Ultramarines (2010)

One of the things I look for when choosing movies to watch is originality. I want to see something I have never seen before. I want to be exposed to a culture or way of life that is foreign to me. 'Ultramarines' filled that bill for me.

It's a CGI science fiction thriller based on the 'Warhammer 40,000' game series. I have heard of it but never played it. I knew next to nothing going in so I can't judge if it's a good representation of the world the games establish.

It is the story of soldiers whose entire reason for being is combat. They cloak their training with highbrow concepts like duty and honor and they preach to each other about war like they are speaking scripture. To them war is religion and they are holy warriors in the service of their beloved Emperor of Earth who they pray to for mercy, strength, and guidance. To these elite armored warriors, combat and glory is EVERYTHING.


The group we follow have arrived at a planet far from Earth. They are a dozen strong and have been sent to investigate why communication has been lost at an imperial 'shrine' guarded by 100 of their fellow combat brothers.

They are young and eager and despite what they are told about rushing headlong towards death by a veteran of combat, they see nothing but the battle ahead and the chance to do what they were bred to do - fight and die. The are confident and powerful. The concept of losing doesn't enter their thoughts. They are beyond cocky about how awesome they are. They make Klingons look like girl scouts. These are holy warriors who carve 'kill the heretics' on each of their bullets.

They are about to get a harsh lesson on the realities of war.

I thought this was a very interesting film. The ideas in it's script are nothing new to anyone that has seen a war movie. However, its the visuals that are most impressive here.

I was taken into a detailed beautiful computer rendered universe. It's obvious that capture motion technology was used to give the computer generated characters realistic expression.

The voices of fine actors like John Hurt and Terrance Stamp are incorporated into the characters. Combine that with spectacular settings and intricate background details possible with computer rendered effects and you have something that is visually compelling. I never lost interest in the story. If anything there was too much gorgeous eye candy to distract me. Don't get me wrong. That is a GOOD thing.

To those of you familiar with this type of advanced visuals from your experiences as gamers, this may look average to you. To me, however, this was cutting edge stuff. The battles were exciting and excessively violent. Again, a GOOD thing. I can see the EFFORT placed on each second of the movie. I always appreciate that.


Special mention has to be made about the musical score and the sound effects. They are also very effecting at conveying mood and setting.

Every part of this movie works very well together. It's a total, fresh and fascinating experience. At 76 minutes, it's also just long enough to leave you wanting more.

8/10