Later this week we will see the American release of the summer blockbuster "Warcraft."
Wait! Hold on! Don't go!
I know the role-playing video game isn't exactly a buzzword for most people. Apart from its rather large niche group of 5.5 million users, the game itself does not hold an inclusive connotation. It lacks a certain marketing approach that gives the game a sexiness most pop culture icons can invoke. For what little the majority of us know about the game, and consequently the upcoming stand alone film, I implore you to read forward and learn about its film maker.
His name is Duncan - Duncan Jones. Most journalists, looking to catch a passerby's (or news-feed scrollerby's) attention, will peg him as most notably the son of the late, great, David Bowie and his first wife Angela Barnett. But, Jones is a man very deserving of an association of his own in the public eye. He is very much on track to become one of the most influential film makers of our generation. For this reason, Jones, helming the director's chair for "Warcraft" the movie, may succeed in bridging the pop culture gap from niche to nationally known. As he has a knack for driving new ideas into beaten-down story devices.
Let's talk about Jones. He meets a career trifecta, operating as a film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He spent most of his early work-course between shooting commercials and working as a developer for independent video game companies. Although his love for film and video games did not meet commercially until he started development on "Warcraft" three years ago, a love for science fiction and fantasy shines through in his two earlier feature works.
Jones is responsible for directing two of this generation's most well put together plot-twist films:"Moon" and "Source Code." You are more likely to have heard of the latter than the former. "Moon" is an independent film starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey about a whimsical astronaut marooned on Earth's moon. It may ring a bell familiar to that of "The Martian" which came out late last year, but "Moon" diverges itself by providing a very engaging mystery for the viewer to emote to.
"Source Code" stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a top secret military agent who is sent back in time repeatedly to learn the details of a bomber's attack on a commuter train. His goal in this suspense-filled revision of a plot similar to Bill Murray's "Groundhog's Day" is to prevent an impending attack from happening, but the more Gyllenhaal's character learns about the incident, the more he learns about the people he works for and himself.
Both films manage to reinvent aspects to their respective genres. They provide stellar performances and well thought out plots and characters to string them to. Each film spins their stories into unique twists that manage to set themselves apart from the usual Friday night releases. If Jones manages to maintain his particular brand of high strung plot-then-plot-twist storytelling for "Warcraft," and future films to come, it is very possible that the future of cinema will run on Duncan.
