looked noticeably better. The walking sound was could have helped but didn't quite, i wanted a meaty thud as they plod along, they may be super-strong but they are heavyweight lads and they should be doing some damage to the ground.

The gun scale is also a touch odd at times. Two handed the bolters worked for me, one handed they looked a bit silly. Even with the strength to hold them up from one end there was no feeling they had ever weight, but i am nit-picking. I did like the gun sounds though, they felt meaty and the bolter shells did appropriate damage. The chugging of a heavy bolter was also satisfying.

The voice acting was generally good - especially John Hurt and Sean Pertwee. That said, and I may be alone in this, I _really_ thought that Terrence Stamp phoned this one in. Another attendee mentioned to me they just saw Stamps face every time they heard him, and I kinda agree. I just found him stilted for some reason. Him aside, most of them caused me to suspend disbelief and at least one line (that was delivered very naturally) got a good laugh from us all. I must mention, though, that the chant of 'and they shall know no fear' was too cheesy for my tastes, and coudl have been handled better.

I thought the vehicles looked great. Someone else mentioned a Landspeeder, which is impressive, as do the others. The interiors of the Ultramarine structures/vehicles also look nice, and include some pretty and amusing touches. Along the adventure the spaces also have some nice touches. For instance a few of us noticed what seemed to be the Aegis Defence Line in one scene. Lots of other nice and pretty accurate notes though, service studs (though arguments about appropriate numbers), a narthecium, not a bad chainsword (that looked pretty cool when killing foes), mention of gene seed etc etc.

The script was pretty decent. I like Abnett, and as a general scifi nut, he is probably the best of the Black Library roster, capable of serving up lots of dark as well as heroic success. I'l even forgive him contributing to the banal pantomime of Torchwood. His entry into scriptwriting was good, especially given unlike in live action film, there is far less change in the editing process in animated film. Instead you pretty much have to have decided on what the audience will see shot to shot before the render starts.

I do think the pacing was a little off though. It goes slow for quite a while, lots of suggestion but not much to see. This works better on the page than on the screen for me. Once the action kicks off I was happier, though it is a fair wait into this 78 minute movie for it to happen. The build of section is also a touch…. monochrome. It is reasonably tightly plotted though, and i didn't see any glaring plot holes. There was one plot-related question about something to the producer at the end but it was minor and not a huge deal. I did feel the ending suffered a but though, the final showdown is over a bit quickly, i would have liked to see it a couple of minutes longer.

Trying to wrap up this long post, I liked the producer, and I liked what he said about his company's approach. They are trying to do 40k properly, and not let it become a pale hollywoodized version of it. They went for a new story not an existing one as otherwise, where do you start? I think this is a fair point - half the other stories have so much backstory you could never tell them. Like many movies this feels, and is really, based on a short story length plot. Even a Gaunt's Ghosts novel (normally quite short) would be a long film done right, and especially with animation length is directly proportional to cost. I think Codex pictures (name not intentional) are the best we are likely to get to make 40k movies, and I think they will go for something bigger and better if this one does well. 

So yes, you should buy this. You should also buy the limited edition. As it is sold directly by the makers, they will get a higher profit from it, and so it will make the money invested back faster than the later, mass market version (where the retailers and distributors will take a cut). I only had a quick look at the special edition but the case was good, the graphic novel looked impressive, and the extra features sound nice too. You should buy it and thing of it as say 10 quid for the film, 5 for the cool extras, and a tenner investment in getting the next film made. The producer also hinted at other chapters etc being a real possibility for film 2, so all you blood angels, space wolves, black templars, dark angels, if you don;t buy this, little chance you'll ever see your favourite bunch on screen.

I think the above maybe comes out negative, but I am trying to break things down. In the end it was a fan hour and a bit, and great to see 40k on screen. I enjoyed it, i will buy the dvd and feel good about the purchase. You will all doubtless find things wrong with it but ask yourselves, unless they had the budget of Avatar (and they were on the small side i think) could they have done a much better job given the many constraints?

Overall 7/10 cos i am a harsh marker, but with a lot of optimism about the followup being able to go further and build on this great start.

This small essay was a thank you for giving someone with no posts before this week a ticket (though my account is at least a couple of years old!) but thanks again for the chance to see it, and to the makers for being smart enough to engage with a decent fan community for the previews.


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## zxyogi (Dec 7, 2009)

Are you the Nid player?......with the Police provoking man bag that likes talking to old inquisitive ladies? :biggrin:


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## toffster (Dec 13, 2009)

*8/10 Good Film!*

Personally thought it was great. Thought the graphics/CGI could have been improved a little more but this was only a small budget film so thats fair enough. I'm really looking forward to a second film, would be great as graphics should be much better. 

One small little thing... actually two:

1. Their attitudes were a bit too arrogant for my liking. Fair enough their new marines but I would have thought the majority of that would have been drilled out of them by now. Didn't bother me much, but it's just a little something.

2. I thought they took everything a bit too slow, as said above. They were heading towards a distress beacon from their fellow brothers, albeit Imperial Fists. I would have thought they would have got a move on. A snail could have beaten them there. Well, probably not. Just proving the point.

3. Theres a third now, (SURPRISE!). Think it could have had another 20-30 minutes.

I struggled to think of those negatives to be honest, the trailer does NOT do the film's graphics justice at all. They are actually very in depth. Thought the inscription on the bolter shell could have been on the shell in slow motion, not the casings. So it comes round just before it hits it's target. I personally think that would be rather neat. 

Shame I couldn't stay for beers... Damn age limit.


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## 18827 (Oct 23, 2009)

Im going to keep this short and basic as I'm not that good at writing reviews (or anything else).

So here's my 2 pence.....

I must admit for the first 10 minutes or so I did find myself studying the film more then just sitting back and watching it.
but when I did I found it to be a pretty enjoyable film.

Yes the story is lacking somewhat in depth and there are some really cheesy lines but the animation wasn't all that bad, 
most of it is fairly graphic and put together very well.
The landspeeder and the face of the Black legion Chaos marine are great. 

as for being a 15cert I don't really see a need for that as it is "cartoon" Fantasy blood and gore and not Zombieland.

you could sit there and nit pick at things but I think overall the film's a good start.
For a independent film company to take on a project like this with no financial backing or investment from GamesWorkshop is a risk but I feel they've done a good job and the end product should make a lot of fans happy and wanting to see more.

7 out of 10.


Thanks Jezlad for the ticket and it was nice to meet/chat with some of the fellow heretics offline.


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## LazyG (Sep 15, 2008)

zxyogi said:


> Are you the Nid player?......with the Police provoking man bag that likes talking to old inquisitive ladies? :biggrin:


What me? Nope, nothing so interesting happened to me.


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## zxyogi (Dec 7, 2009)

LazyG said:


> What me? Nope, nothing so interesting happened to me.


Oh....a case of mistaken identity!!


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

I just got back, must say a huge thanks to Jez for the invite, it was good to put faces to a few Heretics!
Anyway, I decided that it would be a good idea to visit the pub with the missus, it wasn't!
So, when I've sobered up a bit I will try and post something coherent!


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## Brother Emund (Apr 17, 2009)

normtheunsavoury said:


> I just got back, must say a huge thanks to Jez for the invite, it was good to put faces to a few Heretics!
> Anyway, I decided that it would be a good idea to visit the pub with the missus, it wasn't!
> So, when I've sobered up a bit I will try and post something coherent!


Damn you Norm... I am gagging for a pint as well! :drinks:


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

tl,dr: Don't claim to enjoy it because it's the only real "film" we've had so far.

Ooh, boy, do I hate to be the one to spoil the wave of approval. I was tempted to write this up as a formal review, reviewing films being part of my day-job but I'd rather their only official review so far wasn't negative, to be fair to them. I was there today as well, and I've got to be honest - it was fairly bad. Though, before I continue, I'm just going to make one very valid point - I wanted to ask the producer but it was just too awkward a question. Two words:

Graham McNeill?

I mean, yeah, great, most fiction in 40k seems to either be an attempt to recreate the success Abnett's had and/or his writing style, but hasn't Graham proved himself as just as good a writer? And, to my knowledge, is the only true tie-in authority on the Ultramarines? I can't have been the only one in the room who felt that Abnett's understanding of the Guard has always been better than his bolter-porn understanding of the marines.

I won't lie, the CGI was indeed better than the trailer, but realistically small budget or not (and the stuff about film companies not disclosing their budgets was bullshit, he should know as a producer they're all over IMDB Pro, Pixar's too, to name the one company he never should've compared Codex Films to), some of the animation was horrendous. I agree with the one guy who pulled the producer up on the walk cycles - one minute they're ponderous, the next minute it was like watching Ninja Gaiden.

If anything, the producer's melodramatic ramblings about independent UK film companies (I won't comment on the clash between his patriotism and the use of the word "movie" in the title longer than the bracketed bit here) made me feel uncomfortable - like he knew it was going to be s*** but didn't want to just come out and say it.

Games Workshop, you really screwed the fans by not investing in this. I've never publically called you out for the price-gouging, the cashing in on tools you can buy for a tenth of the price at B&Q or the various other examples of your money-grabbing tendencies. But you should have funded this film, and not doing so essentially, to me at least, sent the message to fans that you're willing to control your IP to a fanatical degree, but the final result isn't something you're interested in.

There were some good bits. I loved the small details - servitors, the wax seal, the campaign studs (which I don't think the modellers fully understood the significance of as everyone seemed to have served vastly different lengths of service when comparing them by rank) and of course, the Chaos Undivided symbol made out of ******** ***** *******.

