Angels of Death (2021– ) User Reviews

Rare understanding of the 40k universe

[ukcraig · 9/10 · 15 September 2021]

Any issues I have with the animation and sound quality are easily overlooked by the fantastic story telling, it really feels as though the writers and producers understand the world in which the story takes place, the characters are well developed and the action is visceral.

It's losing a star simply because the animation could be a little better, the lip syncing is particularly poor.

A decent effort

[hzxcfqw · 7/10 · 27 November 2021]

This series is ok, for a first attempt. The story is decent and most of the action is good. The animation style isn't 100% to my liking but that's subjective. The sound also isn't great, and the dialogue is cringe worthy in large parts. It seems the angels of death have a very limited vocabulary! I am death/vengeance and repeat. A shame.

I also have to say the look of the Blood Angels themselves is completely inconsistent with how they are described in any and all Warhammer lore. They are meant to look angelic. Fair enough, some of them should be scarred etc, but angelic and scarred.

Overall, it's not bad, but it's not great.

Nice

[alexb-55137 · 8/10 · 28 December 2021]

Animations are not my cup of tea, but for this one I can sincerely say that this one is different.

You won't be disappointed, the writers and the quality of the animations makes it very interesting to watch the whole serie, well done.

Entertaining and got "soul"

[erik_janse · 10/10 · 19 September 2021]

I remember many years ago when the Ultramarines movie was released. Man that was bad, Dan Abnett is my favorite author, and I was shocked when I realised he wrote the script.

Fastforward to today and we have warhammer plus and the series Angels of Death.

The animations are OK if you count the number of polygons. But the "soul" is there, the visuals are there to carry the story.

Sound effects and audio are on point, really well done.

Story, setting, dialogue and characters are also great and are just to the WH40k setting.

This was made by people who really enjoy WH40k, for people who really enjoy WH40k.

Could I show this to my wife who doesn't understand why I spent money I could buy a car for on minis and other WH-stuff? Hell no!

As a fan of 40k, did I really enjoy this? Hell yes!!!

Pure catharsis

[remta-44400 · 10/10 · 1 October 2021]

Very happy to finally see this series. Animation suits the story well. I hope they continue to make them.

It's not the best editing or processing but that doesn't even matter. If your a fan, you'll probably like it.

Wow

[Andrejavic · 10/10 · 4 December 2021]

I've been reading that some don't think the animation is that good. What? I guess one of them was the issue with the lip syncing which I didn't even notice because there are so many amazing details that are brought to life in this series.

I was upset at first that I couldn't watch it in one go but that's because I was sucked into the story and wanted more. As for the mentioning of the sound. I have a full surround system and it sounded like a god damn war zone. Which I feel pretty much suits the 40K universe.

As a first run for GW I'm overjoyed with how incredible this brought the 40K universe to life and hope this animation team gets something in Fantasy or AOS to put their skills to the test once again.

9393-7084 Quebec inc. Amazing job team. I loved it.

If you're a 40K fan. Bring tissue and lotion.

Great but Flawed

[e-jackson1985 · 8/10 · 9 December 2021]

X - Artistic style is fantastic.

X - Animations great. (Apart from face animations which i will get to below) X - 40k universe captured perfectly.

X - Strong and engaging story.

But ...... the face animations and syncing to voices need work .... A lot of work. (Especially the co pilot) It is noticeable and distracting enough to take away viewer engagement.

Many people wont make it past the first episode unfortunately. It reminds me of the issues mass effect andromeda experienced. Hopefully theres a season 2 and can be addressed.

Overall great work though.

The Emperor not always protects

[diogolaforga · 7/10 · 13 December 2021]

Except for the writing and some of the voice acting, there is very little to laud in this project. The animation is blocky, unimpactful and unremarkable, the overall production is just weak. From the directing, to the sound, to the overall presentation and tone. A shame really, the fan made animation called "Astartes" puts this to shame and then some. Maybe GW should take their projects more seriously, this looks like it was made 10 years ago and only disserves one of the most potential universes to be adapted to the screen. This is some heretic work, indeed.

What's not to love?

[ianbarnett-37531 · 10/10 · 23 April 2022]

The voices don't match up to the mouth animation, which is annoying, but it's Warhammer 40k moving pictures, I've waited 20 years for this! Really looking forward to more stuff from Warhammer + with the different production styles.

