"I am Ripper... Tearer... Slasher... Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength... and Lust... and Power! I AM BEOWULF!"
Robert Zemeckis had directed a handful of films which I have enjoyed over the years, including of course what is one of the best trilogies ever made (Back to the Future), one of the finest films of the '90s (Forrest Gump), another Tom Hanks film six years later (Cast Away), and teaming with Hanks to make The Polar Express, where Zemeckis ventured into the territory of motion capture animation. He continues that effort with Beowulf, a take on the legendary Scandinavian warrior now given the spin by writers Neil Gaiman (Stardust) and Roger Avary (Silent Hill).
As the story - written between the 8th and the 11th century - goes, King Hrothgar's (Anthony Hopkins) Danish kingdom is under constant threat from a butt-ugly creature called Grendel (voiced by Crispin Glover, which I swear you'll find it hard to make out what it's actually saying), who hates the kingdom's merry making, and enjoys massacring the King's men. So when all hope is lost, Hrothgar sends word out that worldly rewards be bestowed upon anyone who can rid his Kingdom of the demon. Enter Beowulf (Ray Winstone), a medieval Constantine and his band of merry Vikings, who volunteer their service. Think of it as Leonidas and his 300 men (here it's only 14), a group of professional soldiers of fortune whose aim in life is to seek out adventure, and to gloriously die in battles.
But there's a little bit of mystery added to why Grendel has such affinity to mass destruction, and soon Beowulf learns exactly why temptation is hard to resist, especially if it comes in the form of a naked Angelina Jolie as Grendel's Mother, oozing sex, strange accent and dripping wet, a hybrid of the world's sexiest woman, and a lizard, an object of lustful desire. In fact, the leads have a penchant of getting naked, and Beowulf's habit of stripping and showing off his well buffed body, has the filmmakers employ somewhat unintentionally comedic moments to utilize objects in the scene to preserve his modesty (think Austin Powers style).
Any literary type can tell you this is where the story goes off track. The original Beowulf saga is, like most of these things, an episodic affair; Beowulf kills Grendel, Grendel's mother, and finally a dragon in a battle that leaves him mortally wounded. A nice three-act structure, but Gaiman and Avary have something different and much more cinematic and American in mind - the bargain with Grendel's mother and the hints about her role in Hrothgar's life turn the story into one where the hero must overcome his own lust for power and glory, not to mention gold. (Grendel's mother's lair is strewn with treasures, and she herself first appears looking a bit like Shirley Eaton in Goldfinger.)
Beowulf visits the theme of the greed of Man, whether you're willing to compromise, lie and boast about false achievements in order to gain recognition, fame, fortune and the likes. And of course, what you do echoes in eternity, and the sins of the father will come back to haunt you, naturally. There are those who can be trusted, but sleeping with the enemy is just asking for it. But this film isn't titled Beowulf for nothing, and given his exploits, with actually only two major action sequence involving the titular character, I suppose a Beowulf action figure will sell like hot cakes. One thing's for sure though, this film puts Eragon's monster lizard to shame, even though the latter had more of such flying creatures, but this one's the one that has "menacing" written all over its wings.
Now, the animation... I didn't get to see it in full 3D, but it looks good - the level of detail is enough that the characters are expressive and believable, and at times the photorealism is outright astonishing. Of course, if you're not going to stylize your human characters at all, I have to wonder why not just use live actors against CG backgrounds, but maybe this was easier. Not all of the faces are equally convincing - Hrothgar looks pretty much like they photographed Anthony Hopkins against a blue screen (or are they all green now?), while some of the extras wouldn't have been out of place in the third Shrek. The monsters are what's worth; Grendel is a shambling, vaguely childlike nightmare and well... a practically-nude Angelina Jolie, rendered with extra care by animators who are no doubt mindful of the fact that making this woman look unsexy is a capital crime in many parts of the world, is a sight to behold.
However, Beowulf is still a miss, as far as I'm concerned. There was no real point in making this film - except making money, of course. This is not meant as a message film or is it really interested in drawing anything poetical from the poem, what it wants to do is be entertaining, slightly satirical in its post-modern humour and be pretty to look at - things it more or less got right. If you can accept it on those limited terms, you probably got more out of it than I did. In 1999, the poet Seamus Heaney did a modern translation of the Anglo-Saxon "Beowulf" poem and called it "one of the foundation works of poetry in English." You would have to possess quite an imagination to get that from seeing this film. Thank God for Angelina Jolie.