The twist was good, I'll give them that, because it was one of the few twists that was very cliche but I still guessed wrong. Anyone who does decide to drop any spoilers should be forum-kicked, imho, as I think the implications of the evil-doers plot against the good guys were huge and very scary.

I have no fan-boy niggles. The shoulder pads were fine. They walked and ran as I expected them to. The "visor-view" was flipping fantastic. I felt that they ended up with a cast of people who knew their roles, but only a few of them got into the groove, and as a result sounded melodramatic when the others were simply just a little bland - think Anakin in Ep. II & III - angry and self-righteous, but not quite realistic enough.

In summary, I really feel for Codex Films. The demise of the UKFC was bad enough, but the fact that a huge, profitable (though their share price would indicate otherwise, trust me) company like Games Workshop wouldn't go all in on something that could've made the Vanilla Marines something special again is a real shame. Like Black Library, it feels like anything that's not made out of metal or plastic is just beyond their care unless they've got a lot riding on it - or unless you break the most malleable fluff in existence.

So, argue with me if you will, but I'm going to say 7/10 for the effort they put into promoting and talking up the film, but 2/10 for the execution and the fact that even the producers didn't read a single bit of backstory before embarking on one of the most fluff-heavy IPs outside of Star Wars.


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## Davidicus 40k (Jun 4, 2010)

Hell yes, I'm getting this. Let's not be nitpicky (since it's mostly good) and support this so GW decides to make another one in the future.


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

Davidicus 40k said:


> Hell yes, I'm getting this. Let's not be nitpicky (since it's mostly good) and support this so GW decides to make another one in the future.


That was the _problem_, imho. GW didn't make _any_ of it, they just told them what they could and couldn't do, no different to any studio with an IP they own when faced with unfamiliar media.


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## Catpain Rich (Dec 13, 2008)

Yeah but hopefully now gw will put some of their money into the next one.


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## 18827 (Oct 23, 2009)

teamnecron said:


> That was the _problem_, imho. GW didn't make _any_ of it, they just told them what they could and couldn't do, no different to any studio with an IP they own when faced with unfamiliar media.


I second that. no credit should go to GW for this film.


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

Catpain Rich said:


> Yeah but hopefully now gw will put some of their money into the next one.


I hope so, but in all honesty I doubt it. If you tell GW you've got the funds, they'll see it as free advertising. Mistake number one on the part of Codex Films. They also made mistake number two - mentioning THQ's DoW cutscenes. Quite frankly, if those cutscenes ever hit cinemas, I'd be there with popcorn, 75 minutes or 125, either way.


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## Davidicus 40k (Jun 4, 2010)

jimmy gunn said:


> I second that. no credit should go to GW for this film.


But no one can make a 40k film without GW's approval, right? That's what I was getting at, really.


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

Davidicus 40k said:


> But no one can make a 40k film without GW's approval, right? That's what I was getting at, really.


Oh, I agree - you're 100% correct on that front, legally. But at the same time, no one can make Star Wars stuff without God-sorry, _George_ Lucas' prior approval, or at least the IP folks making sure the three-billion-dollar man's bank balance keeps on increasing. You'd think this was a guarantee of quality, and in fact with Star Wars it usually is, but Games Workshop are not out to preserve their universe, just the sense of self-worth that occurs at their AGM.

My issue with the whole "GW" fiasco is that if the producer was that down because of GW's lack of support, so down that he mentioned it at the preview screening - which is (as a journalist) PR suicide, not to mention something GW will hear about soon enough - shows how horrible they must have been to him and his team. Then again, his lack of care for 40k was evident. My example?

"So, do any of you read the fiction?" Of course, rather than him answering, the PR woman at the back goes: "He doesn't have the time!" Everyone laughs, ha-ha, we move on. If that'd been a room full of film critics, they'd have asked the question again. No. No he didn't. "Someone had a brother who played", and that's almost a direct quote. That really instill faith in the film for you?


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## LadyDust (Feb 11, 2009)

Firstly, thanks to Jez for the tickets. 

As a novice to Warhammer, I was pretty impressed by the film. I think that Codex Pictures based on a small budget did a very good job on attracting some non/newbie Warhammer fans. Along with a good plot and very good graphics.

I wasn't sure what to expect at first especially after seeing the trailers beforehand. 
The trailers didn't do the film much justice! However after the first 10 minutes or so, I started to get drawn into it, the plot was straightforward and from a woman's perspective, I found it very interesting and intriguing!!! Now I want to know more!!!!

It's more interesting now, after seeing the film whereas I always thought Warhammer was just boy's toys :wink: (Maybe you guys should try getting your partners/missus into watching the film first, then they might have a better/different perspective to Warhammer - thanks Dusty).

A good length film which kept me on my toes till the very end. I look forward to seeing the second film, whenever that maybe. Hopefully by then I will have gained a bit more knowledge on Warhammer! :victory:


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## Jezlad (Oct 14, 2006)

> My issue with the whole "GW" fiasco is that if the producer was that down because of GW's lack of support


I don't think he was downbeat about it at all really.

If anything it was pride. He's chuffed with the movie his team have developed. If it was my work I'd want people to know I did it alone.


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

Jezlad said:


> I don't think he was downbeat about it at all really.
> 
> If anything it was pride. He's chuffed with the movie his team have developed. If it was my work I'd want people to know I did it alone.


Yeah, he was damn proud of what he'd achieved with almost no money, and good for him. I agree with you there. But I think crapping on your source of IP to a room full of indirect GW investors (and for all he knows, staff) might be unwise from a PR perspective. That was all I meant by that, really, that I felt for him because he seemed hurt by their lack of commitment - cash and control, but no input - and I'd have kept that in-house.


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## Brother Emund (Apr 17, 2009)

teamnecron said:


> "So, do any of you read the fiction?" Of course, rather than him answering, the PR woman at the back goes: "He doesn't have the time!" Everyone laughs, ha-ha, we move on. If that'd been a room full of film critics, they'd have asked the question again. No. No he didn't. "Someone had a brother who played", and that's almost a direct quote. That really instill faith in the film for you?


Very good point which I never picked up. I know that if I was attempting to do something like this I would damn-well do my homework, afterall 40K fans are very switched on, and would shread me if I got things wrong.... :goodpost:


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## 18827 (Oct 23, 2009)

Davidicus 40k said:


> But no one can make a 40k film without GW's approval, right? That's what I was getting at, really.


and I was just saying they shouldn't get credit for *making* the film as they only approved it.

They had no input and gave no money.


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

The whole thing was a PR disaster, and I think she was stepping in before it got any worse. He should never have been the one to do the talking, he's clearly not a veteran of press conferences, as shown by his complete inability to end a Q&A after an hour. I would ask where Abnett was today, but let's be honest - his absence at what was effectively the film's premiere speaks volumes about the film. I know he's a busy guy, but it's his first film, and he's nowhere to be seen. Poor show, Dan. Poor show.


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## revelation1 (Nov 13, 2010)

jimmy gunn said:


> and I was just saying they shouldn't get credit for *making* the film as they only approved it.
> 
> They had no input and gave no money.



Hmm, I always got the impression that though GW was not directly involved in the making of the film, that GW employees were on hand to offer some advice during the production of the film. Could be wrong about this.

Also, not to come off too strong, but Teamnecron, you seem more interested in critiquing the film making process and the business approach of GW and Codex films than the actual film itself. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with voicing your opinion, but I think most of us were looking for a critique of the film not the politics of making it.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Well i think after reading the feedback in this thread i might actually buy the movie, it seems to have impressed most of you more than i thought it would and ignoring the anti GW politic posts it sounds like something as fans we should get behind.


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## 18827 (Oct 23, 2009)

revelation1 said:


> Hmm, I always got the impression that though GW was not directly involved in the making of the film, that GW employees were on hand to offer some advice during the production of the film. Could be wrong about this.


The way I took it was if they had an idea then they would go to GW with it and they would say yes or no to using it.
So I wouldn't really call that input, to me that is still only approval to use something.


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

revelation1 said:


> Hmm, I always got the impression that though GW was not directly involved in the making of the film, that GW employees were on hand to offer some advice during the production of the film. Could be wrong about this.
> 
> Also, not to come off too strong, but Teamnecron, you seem more interested in critiquing the film making process and the business approach of GW and Codex films than the actual film itself. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with voicing your opinion, but I think most of us were looking for a critique of the film not the politics of making it.


I apologise, it's an issue I feel strongly about but I agree, not the focus of this thread. Personally, I thought they put a ton of effort into the details, and I did say this earlier - I thought that really spoke to me on a fan-level. I thought the story was linear but in all fairness, can you name an original narrative in 2010?

The one thing I really did like was it wasn't on an epic scale. It was short, sharp and to the point, and I loved that it was a small strike force of marines rather than a lolwtfpwn company with a Dreadnought.

I'm with the others as well - how cool was the Landspeeder? The only vehicle which, in my eyes, was infinitely cooler and more agile than a lot of the marine tech in use, and they captured that really well. I thought the facial capture in some places was some of the best I've seen - mainly Proteus' mouth, actually. And that chaplain's engraved helm was the most amazing 40k helmet I've seen in over a decade of fandom. If someone recreates that life-size I'll consider buying it. Forge World, you listening to me?!


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## LazyG (Sep 15, 2008)

I've heard in the past that GW are extremely hard to work with regarding their IP from a few places, and in fact Codex seemed to do better than most I think.

As a company, GW seems to be more pragmatic than sentimental about licensing their IP. What they do is run gaming stores, sell rule sets and models, though Black Library is pretty successful on the publishing front. That said they were already de-facto producers of fiction through codexes, WD, etc etc. 