Solid if uninspired

[Tostig66 · 6/10 · 6 January 2022]

CGI animation is solid and the art direction choice to show it in black and white except for any red elements (be it blood, laser fire or armour) does make it visually interesting. But the problem with the Space marines is they are weapons for the emperor and consequently their dialogue is military type stuff eg " for the emperor" or "hold your ground brothers" and their personalities are negligible.

It is so repetitious I didn't even realise one episode was a flash back until half way through.

It's not bad and it's great to see the 40K world on screen but all the characters are plot points, the story is - we've been betrayed, now fight ...and that's it for 10 episodes.

Rather Underrated

[noahgassler · 9/10 · 3 August 2022]

I've seen a lot of reviews of this series that malign the animation quality and the lighting for holding it back, and I tend to agree with those points. The animation quality is subpar for what I know darn well GW is capable of producing. The lighting is dark. It's hard to know what's going on sometimes.

That said, that's about my only complaint with it. You could counter with the classic "Astartes was better" to which I'd agree, but Astartes didn't have the character development or the emotion that Angels of Death does. You know these characters by the time they're in danger. The danger is real and you can feel it. Characters, named characters, with goals and unfinished story arcs, die and make the tension higher.

On top of all that it's just ridiculously cool. If you like space marines shredding Xenos and heretics, or the Navis Imperialis fighting for their lives, or a dreadnought entering the fray to devastating effect, or a friggin' Techmarine kicking some heretic ass? It's all here.

The pacing, also maligned by some, was in my opinion quite good. Quiet dramatic moments interposed between bloody battles, not just cutting to the chase immediately, nor prolonging scenes of characters talking beyond the point of boredom. It had a good mix for me, and I have a short attention span.

The cinematographers and screenwriters knew what they were doing too. Not only were there a wealth of "dude, that's so cool!" moments, the moments of foreshadowing, the use of Chekov's Gun, the amazing action shots, and even the use of shaky-cam: when the camera focuses on the space marines, the camera shakes a little, when on the xenos, it's extreme to the point of not knowing what's going on. When focusing on the marines in Terminator armor, there's hardly any shake at all. I have no idea if this was on purpose or just coincidence, but either way, it gave the effect of showing the sheer pandemonium of battle, and the calm, steadiness of the marines.

If you're into 40k, or you like space marines at all, I recommend giving this a watch. Even if only for the cool-factor, I think it's worth it.

Black and White and Red

[xaocam-77480 · 7/10 · 22 December 2021]

First annoyance - the colour scheme Black, white and shades of red. I wish the arty farty types would just keep their inane stupid art ideas to themselves and just colour it. The Warhammer Universe is awash with colours and textures, hell, GW probably makes half their money off the large array of paints they have. Whoever came up with the idea that "Oh, it's Blood Angels so the only colour we will have is red" should never touch Warhammer again.

Second - animation needs a bit of work to make it more natural, it's quite stiff, especially for facial expressions and speech.

The dialogue is fine to good, along with the storyline. It does capture the blood angels controlling their inner rage. Although at times it is a battle within, to focus their rage, so obviously is within 40k lore

If it wasn't for the first complaint, I would have scored this much higher.

A well produced series/movie is something the Warhammer fan base has been waiting for, for a long time. Next time, if there is one, just do it without the arty farties and bring out the real Warhammer Universe.

Story is interesting, Sound is terrible

[sonofgondolin · 5/10 · 23 November 2021]

Right away when the series opened I had a problem with the face of the space marines. For being the sons of the angel they neither look or sound angelic, not a single one. The story is pretty good and for the most part the animation is good. The series truly falls short with the sound design. There is no weight to anything. A Storm bolter tossed to the ground sounds like someone just dropped a toy gun. This weapon must weigh like fifty pounds or more. The chainsword sounds are from the default sound pack of a video editing software. It is truly terrible. The voice acting is wonderful for almost everyone. Like I said before though, the Blood Angels sound more like the veterans of fifty years of cigarette smoking.

This needs to be live action

[bodstarjs · 9/10 · 30 October 2023]

Initially I wasn't impressed, the colour, animation, audio all seemed second rate but as it progressed I realised it was the aesthetic & that it worked. The atmosphere was clostraphic, smothering, dark and confusing but also stark and vivid at the same time.

The characters even with little to no development had soul, had life, pain, history and depth that I think could lean easily into a live action as a series. Some typical xenomorph action was made so much more by the religious, emperious legend that is Warhammer 40k.

Space battles, big guns, chainswords and everything in-between.

We Will Endure !!!

Great Stuff...

Dark, gritty, grim, 40K

[BlockLike · 8/10 · 5 February 2022]

This series exceeded my expectations.

