Great visuals, confusing story and a movie star making performance are all a part of the mish-mash that is Warcraft: The Beginning.

Video game to movie adaptations are known to be historically bad. Warcraft doesn't quite break that trend, but it is a solid step forward.

With director Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code) calling the shots, expectations were raised to the point that at the very least a descent swords and fantasy movie will be delivered, and such lowly expectations are indeed met: There is quite a bit to like about Warcraft: The Beginning. There is also quite a lot to dislike too.

Based on the popular strategy and multiplayer game series played world over, the film begins with a small army of Orcs (large muscles, big tusks, not much clothing) invading the human world of Azerath through a portal fuelled by a magical force called the “fel”. Among them is the honourable warrior chief Durotan (Toby Kebbell, continuing his solid motion capture work first seen in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), who doubts the intentions of drunk on power Orc leader Gul’dan (Daniel Wu).

Meanwhile, military commander Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) urges his cautious king (Dominic Cooper) to take the fight to the Orc invaders.

Of course there is more to its plot: wizards, dwarves, huge freakin’ dogs… they all feature. Problem is that for a film based on a strategy game, there is little strategy when it comes to plot structure, with Warcraft suffering from the same fate that befalls many a swords and fantasy movie: too much, too big, too complicated.

That a lot of the plot is driven by the Orcs is a big problem. It is not a bad thing to have the creature creations have as much emotional and dramatic juice as their human co-stars (especially in these motion capture times). The problem with Warcraft is that the Orcs are simply incomprehensible in their speech, with the grunt and gruff muddling clearly important dialogue vital to the who, what, where and how of a complex storyline. They might as well have cast Jeff Bridges and his accent from Seventh Son.

Thankfully a hero rises to (somewhat) save the day in Vikings star Travis Fimmel. Whether bringing on laughs with his strong sense of comedy, breaking hearts in his portrayal of a widow longing for the safety of his lone son, or upping his cool factor with a simple smirk before kicking Orc butt, Fimmel in every way brings a genuine movie star charm to the proceedings.

Warcraft: The Beginning is not a dud. Jones is too good a filmmaker to deliver such a thing. For all its impressive VFX (and it is indeed impressive), Jones implements a certain amount of drama, character and stakes. Hopefully with the next instalment, Jones will also remember to do away with the clutter….and add subtitles for the Orcs.