Given the massive investment needed to fund a major game of worse, a major film, as a business decision i suspect it makes sense for GW to sell licensing rights and not get involved in the leg work. Their IP is also powerful enough to let them have a level of control fairly unusual in either the movie or game sectors, so they get a healthy cut for minimal risk. However well they are doing i imagine a failed full on film would sink them pretty quickly.

Oh also i think some of teamnecron's points are fair, others less so. Certainly I don't think we should be surprised the producer didn't read the novels. Maybe a director/art director should be more steeped in fluff but a producer is an organiser and funder. He was also actually very positive about working with GW, though of course he had to watch his words. He may not have been a slick PR-monkey but I actually liked that. 

I also don't think that was a premiere so i was unsurprised Abnett did not show (though i had a ready-to-sign novel in my pocket if he did!). If the premier was to 40ish nerds on a saturday afternoon at MPC then they've already failed. This was a preview/test screening (though admittedly at a stage too late to change the cut).


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

If anything, LazyG, I find that most previews and press first-looks are in the afternoons - usually mid-week, if anything. Bit hard on you when you've got a thousand deadlines to meet - at least with weekend and evening launches you can show up and treat it as a social outing mixed with a bit of business, rather than half your work-day lost.

You make a very good point about the producer - he is, after all, the man who _makes_ things happen, rather than the director or the scriptmonkey who are there to care about _what_ happens. I did like his honesty, and I felt for him because he looked nervous. I won't lie, I was impressed that he seemed to want to answer every question until the end of time itself - that's rare in my experience, and Kevin Smith's the only other person I know who'll dedicate himself to fans like that.

I don't know how to feel about Abnett's no-show. Wishful thinking, I guess? I guess to me, I think the story might've been a little deeper and more fluid had it come from McNeill simply due to the experience he's had with taking up the mantle of the vanilla boys in blue.

What I'd like to see is as the guys suggested - a mini series. Personally, I'd love to see live-action stuff - I remember seeing drips and drabs of a live-action 40k film at Games Day '01. Looked old-school, but it'd work for something conversation-heavy - Eisenhorn, or anything involving Abnett's other work.

I will say that an original story sold it far better - of course it'd be the good old Black Legion, but would it be right any other way? What better way to introduce people to 40k, imho - "here's some Space Marines, here's some _bad_ ones, now look! Alien races, too!"

I'd love to see what else they can come up with. They've already done Bionicle if their site's at all accurate, and that wins them points in my book - as far as LEGO goes, Bionicle's pretty deep into narrative territory, and isn't the most light-hearted kid's media ever. It's the same with 40k - sure, you've got gore and scary aliens, but every now and then it's nice to just go "wow. That is epic." And for me, that moment came with seeing the chaplain for the first time.


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## Jezlad (Oct 14, 2006)

teamnecron said:


> The whole thing was a PR disaster, and I think she was stepping in before it got any worse. He should never have been the one to do the talking, he's clearly not a veteran of press conferences, as shown by his complete inability to end a Q&A after an hour. I would ask where Abnett was today, but let's be honest - his absence at what was effectively the film's premiere speaks volumes about the film. I know he's a busy guy, but it's his first film, and he's nowhere to be seen. Poor show, Dan. Poor show.


It's only a PR disaster if people make a big thing out of it and dig too deeply. Which we won't :wink:

I personally thought he was charming, entertaining and honest. Can't say fairer than that. He gave everyone a chance to ask questions and answered them to the best of his ability. 

He's a gentleman. 

As for Abnett, he isn't involved in the post production process. Once the screenplay is written and the actors have done their part its over to the production team, editors and directors etc. The actors and screenwriters move on to the next feature.

There was no way he was going to travel from wherever he's writing his latest novel to watch a film he's already seen. Not a bad showing at all really, he's a busy guy.


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

Forgive me, I can be a little "burn the heretic" occasionally when I'm disappointed. Yeah, I can see from a screenwriting perspective why Dan'd move on, but I guess we're just used to the BL authors being so into the events that _do_ happen, really.

And yeah, the producer was a good guy, and very patient, especially when people were asking questions that were polite ways of saying "your animation team made this mistake, this mistake and this mistake".

Can I ask, by the way, what everyone thought of the er, villain? I thought that was fantastic, and the best 

I've ever seen. Really did justice to the fluff and breathed new life into the whole [insertspoilerfactionhere] thing for me.


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## dogofthedamned (Sep 7, 2007)

A warning. What follows are the views and opinions of Dogofthedamned. These views are not those of this website and many of them aren’t all that well thought out or well spelt. My grammar is best described as ballistic. Much of what follows will probably contradict each other… Just like the Bible, and just as long winded. I ask that try your hardest to understand and feel free to leave any comments.

First off, I would like to get something off my chest. Codex Pictures is NOT Games Workshop! Codex Pictures invited 50 forum “fan boys” to come and review their film. Then gave us beer. Then asked us for our opinions, encouraging us to be critical (although I didn’t hear of anyone from War Seer being present, so perhaps they weren’t willing to take THAT much criticism just yet!). When we were critical, Producer Bob Thompson (I think… the picture on their website is really out of date if it is him) would listen, allow us to finish, and then (here is the really amazing thing!) gave us a full and sensible actual answer… that actually answered our questions without reverting to “coz we know best and we are always right”. On top of that, they then asked us to go out into the world and tell our forums of choice what we REALLY thought of their film! I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t see GW ever behaving like that.

So on to the film. Well, it’s not terrible. I had somehow managed to avoid seeing any of the blogs, forums and even the previews. So, I went into this without any preconceptions or expectations. Something that the guys from Beasts of War seemed to find quite interesting (I’m the idiot with the “POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS” bag).

I’ll start with what I liked.
The Ultramarines are stunning! They look brilliant. The Chaplin's helm is a work of art. When the Marines strike a heroic pose, the colouring, lighting and music are as I said, stunning. It is just how it should be. Let’s face it, when painting, we all have these cinematic moments in mind. We can all hear the rousing music in our minds, as we imagine the model climbing atop a large pile of his slain foe (or is that just me?). Also, everything looks as it should do. The Battle Barge, the Thunderhawk and the Land speeder, all spot on and just how you see them on the table top. I loved watching a chain sword hacking its way through a bad guy’s head! But let’s face it, one thing that GW is really good at, is protecting their IP. So if it hadn’t looked exactly like the models, then the movie wouldn’t have been made.

It has a reasonable story. They haven’t tried to cope with the full history of the 40 000 universe, and quite frankly, I’m thankful for this. To me, the obvious thing would have been to take one of the bestselling 40k novels and turn it into a screenplay. However, this would have meant a lot of cutting and restructuring of the story so that it paced correctly for a movie. Instead, we have a new story written by everyone’s favourite Black Library author, Dan Abnett. I’ll be honest; it isn’t going to blow you away with a complex plot or clever twists. It’s a good solid script, without any fancy trimmings and the occasional surprising splash of humour.

Ok, now let us move on to what we “fan boys” are good at. The criticisms. The film runs for roughly 78 minutes, or so we were told. To me, the movie felt much shorter. Now this isn’t because I was enjoying myself so much that time flew by, it’s because nothing much happens. Toy Story 3 had more peril. It doesn’t really give the impression that in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. 

The story revolves around a single squad of Marines landing on a planet and saving the day. GW art is all about the huge battles that involve millions of lives. John Blanche recently wrote an article about it in White Dwarf. I can’t help but feel that this sort of battle scene is exactly what the film is missing. But you have to admire Codex pictures, for when quizzed about this they simply replied “we couldn’t afford it!” Gotta respect that sort of honesty with your customers. There simply wasn’t enough close combat. I wanted real up close in your face hand to hand combat. I wanted to see the bad guys getting hacked to bits. Quite frankly, Spiderman was gorier.

I gushed quite a bit about the appearance of the film’s heroes. The exact opposite can be said for their opponents. I’m not saying that they are ugly or grotesque. Imagine if you would that the Ultramarines have been painted by the ‘Eavy metal team, then the bad guys have been painted by numbers. They are solid block colours with little or no decoration or shading. Pretty much like how my armies are painted.

Remember that I said the lighting and sound are stunning? I’m from a theatrical background and was taught that if people notice the sound and lighting it means that something has gone wrong. If they have used the whole interview, I can be seen rambling on about how great the music is on Beasts of War. Surely, I should be so wrapped up in the story and the action that I wouldn’t be sitting there singling out one part of what should be a total package?

Great fanfare was made of the “with state-of-the-art facial capture animation technology.” Personally, I found this lead to some rather odd facial expressions, and bizarrely, the marines didn’t always appear to be mouthing the words that were being said. The voices sounded exactly the same whether the Marine was helmeted of bear headed. The main hero of the story sounded ever so slightly like Starscream which lead to me not ever trusting him or growing to like him. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to like any of the Ultramarines, surely a bad thing when they are the heroes of the story. 

The biggest hurdle for Codex pictures seems to have been something that comes so naturally for most of us. Walking. Now I have to say, I am slightly more forgiving on this, as Space Marine armour is hugely impractical and I was amazed that they had figured out a way of getting them to move at all. Having said that, watching them walk down stairs was painful. 

The biggest problem I have with the whole film though was weight. The Marines are light footed, their steps almost springy. No hint that these are nearly 8 foot tall killing machines wearing massively heavy and restricting suits of armour. The Marines cross a rickety old wooden bridge without out the panels breaking and falling away, or the bridge sagging under the weight of these behemoths. Bolters are huge ungainly things, yet the Marines handle them as if made of foam. When reloading, there wasn’t a satisfying slamming home of the new magazine. The Heavy Bolter doesn’t look at all heavy. Oh, and the gore was too watery. 