I felt it really represented what life is like for a Blood Angel.

From the start to the end it's a dark, chaotic fight for blood and honour.

The writing and voice acting are excellent and the atmosphere is dark and gripping.

What helps is the use of black and white for everything except red for blood and their armour. It really does compliment the whole feel of the series.

While the CGI is mostly good, there are moments where it's lacking. Like the face animations being a bit clunky.

My main gripe is the shaky cam view . At times it's excessive but luckily doesn't happen all the time.

Overall, it's an engaging glimpse into the gritty life as a Blood Angel.

It has its moments, but ultimately can't compete.

[ludechris31-831-223276 · 6/10 · 30 December 2021]

I watched this because of a friend who's into Warhammer. It seems more like an extended student project instead of a polished work. The weakest link really has to be how slow and awkward the timing is. It's strange how often the main characters stop in the middle of a battle to talk to each other instead of protecting themselves. It also just really boggles my mind how these elite soldiers don't even run for cover when under fire. I don't know; for being based on a strategy game, there doesn't seem to be much strategy in the plot at all. Also there is a jarring lack of sound in certain parts where, in any other show, there would be plenty of foley (footsteps, rustling, scraping, etc).

Despite the few moments where I couldn't help but 'wow,' this mostly appears to be either an unfinished product, or a cheap advertisement. I know I'm gonna piss off Warhammer fans, but starcraft cinematics are objectively better. And with the level of animation and attention to certain details in this work, it's clear that this team could have pulled off something at least comparable to the Heart Of The Swarm opening cinematic.

Cash grab content for minimum effort

[foxphoenix-81502 · 1/10 · 27 October 2021]

GW has made the unfortunate decision to push their own content and pursue litigation against unsanctioned fan animations. This is truly tragic, given that the individual fan animators were capable of much more impressive work than this show.

The animation is just as janky as the Ultramarine movie of prior infamy, just with a slight bit more polish and lighting effects to try and hide it. Facial animation is extremely poor and breaks any pretense of immersion. Most video game characters have more facial rigging... For an official animation, this is extremely disappointing. The Space Marine video game by THQ had superior facial animation, if that tells you anything.

The stylistic choice to contain only the color red in addition to black and white values feels like less of an artistic decision and more of a cover for the inability to adequately color scenes. Many scenes are not suitably lit for this design choice and are overly dark and confusing at times.

The special effects are basic and mostly used to obscure the low quality of the animation. The camera shake is constant and over the top in many of the action scenes... Completely unnecessary for the conveyance of the action scenes.

The writing is hammy and on-the-nose... nothing but a fan service. The lines are predictably generic and exactly what you would expect a space marine to say in those circumstances... The character depth seems non existent. It appears they attempted to replicate fan favorites from several Black Library publications without realizing what it was that made those characters relatable in the first place... And without the writing skills to make them believable or engaging.

There is a considerable amount of exposition but not enough to adequately acquaint newcomers to the 40k universe with the few nuances of the plot unfolding in the opening episodes.

The episodes are short... Forcing you to sit through yet another opening sequence every 10-15 minutes and disrupting the pacing of the plot. It seems like a ploy to delay release of content... Ostensibly to keep subscribers to the monthly service for minimal effort.

The voice acting is adequate, and I was pleased to recognize voices of several of my favorite Black Library audiobook narrators. It isn't the fault of the voice actors that they were given such shoddy lines to recite.

To summarize: this is a ham-handed attempt to push out content for their subscription service at minimum effort or expense. This project sorely needs competent writing, higher quality visuals, and better pacing.

Unfortunate garbage

[fallacychilde · 1/10 · 6 October 2021]

As much as I looked forward to the release of this series it has been an utter disappointment. The narrative is uninteresting, the animation is atrocious, and the voice acting is mediocre at best. I'm extremely saddened by this production and hope that GW gets it together before they continue to produce this garbage.

Why would there be women on the ship?

[truemann-78783 · 2/10 · 2 February 2023]

Women don't serve any purpose on an imperial ship because they are much better utilized as breeding stock due to the trillions of soldiers demanded by the astra militarum. It's ridiculous to place so my of them in this setting. Naval ships are notoriously dangerous places to work. It's not grimdark if you put such a blatant irreconcilable logical problem in my face like this. Wtf?

The graphics are cool and the marines are epic as usual, but come on. Am I supposed to believe they're better than any other male candidates for the job? Because if they're not, they should be placed somewhere else. Dumb!