REVIEW
06/17/16
Written, produced and directed by Paul Doucet, Warhammer 40,000 'Exterminatus' is a short fan film or extended trailer based on the enduring game from Games Workshop. For those not too familiar with Warhammer, it's a 33 year old tabletop strategy game featuring miniature plastic models that players can engage in epic fantasy battles. These battles can last days at a time! In its lifetime the game has gone through several editions, tweaking rules and adding new units and creatures for players to deploy in their armies. Its science fiction spin-off, Warhammer 40,000, of which this film is based has proved phenomenally popular with its armies of Space Marines, war machines and vicious alien hordes. It's appeal has attracted generations of fans and it remains one of the most recognisable franchises in the industry.
Exterminatus is a visually impressive film that has clearly taken a lot of blood and sweat to produce. The film itself is too short for any meaningful story-telling but fortunately the cgi helps pick up the slack and does well to immerse you in this universe. To an uninformed eye, this film is striking enough with its cool effects and brutal action but there's been a lot of criticism by loyal fans for inaccurate costumes and props as well as bad story-telling.
Whether this is justified or not we'll leave for the fans to decide but keep in mind that Warhammer 40k is not the type of universe you could successfully bring to cinema without a $200million+ budget!