So it’s a bad film right? Well, no. Actually it’s not. I liked it. It would be a brilliant film to sit and paint to. And it really does give you a good feel of the 40k universe that GW can’t portray in any of their traditional forms. Sadly, it has a happy ending. Even so, I'd happily give it a 7/10.

I really feel for Codex Pictures, because GW fans tend to be hugely critical of everything to do with the hobby, even when we love it. Worse is when people criticize films without actually having seen them. I have the feeling that in the coming months, forums will be filled with people slagging off this film, but I would be willing to bet that just about all of them will own a copy, and watch it regularly. I was lucky enough to be able to talk to one of the producers for quite a while after them film, and I really want this to be a success for Codex Pictures. Their plans for the future if this does well are actually really quite exciting, and in my opinion, the direction that GW should be aiming for with many of their franchises.


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## Jezlad (Oct 14, 2006)

dogofthedamned said:


> A warning. What follows are the views and opinions of Dogofthedamned. These views are not those of this website and many of them aren’t all that well thought out or well spelt. My grammar is best described as ballistic. Much of what follows will probably contradict each other… Just like the Bible, and just as long winded. I ask that try your hardest to understand and feel free to leave any comments.
> 
> First off, I would like to get something off my chest. Codex Pictures is NOT Games Workshop! Codex Pictures invited 50 forum “fan boys” to come and review their film. Then gave us beer. Then asked us for our opinions, encouraging us to be critical (although I didn’t hear of anyone from War Seer being present, so perhaps they weren’t willing to take THAT much criticism just yet!). When we were critical, Producer Bob Thompson (I think… the picture on their website is really out of date if it is him) would listen, allow us to finish, and then (here is the really amazing thing!) gave us a full and sensible actual answer… that actually answered our questions without reverting to “coz we know best and we are always right”. On top of that, they then asked us to go out into the world and tell our forums of choice what we REALLY thought of their film! I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t see GW ever behaving like that.
> 
> ...


If every first post was this good I'd be in heaven.

Welcome to the forums dogofthedamned. Can't wait to see your interview on BoW and glad you liked the movie. I did too, it's an encouraging start and definitely punches above its budget constrained weight.


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## revelation1 (Nov 13, 2010)

*nice review*

Really nice review. Sounds honest and fair. 

Granted I haven't seen the film yet, but one thing I might disagree with you on is the notion that Space Marine armor is suppose to render the wearer slow and plodding (though I don't think this is exactly what you meant). There definitely should be a sense of "weight", but Space Marine armor is powered by fiber bundles that assist the wearer and also make the suit react almost like a second skin. So yes, there should be a sense of weight, but Space Marines are suppose to be quite agile even given the sheer bulk of their suits. 

edit: Even Space Marines in Terminator Armor are suppose to be relatively mobile, given the sheer size of the armor, for similar reasons given above.

one more note: Space Marines are able to handle heavy/bulky weapons like bolters and heavy bolters as easily as a normal human would be able to handle typical small arms, so though I haven't seen the film, what you describe in the film actually sounds true/accurate to the 40k fluff.


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## revelation1 (Nov 13, 2010)

BTW there is a very positive review of the film on Bell of Lost Soul's front page.


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## Dusty's Corner (Aug 25, 2008)

Huge thanks to Jez and the people putting on the show. Me and Ladydust made it last minute – phew. David Kerney gave a much appreciated intro and Q&A. And the hospitality was very kind. Onto the show...
Storyline was pretty sweet, some nice moments of realisation (you know like when the penny drops and things start making sense). Not a hugely complex plot, my missus understood everything (and she’s not a big 40K fan, although she now wants to collect Ultramarines!). She found some characters abilities pretty interesting as she wasn’t really aware of other types of roles Space Marines can play (I guess I didn’t fill her in properly).
I was quite intrigued by the Cruiser ship, it looked huge but didn’t really give much away in the sense of how it was being maintained/run/piloted other than mostly by glimpses of machinery. But details such as w40K imagery within stained glass were sweet and really help add to the sense of history to the universe.
In reflection I think it’s quite good they didn’t overwhelm the audience with the different types of machines and war on a massive scale. It helps the storyline concentrate attention onto the main characters and gives the audience something more to relate to.
The Landspeeder was pretty damn cool. When it first appears I thought ‘watch the paint, don’t scratch it’ and when it zoomed off, ‘Ping!’ If they had done a shot of the Landspeeder firing up, pre-ignition stuff, perhaps get the heavy bolter mounted on, then blast off. It might of been a bit more rock n roll (but perhaps cheesy).
The point about lack of weight in the way characters move is a good one and would have given the marines more wallop instead of making look a bit like they were dancing (running) on ice. But the fight scenes were still gripping and fierce. Perhaps a few more big kaboom explosions would of been cool, but then the close hand combat makes up for it with its gruesomeness ‘Yeh, get some!’. Luckily no cheesy liners are really said that I noticed although watching ‘grand-dad’ fighting didn’t make me feel any younger.
It’s a great film and although doesn’t go into long detail with the background (nor is it really intended too – that’s what the Codex/fluff/GW is for), it does give a good general idea what the concept is about – So says LadyDust and recommends it as possibly a good way to introduce partners who might not quite dig the hobby/game side of it much and have a tough time understanding heads from tails.
Get the DVD? Yeh with the extras you get with (Tin case & Graphic novel) it makes for a good purchase (or even as a present for someone) and helps the film guys do further, better films to add to the collection/series.
Nosebleed boy lol that was funny ‘Ultramarines – too much excitement for nasal cavities’
8/10 – Music/soundtrack alright. Characters were fair/Actors fantastic, sometimes distinguishing between the characters was difficult. Great attempt, nice detail, good story. Direction/Production also great and superbly handled – Care in keeping things ‘to spirit’ shows. It’s good it didn’t have a Hollywood feel or predictable outcome and as such makes for it to be a refreshing film to watch.
Thanks again - sorry for delay in reporting, still recovering from A&E, but not to worry, I'm a trooper. All the best,
-Dusty signing off


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## Kobrakai (Jul 25, 2008)

I'm liking what I read to be honest, and i'm gutted I wasn't able to attend. Cheltenham to London is a nightmare at the best of times, and I just couldn't make it. I'm glad it was so well represented by Heresy. 

Every movie will have it's critiques, but I feel the movie may well have won over some of the people resigned to see the movie fail. With this in mind, I'm going to order the DVD and keep what I've read here in mind.

Thanks for the reviews guys.

Edit: Can you only buy / pre-order the DVD from the Ultramarine site at the moment?


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## Dusty's Corner (Aug 25, 2008)

Aye to purchase DVD http://www.ultramarinesthemovie.com/shop
..hang on Kobra whatta mean 'can you only buy/pre-order...from site'? If you add it to the basket it says they're in stock. Or are you wondering when they'll deliver?


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## Amenhotep (Mar 13, 2009)

Oh, couple of things i'd like to add - one thing i'd heard people muttering about was the postage price on the DVD set, although on ordering it i noticed it's actually zero for standard postage - you just pay more for recorded delivery etc. This may be different however if you're ordering outside the UK!

On the Producer not reading much GW stuff? actually i don't think it matters that much tbh when you consider that GW effectively provided the script, and then vetted pretty much every frame of the movie - and i'm pretty sure anything they didnt think was spot on got binned and redone. 

On a quick animation note, yes - the walking down steps element was a bit iffy - although when you actually look at marine armour at that scale, i can imagine they were probably scratching their heads a bit and wondering how on earth they were going to go down stairs at all without the aid of a stanna stairlift or jetpack


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## LazyG (Sep 15, 2008)

Couple of small things, as i said before, buy the pre release edition as the profit to the producers and so the chance of a seconf film is higher.

@revelation1 -and this is a geeky point i know, on weapon weight.

This is hard to show with armour on but even if you have great strength, if you hold a heavy object by a handle on the corner, it will tend to dip. Holding two handed, a superhuman marine could probably hold and wield a bolter neatly, but one handed at full arm extension, you'd see the gun sag a bit. When you lifted your arm to lift the gun, the gun would tilt down at least a bit until you used wrist strength to bring it up again.

The others are right, in the film, it looked like they were nerf weapons in terms of weight, rather than heavy things lifted by insanely strong beings.


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## Jezlad (Oct 14, 2006)

> BTW there is a very positive review of the film on Bell of Lost Soul's front page.


Theres more information in this thread... way more.


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## revelation1 (Nov 13, 2010)

Jezlad said:


> Theres more information in this thread... way more.


I agree with you, but I still appreciated their review and thought it was worth a read/view. Personally I like to get information from multiple sources.


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

As promised, hopefully, a coherent review of the Ultramarines movie.

The animation, although a little iffy in places was generally pretty good. Any one who has read my previous posts on this film will know that is a bit of a turn around. Overall, it was good, the Marines armour was suitably detailed and old looking and a scene where a servitor puts the seal on the armour was a nice little touch.
The Land Speeder looked amazing and really gave an insight into just how fast they are supposed to be. It was armed with a Multimelta, shame we never got to see it in action.
In other places the animation does fall down a bit though, the scenes of them walking look odd in places, almost as if they are floating above the ground. In some scenes, the facial animation is terrible, sorry but there is no other word for it. They look like they are made out of Plasticene at times and it does damage the final effect.

When we get to the story the film really falls down, to be honest, it sucks!
The film is only 78 minutes long and still it seemed as if they were doing their best to drag it out. As Brother Edmond has already said “Some………..of …………..the ……speech…….seems……dragged…..out”
It was a story that could easily have been told in half the time, at a higher pace and with less tedium. 

