Mood:
loudNow Playing: Bach's Passion
Topic: WH40K Film
The 2006 Academy Awards Ceremony is now just a memory…thank God! What a dismal year. Over all, Hollywood has suffered one of its worst financial years since the ‘70s. Yet, despite revenues being down by over 6%, last night we were treated to a self-congratulatory festival of egocentric actors and actresses giving themselves awards for making films completely out of touch with the American people. How appropriately liberal….
Well, as I am a strong believer in the old maxim that is it better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, I am going to try and help Tinsel Town out with a suggestion for a movie. The envelope please….
I suggest that the time is right for a Warhammer 40K film.
What’s that? You never heard of Warhammer? Well, I guess that is why you work in Hollywood; I mean, who has the time to make popular films when there are all those gay cowboy flicks waiting to be made? So let me enlighten you.
Warhammer 40K is a wonderfully dark and complex game universe created by Games Workshop. The best way to briefly describe 40K is thusly: imagine the might and brutality of ancient Rome, mixed with the religious passion and pageantry of the Middle Ages, all set against the gothic science fiction setting of the year 40,000. That is Warhammer 40K. This game setting, which initially began as a collectible miniatures wargame and has now evolved into the format of a wildly popular computerized RTS franchise (relic’s Dawn of War and Winter Assault), has proven to be a worldwide phenomenon. Due to the popularity of the game, GW now operates franchise stores around the globe and sells millions of dollars worth of merchandise (including White Dwarf, the official hobby magazine which garners a circulation of over 150,000). When it comes to uber-popular games which transcend all barriers, even nationality, 40K is the king---making Halo seem like a flash in the pan by comparison.
A 40K film would be a natural, big-screen translation for a number of reasons. First, and foremost, the 40K universe would look great on the big screen. With its gothic settings, armor-clad space marines (think medieval knights on steroids), peaked-capped and caped Imperial Guard commissars, lots and lots of alien enemies, and, most importantly, huge battle-scapes (both on and above planets), 40K would provide enough visual fodder to keep people pinned in their seats for hours. Nobody will ever have seen a sci-fi setting with as much visual punch as 40K---guaranteed.
Space Marines, with some help from the Imperial Guard, storm the enemy!
A second reason that 40K would provide an excellent cinematic experience is the novelty of the 40K world. For decades, sci-fi fans have been subjected to countless reiterations of bright and shiny futures as presented by both Star Wars and Star Trek. You know what I mean: a galaxy comprised of humans and aliens who often work together to obtain justice (usually via some sort of galactic United Nations), a future where high science and technology reigns supreme, and, of course, a cadre of intelligent and moral heroes that always know how to set everything right.
Not so in the world of 40K!
The year 40,000 is a dark, apocalyptic time. As the game’s official motto declares: “In the future, there is only war.” Mankind is at war with every alien species in the galaxy, fighting against its own extermination. In fact, inter-species relations are so hostile, that to even be tainted by an alien presence is to guarantee a death sentence by one of the Imperium’s roving Inquisitors---who enforce the pure will of the undying Emperor (whose story alone is worth a movie). Furthermore, due to the incessant warfare, the empire of man, which now spans millions of worlds, has regressed into a medieval mindset where faith trumps science. Mankind has been so brutalized that the art of technology has all but been lost, requiring mankind to simply make due with what it already has on hand (a job relegated to the tech priests of Mars). Faith also serves another important purpose: to combat the Warp evil that is leaking into the galaxy via a tear in the space/time fabric of the universe (known as the Eye of Terror). That’s right---unlike countless movies where warping is portrayed as little more than putting the "pedal to the metal", in the world of 40K, the Warp is a realm, plied by spaceships to be sure, populated by daemons from another dimension. These monsters are flooding into our dimension, corrupting all with the force of Chaos. Faith in the cult of the Emperor, along with lots of bolters and lasrifles, is the cornerstone of mankind’s defense against them. To side with the forces of Chaos, as do the apostate Chaos Marines, is to be branded a heretic and sentenced to death…preferably with the blade of a chainsword.
How’s that for some gothic originality?
Finally, I believe a 40K film would be timely for another reason, one that will actually please the left-wing bastion known as Hollywood. Sci-fi is best when it is an allegory for our present. Star Wars and Star Trek reflected the “peace and love” mentality of the ‘60s. Needless to say, since 9-11, the world has taken a decidedly more violent course. America is at war (though you wouldn’t know it from the movies being released) and religious faith is at the heart of the issue. Furthermore, many leftists are decrying President Bush’s “imperial presidency”, which is seemingly run by a cadre of “warmongers”. Wouldn’t a 40K film reflect all these themes? Hollywood could have a ball toying with these ideas within such a sci-fi setting as Warhammer 40K! And, if done right (not as a soapbox speech, but as clever dialogue), could actually serve to make the movie more interesting. That’s a win-win even for the topsy-turvy, out of touch world of Hollywood!
Now, for a 40K film to work, certain criteria need to be met. One, like Jackson’s excellent Lord of the Rings, the universe of Warhammer needs to be approached with determined realism, not light whimsy as is the style of Star Wars or Star Trek. This is a war story---lots of people and soldiers are dying in combat (in the 40K universe, it is said that over a million people die every day and no one notices), and the forces of Chaos are out to exterminate us in a galactic holocaust. As a result, this movie will need to be deadly serious (Lucas and Verhoeven need not apply). There must be no Keystone Kop robots, no cuddly aliens, no slapstick humor and certainly no unisex showers---just a gritty and grim tale about the eternally joined offspring of war: heroic glory and cowardly terror.
Second, as is the case with most good films, a big budget is required. 40K is all about huge battles---and that takes a big FX budget. Likewise, 40K is about gothic trappings, both in architecture as well as in armor and equipment. So, if you are planning the old standby of attempting to disguise cheap M-16s as futuristic weapons---think again. The 40K fandom will never accept such a flawed presentation just as the “Ringers” would never have accepted an inaccurate presentation of Middle Earth. Invest the money or don’t even try as this is a crowd that knows a heavy Bolter from a Multi-melta, a Sentinel from a Predator tank.
In a similar vein, you need to capitalize on the complexity of the 40K world. Just as Peter Jackson did not shy away from introducing the mythology of Middle Earth, any 40K film must also incorporate a representative sampling of the vast amount of lore that has developed over past decades via fan and GW contributions alike. Even a cursory glance at the gothic future reveals wonderful details that will enhance any movie and add to its inherent attraction. Be it the back-story of the Horus Heresy, the Golden Thrown of the God-Emperor, or the guiding light of the Astronomican, such fluff as this will add great depth to a film already loaded with wonderful originality.
Such are the reasons why I believe a 40K film would be a big hit. It is a complex and refreshingly original science fiction setting that will easily captivate anyone, be they a 40K diehard or not. The dark future of the Warhammer world will prove to be a refreshing, if startling, splash of ice water on an audience long since lulled to sleep by the insipid and dim-witted sci-fi that has characterized the genre for far too long. Add to this a world-wide group of diehard fans and a line of merchandise that is ready for some major cross-marketing, and clearly any major studio has a winning formula for a film (series?) that could go a long way in making us forget the disappoint of recent cinematic efforts. Now is the time for originality! Now is the time for Hollywood to display some faith in the power of good science fiction. Is Hollywood up to the task? The Immortal Emperor declares: “Fear denies faith!” and it is about time for Tinsel Town to display one or the other.
For more information, please visit:
Games Workshop: The home of all things Warhammer!
Dawn of War: The home of relic's excellent WH40K RTS
