WoW Moviewatch: The Gnomeregan Revenge: Red Alert

The Gnomeregan Revenge: Red Alert is an original tale told in pre-Arthas Azeroth, the first of a new trilogy by filmmaker Odessa. The Gnomish race is cast in the role of Soviet revolutionaries against the Alliance. In this episode they use their technological superiority to stage a surprise attack on Ironforge. The Gnomes even speak Russian, albeit with English subtitles.

The machinima is excellent and the handheld out-of-focus shots work superbly to convey the surprise and confusion of the first wave of copter attacks. Since I don't speak French or Russian, it's difficult to tell the quality of the voice acting but the other sound effects are deftly done. (The English subtitles need some work; there are a lot of typos.) Still, I think it's possible to follow the story just from the visuals. The cliffhanger at the end prepares us for the next two episodes which promise to show us the war and its outcome. From just this first episode, it's difficult to tell if the film will have an allegoric theme with a larger message or if this was merely a creative tangent invented by the filmmaker. The follow-up episodes should come before the end of the year, so I guess we'll find out soon enough.

[Via WarcraftMovies]

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