Far too much time is spent with a group of Ultramarines walking and seeing things, which may or may not be there. This time I think could have been much better used establishing the main protagonists or even setting the scene with the villains a little, instead it is time wasted.
Scenes that were meant to add suspense and drama merely added frustration that the story wouldn’t just crack on a bit. 
There are massive holes in the plot too but I cannot really give them away as they will spoil the story for others, although if you do not see the plot twist coming from a light year away….

Now we get to the ‘villains’ of the piece, they were woefully inadequate, the Black Legion deserve so much more!
I’m sure that after 10,000 years of battering each other silly in the Eye Of Terror they would have slightly better tactics than: Run at enemy screaming while getting mown down by withering bolter fire.
Which leads me to my next niggle, just how many rounds do bolter magazines hold!?!
I’m not one to normally moan about the seemingly endless amounts of bullets on screen guns hold but this is just silly! Not once is a Marine seen reloading, NOT ONCE! They just seem to be able to fire, endlessly.
The sound effects also fall down in places; the sound of the bolters is good, a thunderous crack suitable for a hand held cannon! The interaction with their surroundings is lacking though, often the armour sounds like it is made from old baking trays, it sounds hollow and tinny as they walk, and I want them to sound like Robocop!


In conclusion, as a first effort for Codex Pictures it’s not bad, just, not great either. It seemed to me like an old episode of He-Man or Thunder Cats dragged out over an unnecessary amount of time. Visually it was good, not Avatar or Final Fantasy but realistically it wasn’t going to be. 
To quote Bubble Matrix “It could have been worse.”
It could have been a lot better too.
I would love for it to do well but I just don’t feel that this film deserves to.
I won’t be ordering the £25.99 box set, I really don’t think it’s worth it. When it gets it's bigger release I will probably pick it up if I see it. The producer made it clear just how important it was for this film to make money and I do hope it does. I don’t think that over priced box sets are the way to go though.
Codex have promised bigger and better things in the future, I hope they mean it.
5/10


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## OIIIIIIO (Dec 16, 2009)

There are no other sources ... there is only Heresy. Once you learn that you will no longer be a, uhm, mmm, ahh, Heretic?


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## Bindi Baji (Apr 23, 2009)

teamnecron said:


> I don't know how to feel about Abnett's no-show.


It is quite rare for a writer to turn up for this kind of thing, 
normally you might get a few actors (with animation you will be lucky to get one) and often the director, 
the only others involved that usually turn up are production staff or people that get on very well with the director.

I am trying to think of times I know of the screenwriter turning up and the only times I can think of were the recent "The Prisoner" remake and I vaguely remember seeing JMS at the "Babylon 5 : In The Beginning" screening many, many years ago.
So twice in 10ish years


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

Bindi Baji said:


> It is quite rare for a writer to turn up for this kind of thing,
> normally you might get a few actors (with animation you will be lucky to get one) and often the director,
> the only others involved that usually turn up are production staff or people that get on very well with the director.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I agree with you, I just meant that Black Library authors tend to turn up for everything they've ever been involved in - they have a far stronger link with the community, and it's something that, as a BL signing-day regular, I've become used to . I think in all honesty I was just slightly irked that they chose Abnett over McNeill, as I honestly think we'd have had a better script from the latter.


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## Bindi Baji (Apr 23, 2009)

teamnecron said:


> Yeah, I agree with you, I just meant that Black Library authors tend to turn up for everything they've ever been involved in - they have a far stronger link with the community, and it's something that, as a BL signing-day regular, I've become used to . I think in all honesty I was just slightly irked that they chose Abnett over McNeill, as I honestly think we'd have had a better script from the latter.


I tend to agree about the choice, I think they are as good as each other but McNeill is the better SM writer.

Abnett is probably the busiest writer in the UK though, quite frankly the guy needs cloning.


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

Bindi Baji said:


> I tend to agree about the choice, I think they are as good as each other but McNeill is the better SM writer.
> 
> Abnett is probably the busiest writer in the UK though, quite frankly the guy needs cloning.


I find if you speak/listen to enough of the BL writers, you'll find there's quite a bit of suppressed resentment at Abnett being GW's go-to writer. I mean, it's a fair chance he'll write the novel that details the confrontation between Horus and The Emperor, but I doubt it's just McNeill who's openly contesting that one, now.


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## Bindi Baji (Apr 23, 2009)

teamnecron said:


> I find if you speak/listen to enough of the BL writers, you'll find there's quite a bit of suppressed resentment at Abnett being GW's go-to writer


I have only met two BL authors (neither of those mentioned) but never got that from either of them, however they are two of the older authors (in the sense they started writing for BL a good few years back and not actual age) so maybe that's something to do with it.

Back to the actual topic I suspect this will be the first non-BBC dvd I actually ever buy


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

Bindi Baji said:


> I have only met two BL authors (neither of those mentioned) but never got that from either of them, however they are two of the older authors so maybe that's something to do with it.
> 
> Back to the actual topic I suspect this will be the first non-BBC dvd I actually ever buy


I'd buy it if the Collector's Edition cost less than any Blu-Ray on the market right now, and had a few more special features - I'd love to see a making-of, especially. I am tempted by the idea of a 40k graphic novel though!


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## Jezlad (Oct 14, 2006)

Bindi Baji said:


> It is quite rare for a writer to turn up for this kind of thing,
> normally you might get a few actors (with animation you will be lucky to get one) and often the director,
> the only others involved that usually turn up are production staff or people that get on very well with the director.
> 
> ...


bear in mind that this wasn't an official screening or a cast and crew screening. 

It's a private one off event held to promote the movie slightly on forums. Did Babylon 5 have a private screening for select forums in its niche? This was a one off.

If it was a premiere or a cast and crew screening they would of turned up.


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## Unforgiven302 (Oct 20, 2008)

First off, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to write a well thought out and honest review of the movie. I for one was very excited to hear that a 40k film was to be made, and I was also very let down by what I had seen from the trailers and such. 
Now after reading the opinions of those who have watched it and critiqued it, I feel a lot better about spending my money on it. 
From the reviews it seems that people will enjoy the movie. You may not be wowed or amazed by the script or visuals but you will defiantly be entertained. To me, that is a sign of a good start to what I hope will be a long and prosperous film adaptation of my hobby. 
Basically, my hopes and excitement levels are back up about this film, as for a long time I was very distraught with what I had seen. Again, thanks for the honest and unbiased reviews, they are appreciated.


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## Bindi Baji (Apr 23, 2009)

Jezlad said:


> bear in mind that this wasn't an official screening or a cast and crew screening.
> 
> It's a private one off event held to promote the movie slightly on forums. Did Babylon 5 have a private screening for select forums in its niche? This was a one off.
> 
> If it was a premiere or a cast and crew screening they would of turned up.


Ah I see, back in those days forums were a fairly strange newish thing that people didn't speak of in civilised company.

B5 was a premiere that was accidentally turned into something much bigger (they booked the wrong venue and didn't realise until a month before:headbutt and was attended by lots of stars (and reality TV eejits) who had no idea what B5 was and was probably the biggest gathering of journalists and reviewers I have ever witnessed.

Actually Russell T Davies has turned up for every early screening of his programmes I have seen, but it's still far from the norm as often he's more then just the writer.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Bindi Baji said:


> Actually Russell T Davies has turned up for every early screening of his programmes I have seen, but it's still far from the norm as often he's more then just the writer.


He was likely cruising for ass :biggrin:


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## LazyG (Sep 15, 2008)

bitsandkits said:


> He was likely cruising for ass :biggrin:


More likey writing ability! I know he is popular but i think that guy has the artistic talent of a toothbrush! Anyone see him saying how he was just like, better than other writers on the Charlie Brooker show about writers

/offtopic


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## gothik (May 29, 2010)

when is it out and where can i get it from?


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

I'm excited that a 40k movie was even made, but I share teamnecron's concerns and reservations. It's important to be careful when assigning blame and responsibility, but there it is.

If Codex Pictures raised their own money, the writing's on the wall. That is, Games Workshop played it conservatively, given it was a win-win situation for them. Worst-case scenario, the movie would still serve as a good indication of where interest is for a direct-to-DVD/Blu-Ray product.

Where Codex Pictures themselves are concerned, I truly feel for them. GW preserved their absolute control, while ensuring that no monetary loss would be incurred. If "Ultramarines" ends up being a surprise hit, they're still out in the cold, and GW can invest its considerable resources either with them (if they're lucky) or any number of more established (and costly) creative teams given the absence of a financial loss-threat.

Meh. Codex should have saved the money they raised and focused instead on a 10-15 minute exhibition of what they could do given the proper resources. With a top-shelf product, they could then have gone to GW and demonstrated what they could do if supported by the parent company itself.

Such is life, though.

Full disclosure: I was unable to see the premier. I will be ordering the movie itself. I have no beef with Codex Pictures or with Games Workshop, wish both companies nothing but the best, and hope that even more successful collaborations follow.


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

GW have taken the same approach with Codex as they did with THQ, it's a licence of their IP and they have no obligation to fund it. They took an interest just to make sure that Codex didn't completely arse it up but that's where their involvement ends.
Thankfully, Codex didn't arse it up, they have actually done an ok job.
Whether we like it or not, GW are not going to fund these projects, it's not what they do.

When a film company gets the rights to make a film based on a Stephen King book they don't go to him and say "Can we have some cash to turn your quite frankly piss poor book into an equally poor film?"
The obligation to fund the venture falls to the production company not the owners of the IP. 

