And there's a release date for the Warcraft movie... which is cool, I guess.

Looks like Dec. 15, 2015 will see the release of the long-awaited Warcraft movie.

We don't know exactly what story they'll be telling, but we do know that Duncan Jones - who is mostly known for his smaller, indie sci-fi films Moon and Source Code (the former of which I have seen, and thought it was fantastic) - will be directing it, and there are a handful of actors either rumored or signed.

Here's the thing:

I think the Warcraft setting is great, and has a lot of very exciting stories that take place within it.

I love movies.

What I've seen of Jones' work, I have liked a lot.

But:

Has there ever been a good video game movie? As far as I know, the Prince of Persia movie was passable, if not actually good, and I guess people liked the first Tomb Raider movie, but the vast majority of video game films are absolute dreck.

Also, Warcraft is a great setting, but "great" refers to both quality and scope. There's no way that one can touch on everything here in one movie. Sure, I bet they're hoping to make it a franchise, but getting this first one out is going to be a challenge.

For the record, I'm immensely skeptical. If this movie winds up being good at all, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

But just in the event that it is, here's what I'd like to see reflected in the story:

Warcraft's main strength (and one that has been tested a little during Garrosh's reign as Warchief) is that the "bad guy" races are actually not truly evil (the Forsaken are the closest, though.) Tolkien always struggled with making his Orcs purely evil, as it kind of clashed with his Catholic belief in the possibility for redemption. In Warcraft, the Orcs are fully capable of redemption, and indeed, there are some, like Thrall, who are far more noble and good-hearted than a lot of humans. Sure, they can make a film about the conflict between Alliance and Horde (or if they start with the First War, they can go with Stormwind vs. the Horde,) but I'd love for them to at least touch on the fact that some Orcs aren't actually evil. If they could give folks like Durotan some screentime (assuming it's First War-era) to show that the Orcs aren't inherently bad guys, it would really help to show off the central nuance of the Warcraft setting.

Again, not getting my hopes up, but there you have it.