Review: Ultramarines the Movie: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie

Phot: Ultramarinesthemovie.com

Codex Pictures released the first full length CGI film for Warhammer 40K just this last December.  Some minor production hiccups delayed most international shipping to those of us fanboys here in the States.  But I can say that for this 40K-Space Marine Playing-Movie Loving- enthusiast the wait was well worth it.

One of the things that made this production so great was the awesome attention to detail the company made in the first run collectors edition sets.  The entire package is wrapped in a card stock sleeve.  Inside we have a thick slide box holding an embossed metal case that looks like this…

Also inside the sleeve is a graphic novel\comic book by famed Warhammer 40K novelist and long time comic book writer Dan Abnett.  The comic is printed on high grade semi-gloss pages with a really nice matte black and white book cover.  The art was pretty good, not my favorite style of comic art and it was dark, but nothing to frown at.  The story was really great once you caught up to what was going on, and while not vital to enjoying the film itself, the comic lays some significant backstory for the movie.

Inside the tin are two DVD’s the movie and a special features disc.  The movie was surprisingly good.  I had low expectations for this movie but was pleasantly surprised.  While there were some minor issues with the CGI quality here or there, in general after the first few minutes of the film, I didn’t really notice them as much anymore.  Mind you this is coming from a very picky film critic.

The epicness of seeing one of your favorite hobbies come to shape on the screen is  a lot of fun.  They really managed to communicate the feel of the Space Marines as the story consists (on the surface) of a single Marine unit going into rescue a group of their brother Marines.  They really let you feel the strength and resolve of the superhuman warriors.

Photo: Ultramarinesthemovie.com

The large scale gothic architecture is present as is the ritualistic practices of the almost hyper spiritual\ superstitious Marines.  Codex Pictures did a good job of creating a feeling of the grit and grim darkness you would expect from a universe wrapped in war.  Details like the dust from walking on the armor and purity seals of the marines was a  nice touch.

Photo: Ultramarinesthemovie.com

While I’ll admit that the movement of the marines was a bit jarring, in general the creators did a great job rendering the bodies and armor of the characters.  Each character was amplified by the quality of the voice actors as well as the surprisingly intriguing plot.  The writers did a good job of capturing the almost xenophobic, and heretical extremism inherent to the Marines.

Photo: Ultramarinesthemovie.com

In general if you’re a 40K fan or just enjoy great animation and story, I would highly recommend picking up the set and watching it for yourself.  I really enjoyed it and am sure it’ll be a movie I’ll take out and re-watch regularly enough to make it worth the purchase.  And of course if you want to see more of this kind of thing then you need to get out there and support the companies that make them.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on the movie and what you thought about the animation.