I honestly wish Codex all the best, I really didn't think I'd ever say it but there it is!
I think they have made mistakes this time round but they seem eager to learn from them and not repeat them.
I would have preferred a bigger film, more epic and more stunning but this is the film we've got and it's not that bad. 
I hope that the next film will be bigger and not just another -insert Space Marine Chapter name - The Movie and they actually start to develop a real plot. I'll just have to wait and see.


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## Imperious (May 20, 2009)

Some questions. Currently the DVD is only available in a collectors edition format.

Is there any info, about a budget-vanilla DVD release? Or will it only be available as the primo collectors edition version? If they do release a budget edition when will that be?

Thanks


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## Jezlad (Oct 14, 2006)

Imperious said:


> Some questions. Currently the DVD is only available in a collectors edition format.
> 
> Is there any info, about a budget-vanilla DVD release? Or will it only be available as the primo collectors edition version? If they do release a budget edition when will that be?
> 
> Thanks


He said around March next year for the regular release. Also the possibility of a limited cinema release.


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## Darkseer (Dec 2, 2008)

Unfortunately, I couldn't go (doing cultural stuff with the GF), so I sent my best mate instead. God knows why he used his spare ticket to take his Dad! lol

Check out this



 :music:


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## revelation1 (Nov 13, 2010)

Nice review. I'm definitely looking forward to getting my copy after having read and listened to people's reactions to the film.


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## Neccies rule (Jul 14, 2008)

well this is a little late i know but just moved house and have no internet yet so have to do this at work.

but what do i think, all in all it was enjoyable. don't think that this is the best thing since sliced bread as its a long way from that but it is much MUCH better than i expected.

the film feels very 40k all the way through and does have some decent action sequences spread through it which look pretty and have suitable (well made) music. there are some pacing issues, mainly at the begining of the film, where there is quite a bit of marines plodding through various places (which has been said before look pretty clunky) but then it speeds up to a better place. building up to what you would expect from marines, action, particularly with boltguns. however when hth combat is hapening it looks awesome

of special note as people have said but I must too. the chaplains helmet is exquisitly designed and the detail is fantastic.

all in all a good job as a start off, lets see what they can do with a bigger budget.

6/10 
7/10 for free beer!


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## Bindi Baji (Apr 23, 2009)

Here's a small interview on sfx with Dan Abnett about the film

http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/11/15/ultramarines-exclusive/


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## GrizBe (May 12, 2010)

Hmm.. well, I'm still sceptical about if its really going to be any good as mostly what i'm hearing is 'decent story, decent graphics, iffy acting'... but I'm more willing to give it a chance now.


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

GrizBe said:


> Hmm.. well, I'm still sceptical about if its really going to be any good as mostly what i'm hearing is 'decent story, decent graphics, iffy acting'... but I'm more willing to give it a chance now.


If you're curious, then watch it, but personally I'd wait for March - a tin and a short comic aren't worth a 250% price bump from what you'd realistically pay for it (going on a tenner here, personally).

It'll be nice to see in in mainstream shops, though!


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## Imperious (May 20, 2009)

teamnecron said:


> If you're curious, then watch it, but personally I'd wait for March - a tin and a short comic aren't worth a 250% price bump from what you'd realistically pay for it


Thank you for that. As a 40k fan I defintely want to see it. I buy DVDs. I sometimes buy collectors edition DVDs. But that's a lot of money for the collectors edition. Then again, I really don't want to wait until march. Fuck. I don't know what to do. 

Does anyone (Jezlad maybe) know if there are going to be any other theatrical releases anywhere else besides London?


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## GrizBe (May 12, 2010)

I'm just gonna wait till it turns up on a torrent, then buy it if i like it....:grin:

Disclaimer: This poster in no way condones the ripping off of companies who already make outlandish products, by aquiring through dodgey means, a free copy of their seriously overmarked product.


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## LazyG (Sep 15, 2008)

Imperious said:


> Thank you for that. As a 40k fan I defintely want to see it. I buy DVDs. I sometimes buy collectors edition DVDs. But that's a lot of money for the collectors edition. Then again, I really don't want to wait until march. Fuck. I don't know what to do.
> 
> Does anyone (Jezlad maybe) know if there are going to be any other theatrical releases anywhere else besides London?


There are apparently some US screenings, and another London one in a few weeks - but this one was the first. Not sure how they will invite people to the others though.

Just to say this _again_ though, i suspect buying the collectors edition will give maybe 3x more to the makers than the later cheap release and infinitely more than torrenting it .  Return to makers will be directly proportional to chance of another film.


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## Svartmetall (Jun 16, 2008)

LazyG said:


> Return to makers will be directly proportional to chance of another film.


This. Unless it was an irredeemable pile of crap - which it clearly isn't - we should be supporting this film to the hilt.


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## Oldenhaller (Nov 28, 2008)

So, went to london, saw a movie, got given beer, hung out and talked bikes and bloodbowl - not a bad weekend all round.

More on the film?

I mentioned how I liked the facial capture but thought less of the walk cycle and asked if they would improve anything in particular. I had hoped the producer would go into more bout how they came to choosing how the armour moved, if there'd been any props made or other media investigated (DoW for example) etc to examine this. Unfortunately the anwer was GW said it was ok so we went with it.

The Movie itself is nicely polished, has I thought a good pace with homages paid to a number of SF fims in it's own way (aliens, pitch black, alien and others) but while doing so managed to convey it's own identity and provided a good un-nerving feeling. There was a lot for the eye in every scene and I would say that the stills and pre production shots do it a lot of justice which the trailers did not - if you enjoyed those I think you'll enjoy the film.

The story is some classic abnett and the one liners are rather good although not all of the squad get quite enough initial screen time to fully characterise them. The interplay between the caracters is quite nice tho - I've always thought that marines would have a very black humour (as a lot of squaddies I know do) and this rather suits that view.

I do wonder tho - there were a lot of questions afterwards regarding where the company was going next and the choices for the trailers rather than questions about what we'd just watched...I was quite suprised by the lack of questions on the content of the film itself - did anyone else find that?

All in all, yes support it, enjoy it and I hope it translates well onto the small screen and in doing so may iron out some of the niggles...but perhaps loose some of the details in the process.

6/10 and +rep for free beer 

~O


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## Bindi Baji (Apr 23, 2009)

LazyG said:


> Not sure how they will invite people to the others though.


it may well be for cast, friends, journalists or any combinations, 
keep an eye out on sf/dvd/hobby mags and possibly even the gw site


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## Gaz Taylor (Sep 2, 2007)

Has anybody got a rough list of the questions and answers that were being asked in the Q&A?

I'm glad that the film is better than what the Trailer suggested and I can't wait to see it.


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## Turkeyspit (Jun 11, 2010)

This really increases my interest in viewing the movie....except:

- based on the website, it will cost me $40.00 + $5 extra S&H USD to purchase the movie. Then you toss in HST (13%) and any custom duties, and I'm looking at near $50-55+ for a single DVD.

That's kind of a pill to swallow, especially when I have no guarantee I'll actually enjoy the movie.


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## Imperious (May 20, 2009)

LazyG said:


> There are apparently some US screenings, and another London one in a few weeks - but this one was the first. Not sure how they will invite people to the others though.


Is this official or just speculation?


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

Turkeyspit said:


> This really increases my interest in viewing the movie....except:
> 
> - based on the website, it will cost me $40.00 + $5 extra S&H USD to purchase the movie. Then you toss in HST (13%) and any custom duties, and I'm looking at near $50-55+ for a single DVD.
> 
> That's kind of a pill to swallow, especially when I have no guarantee I'll actually enjoy the movie.


Tbh, when it comes to just the film I really don't think it's worth the money (I know some will disagree) I really do think they have made a mistake with the marketing and pricing. 
*BUT* as a piece of 40K history, if that's your thing, it's worth every penny. You are buying into the history of the project, if it's succesful you could be sitting on a fortune in a few years. It really depends on how much of a fan boy you are as to whether or not you think it's worth the money.
I think that the film will do better on a general release, at a reasonable price more people will pick it up and give it a watch.


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## IanC (Sep 3, 2010)

Isn't the current version, just from the website a sort of "pre-release" for the dedicated fans, while a general release will follow next year for others?


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

IanC said:


> Isn't the current version, just from the website a sort of "pre-release" for the dedicated fans, while a general release will follow next year for others?


Yup, it's a limited run of collector's edition copies, no different from the deluxe tins you get with Xbox 360 and PS3 titles. The only difference here is they seem to be deliberately releasing the more expensive one first, which is a questionable move on their part, but they seemed pretty worried about recouping expenses, so there you go.


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## dogofthedamned (Sep 7, 2007)

Oldenhaller said:


> I had hoped the producer would go into more bout how they came to choosing how the armour moved, if there'd been any props made or other media investigated (DoW for example) etc to examine this. Unfortunately the answer was GW said it was OK so we went with it.
> 
> ~O


I was talking to him after wards about this, the animators walked round wearing Ice Hockey goal keepers pads. Seemed like a pretty good idea to me.

Just a note on the Theater Release... I don't remember him saying anything definite, just that they would like to, they had had talks and watch this space.

Also, about the vanilla release, he didn't mention anything about the high street, just said they had spoken to Amazon and Play.com.


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## Lost Crusader (Nov 15, 2010)

Ok, hears my question. Im from America and i wont to watch the move before it comes out on release. How would i go about doing that. I dont think the NMA would alow it to be shone on the big skreen so im a little anoyed about that. 

