WoW Moviewatch: Culling of Stratholme: The Retaliation
by Michael Gray 
Aug 19th 2009 at 12:00PM
We've seen a few movies like this before, and I think there's a lesson in that fact for Blizzard. There's definitely something about the story of Arthas and Stratholme that captures the imagination, and inspires creators to tell and retell. Today, we're looking at Culling of Stratholme: The Retaliation by Alexander Egeskog. This is the follow-up to the previously released Caverns of Time: Culling of Stratholme.
This isn't a brief, quick movie, which is why there's not an embedded stream. Culling of Stratholme: The Retaliation clocks in over twenty minutes, since it features the lore from Warcraft III as well as World of Warcraft. The voice acting and scripting is superb, of course, but it comes from in-game footage.
Where Alexander's work really shines is the cinematic portrayal of in-game events. Again, this isn't the first time we've seen someone give the cinematic treatment to the Culilng of Stratholme. But it is the first time I recall anyone going as far back in the history as this, so this would be my "favorite" to hand out to new-to-lore folks. Alexandar has done an outstanding job outlining the entire story, so it's a great tool for folks just getting started with the history of Arthas.
Click here to check it out yourself.
Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
crunk Aug 19th 2009 12:56PM
Well done indeed. It left me wanting to see more.
Mergetvs Aug 19th 2009 1:19PM
Blizz should hire this guy
Nick Aug 19th 2009 1:48PM
I liked it. I don't get why the soldiers were fighting the undead with their fists when Arthas showed up with Frostmourne, though.
dakota2k Aug 19th 2009 2:03PM
From a filmmaking standpoint it had all the earmarks of a well told story, action, plot advancement and excellent editing. Dare I say, epic
Slaytanic Aug 19th 2009 2:07PM
Wow, very nice. Excellent incorporation of the WC III storyline with the WoW anime.
Not much different from Luke being secuded by the Dark Side.
ladygamertn Aug 19th 2009 4:21PM
It brings together all the assorted strings of lore into a nice bow. True, I knew all this, having gleaned it through the various quests and books, but this weaves it into a whole tapestry.
Well done! I thoroughly enjoyed it and even went back to see The Death Knight's Tale. Again, not new stuff but a deeper appreciation through the depth of emotion.
Bravo!
Skarlette Aug 19th 2009 6:29PM
I tried to watch this on the website but it buffered so much that it was unwatchable, stopping and starting every few seconds.
Then I downloaded the .avi version of this to watch but Windows Media Player keeps telling me I need a codec called Intel ITU H.264 (H264) to use it, and after over a half hour of looking at various websites from both Intel and Microsoft I still can't figure out what the hell I need to do to make it play. I give up. :(
Yes, I'm a terrible noob. But dang, I really wanted to see this movie. I love lore-based machinima.
Skarlette Aug 19th 2009 7:03PM
Okay, I gave up on the downloaded version and just watched the online stream instead. The freezing and buffering got better after the first few minutes, although it still stuttered for me. I don't know what the problem was, I usually can watch things like this without any problems. Oh well.
As for the movie itself---it was absolutely incredible! I loved the music, and the camera work was excellent. It really captured the emotion and feel of the story. It meshed the audio of WCIII with the graphics of WoW with its own unique flavor.
Two nitpicks, one of which I see they already addressed on the webpage... They made the mercenaries into humans instead of trolls/etc, which I can understand except that the humans they used looked like Arthas' normal soldiers, so that was confusing. Oh well, it was apparently a deliberate artistic choice. My other nitpick is that the expedition wore armor and tabards exblazoned with the Stormwind lion instead of the Lordareron L. I know most of the armor that fits the look of that time period which is available in WoW looks like that, but I'm pretty sure there are Lordaeron tabards somewhere in the game files that could have made that a little less jarring.
Those very minor nitpicks aside, I loved the movie! The sequences with the burning ships, Frostmourne cavern, and Malganis' last attack all gave me goosebumps.
I hope this isn't the last in the series! There's plenty of other fantastic lore from WCIII and beyond that could be given this kind of treatment. Still, I can only imagine how much work went into making this, so major kudos to the makers. :)
Tori Aug 19th 2009 8:19PM
I'd say download something like CCCP which comes with the codecs and Media Player Classic. This pretty much plays any media you'd ever have to watch.
alpha5099 Aug 19th 2009 6:47PM
I really liked this, but why no troll mercs when Arthas has the ships burned? I'd be fine with it being a retcon, but all of the dialogue (calling them "beasts" and what-not) seems like it would fit much better if he'd used the trolls the campaign shows.
Tori Aug 19th 2009 8:18PM
Is there a way to download the movie without being a member on the site there? I'd really like to watch this on my computer instead of the embedded video.
Tori Aug 19th 2009 8:23PM
Oop, nevermind, found the links underneath the Premium Downloads.