Ohh ya and about the coment about Ultras being the main chapter. Compleatly true. if my memmory serves me well the Blood Angles, Black Templars, Space Wolves, and Dark Angles all have numbers and Orginiving Structer Difront from the Codex Astrotus and the Teranid invashun of Ultramer hade left the Ultras bled dry. So i complrtly agree.:victory:


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## 18827 (Oct 23, 2009)

found it see if you can spot yourself in the beasts of war interviews




I was there, I'm in the video @10.06 (shaved head) did not want to be filmed glad that guy leaned in and said something


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

Lost Crusader said:


> Ok, hears my question. Im from America and i wont to watch the move before it comes out on release. How would i go about doing that. I dont think the NMA would alow it to be shone on the big skreen so im a little anoyed about that.
> 
> Ohh ya and about the coment about Ultras being the main chapter. Compleatly true. if my memmory serves me well the Blood Angles, Black Templars, Space Wolves, and Dark Angles all have numbers and Orginiving Structer Difront from the Codex Astrotus and the Teranid invashun of Ultramer hade left the Ultras bled dry. So i complrtly agree.:victory:


You need look no further than the Horus Heresy to gain a good idea of who the 20 chapters are, though 2 of them are anonymous and will remain so forever more.

As for seeing it in the States early? Hope for a screening, but if not waiting for the DVD might be your only option, though I can see their pricing methods driving at least one person to buy it then shove it into a torrent.


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## Flindo (Oct 30, 2010)

sounds awesome  did any of you guys get interviewed by beasts of war?


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## Jezlad (Oct 14, 2006)

> sounds awesome  did any of you guys get interviewed by beasts of war?


If you mean interviewed by the dodgy looking hobbits pretending to be a news team no I didn't.

My last official interview was with Vernan Kay. BoW would be a very big step in the wrong direction :wink:


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## Flindo (Oct 30, 2010)

Jezlad said:


> If you mean interviewed by the dodgy looking hobbits pretending to be a news team no I didn't.
> 
> My last official interview was with Vernan Kay. BoW would be a very big step in the wrong direction :wink:


lol, well, I kinda stopped watching that video 30 minutes in, because every single person in that video said the exact same thing lol.


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## Adeptus (Aug 12, 2009)

I agree that the Ultramarines are shown to the world as the predominant chapter in the 40k universe which is why I'm not suprised that they get the screening . Still though im reserving judgement until i see this with my own eyes .

Reason for Edit : Alot of bad spelling


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## Brother Emund (Apr 17, 2009)

Lost Crusader said:


> Ohh ya and about the coment about Ultras being the main chapter. Compleatly true. if my memmory serves me well the Blood Angles, Black Templars, Space Wolves, and Dark Angles all have numbers and Orginiving Structer Difront from the Codex Astrotus and the Teranid invashun of Ultramer hade left the Ultras bled dry. So i complrtly agree.:victory:


Is this a wind-up, or are you trying to speak like an Ork? Who are the Dark Ang*les*? Who are the Blood Ang*les*?


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

Brother Emund said:


> Is this a wind-up, or are you trying to speak like an Ork? Who are the Dark Ang*les*? Who are the Blood Ang*les*?


C'mon, man, for all you know he's quite young, and it's a valid question. Let's keep it on topic.


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## Oldenhaller (Nov 28, 2008)

Just noticed they've taken our feedback onboard and have amended the pricing - now 25.99 including p&p

Looks better

~O


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## Brother Emund (Apr 17, 2009)

Oldenhaller said:


> Just noticed they've taken our feedback onboard and have amended the pricing - now 25.99 including p&p
> 
> Looks better
> 
> ~O


Does that mean I get a rebate? :aggressive:


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## Bindi Baji (Apr 23, 2009)

Hmm, it's lacking something isn't it,
there is an awful lot of ponderous walking and the animation at times is pretty damn poor.

The Daemon prince looks pretty damn good.

The plot has more holes in it then swiss cheese at times as well, the finale, at times makes very little sense.


4/10

It's watchable but altogether a missed opportunity


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

I've heard some things about this film that sound rather dodgy, Could someone who has seen it confirm them, or reasure me that they guy I was talking to was making it up to sound important?

1) There are 100 Imperial Fists protecting a shrine (shrine world? Not sure) in the middle of an infinite red desert.

I can believe that there's a shrine being guarded by Space Marines, since Dan Abnett doesn't know the Sisters of Battle exist, but 100? As in, fully one tenth of the Fist's entire strength!?

2) When 100 Imperial fists - noted masters of defence and fortification, are overrun by Chaos, the Ultras send 12 Marines to retake the planet.

I get that the Ultras are proud, but serriously, 12 Marines are going to invade a planet that couldn't be held by 100, already dug in and specialised in seigecraft?

3) The Ultras are tac Marines - thus veterans of decades (or centuries) of fighting as Scouts and then as Devestators - yet are presented and act like rookies a day out of boot-camp?


As I say - I have not seen this film and I'm almost sure my source hasn't either, but he assured me that the above three points are true. Please tell me they aren't.


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## eadipus (Nov 22, 2010)

I saw it yesterday and it reminded me most of an animated version of one of the Black Library audiobooks.

The plot was perfectly serviceable and most importantly it was a WH40k movie that wasn't terrible. The animation had its high points, I thought the movement in power armour was done particularly well but some of the backgrounds were a bit lacking in detail.

Music was great too and all the voice acting was pretty spot on, only a couple of bad action film lines


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## Brother Emund (Apr 17, 2009)

Azezel said:


> I've heard some things about this film that sound rather dodgy, Could someone who has seen it confirm them, or reasure me that they guy I was talking to was making it up to sound important?
> 
> 1) There are 100 Imperial Fists protecting a shrine (shrine world? Not sure) in the middle of an infinite red desert.
> 
> ...


I saw the film. Yes, you are right on all three points, and it was debated afterwards. 100 IF, masters of defence, and they send in 12 Ultra's who are not even vets. Only the leaders and apothecary are experianced, the rest are rookies. And... the main Ultra commander is a Captain which in itself is hard to believe.
The other thing that annoyed us was that they were dropped off miles from the target and tabbed all the way there, when they could have been dropped right on top of it. They had a Landspeeder but that... spoiler* 

lasted about five minutes!!!


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## monketo (Jan 6, 2008)

After waiting so long to finally get a Space Marines movie I was pleasantly pleased. My wife enjoyed the movie and says she now sees more of the appeal of 40K. I thought overall it was a great effort. I felt that there were a few close combat kills which could have been rendered from a different angle to a better effect. Also why did the Ultra Marines not have combat knives? 

I hope this movie leads to a theatrical release and perhaps bigger and better movies in the future. 40K is cool, It should be in the movies!


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## Brother Emund (Apr 17, 2009)

monketo said:


> After waiting so long to finally get a Space Marines movie I was pleasantly pleased. My wife enjoyed the movie and says she now sees more of the appeal of 40K. I thought overall it was a great effort. I felt that there were a few close combat kills which could have been rendered from a different angle to a better effect. Also why did the Ultra Marines not have combat knives?
> 
> I hope this movie leads to a theatrical release and perhaps bigger and better movies in the future. 40K is cool, It should be in the movies!


Have you received the DVD or was it the film you saw? I say that because i got an E-Mail from Codex saying that the Special Edition DVD set that was supposed to come out on the 29th November, has been delayed because of 'tecnical' issues! :angry:


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## Phil73805 (Feb 28, 2010)

Brother Emund said:


> Have you received the DVD or was it the film you saw? I say that because i got an E-Mail from Codex saying that the Special Edition DVD set that was supposed to come out on the 29th November, has been delayed because of 'tecnical' issues! :angry:


Yes me too, then another one saying that they hope to send it out next week. I've been very supportive of the film but any way you paint it this is an epic fail :ireful2:


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## nate187 (Feb 2, 2009)

teamnecron said:


> tl,dr: Don't claim to enjoy it because it's the only real "film" we've had so far.
> 
> Ooh, boy, do I hate to be the one to spoil the wave of approval. I was tempted to write this up as a formal review, reviewing films being part of my day-job but I'd rather their only official review so far wasn't negative, to be fair to them. I was there today as well, and I've got to be honest - it was fairly bad. Though, before I continue, I'm just going to make one very valid point - I wanted to ask the producer but it was just too awkward a question. Two words:
> 
> ...


Just watched it and ouch sad but true


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## Firewolf (Jan 22, 2007)

>> Watched Ultramarine only 2 days ago, and have to say, pile of undiluted shite. If they had got the fluff aspect even close to correct, then it probably would have been good, but...! The only entertaining part of this "aimed at 5-7 year olds who wont know fluff so it doesnt matter" film is the Chaplains magic crozius. People who have seen it will know what I mean, unless Im wrong, and a Crozius does do that. I dont want to repeat all the mistakes that most other folks have pointed out so I will go straight to a mark.... 2/10. Really its awful, dont buy it, not at £40 notes, and spend an hour odd of your life sticking hot needles through your finger nails, as it will be more enjoyable. Cheers.


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## Brother Emund (Apr 17, 2009)

*Firewolf:* Magic Crozius... not sure what you mean, and I have watched it 3 times so far


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## Unknown Primarch (Feb 25, 2008)

think he on about the chapter banner.

gotta agree its a pile of poo. whould prefer to watch DOW intro on loop for 90mins than watch it again. i hope it doesnt prevent further films being made as they got the right idea in a sense but there is room for such vast improvement that i can see them getting too much negative attention from this and we wont see codex films again.


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## Brother Emund (Apr 17, 2009)

Unknown Primarch said:


> think he on about the chapter banner.


Ahhhh, got it now


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## Akhara'Keth (Nov 20, 2010)

I think he means the scene where the Chaplain uses his Crozius to kill the Chaos Marines with some kind of blue energy waves. No plan what it was.



> gotta agree its a pile of poo. whould prefer to watch DOW intro on loop for 90mins than watch it again. i hope it doesnt prevent further films being made as they got the right idea in a sense but there is room for such vast improvement that i can see them getting too much negative attention from this and we wont see codex films again.


We can still hope that they read all the comments made about the movie and try to make it better in another movie. I don't mean the animations, they are good. Codex Pictures is not a big company like THQ and just doesn't have the money to make such great Animations like the DoW 2 Intro. I mean the Story Plot and the Fluff.


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

Ultimately fluff F'ups are the fault of Dan Abnett, not Codex Pictures. They took him on board to write the story and quite frankly he should know better!
I still think the film was OK though, not great by any standards, but an OK beginning.


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## OIIIIIIO (Dec 16, 2009)

My only real bitch about the movie is simply this, the Cappy and the Apothecary looked as old as fucking dirt. Wrinkles and what not?!? Space Marines age but they age so friggin slow that these guys should have had some damn walkers or interred in a dread.


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## Brother Emund (Apr 17, 2009)

OIIIIIIO said:


> My only real bitch about the movie is simply this, the Cappy and the Apothecary looked as old as fucking dirt. Wrinkles and what not?!? Space Marines age but they age so friggin slow that these guys should have had some damn walkers or interred in a dread.


I did not like the way the 'younger' marines spoke to the Apothecary. They showed an extreme lack of respect for one so experianced (and frickin' old). That did not sit well with me


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## OIIIIIIO (Dec 16, 2009)

Brother Emund said:


> I did not like the way the 'younger' marines spoke to the Apothecary. They showed an extreme lack of respect for one so experianced (and frickin' old). That did not sit well with me


Yeah when they were in the thunderhawk, I think it was, and the younger one basically called him a coward ... I think not.


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## Leman-russ (Mar 8, 2009)

all in all satisfied first warhammer movie i hope more

about cg i say nice i have some opinions but next time

fluff stuf captain and 10 noobs at least it feu scenes it would nice to see whole company 

and i was excepting to hear about codex from smufs

music excellent probability best part of movie

7/10


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## Chimaera (Feb 1, 2010)

While I thoroughly enjoyed the film and can look past it's little niggles. I do think one of the things they should have done is established the characters back stories a little. Maybe they wanted to but didn't have the budget? 

Anyway I think the two old vets had been put there to bring on the green arses simply for the fact they were wrinkly and old i.e. they had seen plenty already and training positions were maybe the best place for them due to their age and experience. My take on things is when the Captain saw a chance to relive the glory days and maybe progress his standing he jumped at it. On the flip side the Apothcary had patched up many a SM before and had nothing to gain from the whole situation. I also believe he was much more tactically aware than the Captain but was not the boss so had to go along with it. After all, what ever had caused the carnage was strong enough to wipe out all the defences before them including a SM detachment. The Apothocary was ultimately right and the Captain should have taken his advice but then again maybe they were the only ones on the spot to deal with it? 

It would be good if Dan & GW did establish some of the background fluff to the film but they probably won't.


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Gigantic pile of shit. Period. I saw nothing in that movie that makes me hope for another or to want to watch it again. Like others have pointed out, the DoW intro movie was 1000x better than this entire pile of shit and a movie done in that style would have kicked ass. This did not. At all. In any form.


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## Roninman (Jul 23, 2010)

Watched this on my friends house last weekend and wasnt impressed. I dont complain about cgi or animation, this i knew in advance that wouldnt be so great. 

Think whole story is just somewhat lame, atleast screenplay is. Dan might be best author for Black Library but surely aint no screenplay writer. There are lots of minor things that didnt seem right to me.

Good things:
- Voice acting was surely best maybe for whole movie
- Music was quite ok, no bad things to say about it
- Apothecary was only character which i kinda liked

Bad things
- Story, i didnt find nothing good about it. 
- Black legion marines looked more like berserkers, maybe they were?
- Whole company of Imperial Fists on some backwater planet and were wiped out but here comes Ultramarines
- Land speeder crew wiped out too silently by headshots, then next time Black Legion cant inflict no harm to loyalist standing in open. Where were these crackshooters then?
- Whole squad of Ultras not yet reached to full Astartes status send to this mission
- Some combat aspects for Elite soldiers like Astartes seemed totally wrong. Whole squad walking too close to eachother in no particular hurry in open space like desert asking for trouble. No combat unit ever walks that way in environment which hasnt been proved safe.
- Lifeless Cruiser. There was hardly any servitors only maybe few, no chapters serfs or anything. More like production issue.
- Too short


and other small things that bothered me but cant remember now. I truly wish that they made money of this and can make second and even better movie next time.


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## Firewolf (Jan 22, 2007)

>> I was talking about the blue energy wave from the Crozius, sorry, should have been clearer.


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## nate187 (Feb 2, 2009)

and what every one said before the DOW 1 and 2 cinematics were a thousand times better


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## teamnecron (Aug 4, 2010)

Roninman said:


> Land speeder crew wiped out too silently by headshots, then next time Black Legion cant inflict no harm to loyalist standing in open. Where were these crackshooters then?


I agree with your points, bar this one. There was a Black Legion marine stood on the cliff above them, and he was at the perfect vantage point to shoot down into the open canopy of the Landspeeder. If he was, and there's a chance due to the motley nature of Chaos Marine warbands, the only sharp-shooter, that answers your question. But I agree, the chances of there being one bloke with a bolter and the rest of them dolled up as Khorne Berserkers is pretty damn low.


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

I finished watching this moments ago...I feel violated, people paid to watch this?! Are you mad?

Though I do agree the voice acting was very well done, sadly it wasn't an audio book so I was just shit out of luck...



nate187 said:


> and what every one said before the DOW 1 and 2 cinematics were a thousand times better


I imagine they were, considering they likely cost about half of Ultramarines' budget for only a couple of minutes of trailer.

Hell if Ultramarines had had a similar scaled up budget then it would have been beautifully done as well- but GW certainly couldn't afford to spunk dozens and dozens of millions of pounds on a film let alone a small independent film company.


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## nate187 (Feb 2, 2009)

Baron Spikey said:


> I finished watching this moments ago...I feel violated, people paid to watch this?! Are you mad?
> 
> Though I do agree the voice acting was very well done, sadly it wasn't an audio book so I was just shit out of luck...
> 
> ...


I understand what your saying mate but then 



teamnecron said:


> tl,dr: Don't claim to enjoy it because it's the only real "film" we've had so far.
> 
> Ooh, boy, do I hate to be the one to spoil the wave of approval. I was tempted to write this up as a formal review, reviewing films being part of my day-job but I'd rather their only official review so far wasn't negative, to be fair to them. I was there today as well, and I've got to be honest - it was fairly bad. Though, before I continue, I'm just going to make one very valid point - I wanted to ask the producer but it was just too awkward a question. Two words:
> 
> ...


I think old maties review is pretty much on the money. Would you not agree? Imagine if they had of pulled something off ani/cgi wise like ninja scroll, the animatrix, or the recent halo series DVD. Peoples interest would of been directed onto the game outside of the usual warhammer 40k fan group. This could of brought thousands of people into the fold of this great story, about the grim future of the 41st millenium hobby or not.

Cheers.


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## 5tonsledge (May 31, 2010)

is there chaos? my big want. i can handle watching a movie about marines as long as there is chaos


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

Yes there is Chaos but not the sort of Chaos most players will be happy with, I'll leave it at that for now.

I think what happened is Codex and GW, in the end, didn't get the film they wanted made. To be a success for both companies the film needed to bring new blood into the franchise, this film won't do that. They were caught between the threat of 40K fanboy nerdrage and a need for some level of commercial success. 
To completely please the nerds they would have needed to make a film they couldn't afford and would have been near unwatchable for anyone outside of the hobby. To make it a commercial success, it was a film they couldn't afford and would have incurred the wrath of the 40K community, which would have killed the film before it even got started. 

Another mistake they seem to have made is that there were no real 40K fans in the office at Codex, meaning their was no one there who had the necessary love for the setting to see it realised in a better way.
Their only real contribution was from Dan Abnett, who should be ashamed of himself IMO, he was the man in the know and he dropped the ball. With producers and a director who really knew very little about the setting a lot of responsibility falls to Mr Abnett for the gaping holes in the plot and the fluff.
*IF *Codex make another film, and I really hope they do, they need to borrow a few more people from the offices in Nottingham, people who have a vested interest in the setting and will over rule Mr Abnett's 'creative license'.
With everything they had stacked against them I think Codex has presented a passable effort, it has it's flaws and plenty of them but I hope that Codex has the common sense to learn from them.


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## eZieweZie (Jan 20, 2011)

*post deleted*


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## hungryugolino (Sep 12, 2009)

A mediocre film with much Fist-bashing, acceptable graphics, and ineptitude on the part of the Smurfs. Watch for the music and Ultramarine failure.


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## genesis80 (Jan 12, 2011)

My biggest gripe:

1) The start of the movie explains the space marines then goes on to say "and the greatest of these are the Ultramarines". WTF?!!! If they said Grey Knights, it would have been understandable. But Ultra Smurfs are no better than the angels and wolves.

2) "New marines" talking about getting into combat the 1st time. WTF?! How did they graduate from scouts?!! Sitting in the temple polishing calgars boots?!

3) Why on earth would Imperial Fists put 100 marines on a planet to guard a codex. But no IG, no Titan legions, etc. Doesnt tie in with the way marines work. Also, the "fortress" would have been a lot bigger if 100 imperial fists were there.



4) Why didnt the banner light up when the "corrupted" captain 1st came back?


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