tenia potencial para ser algo bueno... pero la caaaagan con la animación, le quita TODA la seriedad, la hace plana y parece broma a veces. tenía buenas cosas que podrían haber explotado mucho mas pero Robert Zemeckis insiste en usar su animación perturbadora... quedó bien con el expreso polar pero don't push it. bastante irrelevante e intrascendental
It was interesting and worth watching, however the story did not sweep me away. I believe there was a moral to the tale about living life for the greater good and love of others rather then living your life for fame or fortune. The graphics at times were so realistic and then at other times looked my son's XBOX games. Not my favorite CG movie but ok none the less
this movie wasactually good, al lthe character was in CGI the 1st actual movie based on CGI wit real human look alike. at least u get to see angelina naked
A very brilliantly executed animated movie. Very original and has u at the edge of ur seat from start to finish. It was comical yet action packed. There was even the underlining tones of romance along with the much appreciated fantasy. It leaves u wanting more. Extremely Captivating !!
it was...nice. the graphic was only as good as they claimed in terms of some of the shots w/ the characters but other than that it still looked like nuthun more than a computer catoon from like, a mixter of the computer ppl in polar express & shrek. it did kinda nice in bing rather gory. the action was just so-so in my opinion but yeah, it was nice.
Ray Winstone is the main star of the film, playing as not just Beowulf, but The Golden Man and The Dragon, now thats talented. Because the film is CGI 3D, Ray isnt portrayed physically, but I really believe his acting talents stuck out in this one. As more then just an action film, I thought it had a pretty decent character plot to it, in which it explores the past of Beowulf throughout the unfolding events. Anthony Hopkins was portrayed pretty nicely here, and his performance is great, as it always is. The beautiful Angeline Jolie shows a little skin here and there throughout the movie, but I had no problem. Her performance is in no need of any tuning, as it was just fine for me. The film though, is probably a little to mature for younger children, even though the film is animated, it sports its fair amounts of scares, nudity and violence.
Not much to say about this movie. it was a terrible way to describe the tale of Beowulf. not nearly enough explained or progressed. Despite his best efforts, Zemeckis just didn't bring enough variety in this. it was so stiff and there was hardly any ...(read more)movement. some of the dialouge and action sequences did intregued me, but not enough to actually enjoy this movie. I just found it amazing how so little happened in 2 hours.
A well rendered computer generated fantasy inspired by the epic anglo-saxon poem Beowulf, from which it derives its title. The voice acting is generally very good but Robin Wright Penn's portrayal of a jaded, world-weary queen did not translate well to her computer generated character on screen. Overall, a very enjoyable movie that is worth watching.
I just didn't find it as good as I was hoping it to be but this is pretty much a milestone in 3D film making nonetheless. Too bad I didn't get to experience the full deal. It would definitely be a better experience than watching it on a normal screen.
In other news, Grendel is one shitty looking monster and the high pitched shrieks annoyed the crap outta me. Seriously. I hope I wasn't the only one who felt the same.
Also I find it quite funny that this managed a pg13 mpaa rating. Not that I have any problem with it.
Decent storyline... the CG was off the charts... there was times that I thought it was the real actor/actress! ppl say it looks like a story clip from the xbox 360.. but u no what? IT'Z THE FUTURE OF ANIMATION! get used to it... cause it'z only going to get better as time passes!
Liked the movie. Not the best storyline but I saw it in 3D so it looked great. Angelina Jolie and Ray Winstone looked great in their roles. The movie is mostly eye candy.
my only problem with this movie.
It was too short. It was a real fun flick to check out (and i wish'd i had seen it with the 3d Imax stuff... i KNOW that would have been worth it)
ok so i saw this in imax 3D i dont think it would have been as good in regular theatre but i dont think it was all that good this way but well worth a watch because the story is classic and you get to see an almost naked "animated" angelina
I seriously thougt this movie would suck. I wasn't impresed by the trailers but I'm glad I saw this movie. Its an incredible experience and the animation its incredible. Very entertaining film.
Okay, where do I even start with this? At the very start of watching it I was thinking why do they want to make 4d animation to look so close to real humans? Although the graphics were good, knowing who they really got the faces from somewhat ruined the movie for me. I kept waiting for that moment where id just be sucked in to its "animation magic" like how I felt with the Final Fantasy movies but I ended up liking the non-human 4ds better. Their version of the story was okish and the voiceover casting was good, but I wish I couldve seen them act instead.
I do agree with what most people have said that it looked like an experiment movie.
Malcovich. I wonder if he can play other roles aside from the ones hes done. Its like when he throws a line its always got the same tune, same frequency, same kind of mood as his other movies. I honestly thought he just did this so he could say hes done a 4d animation film. 0_o?
Although "Beowulf" might seem like an effort to cash in on the ancient epic craze left in the wake of "300", this film sets itself apart from its predecessor enough to make it worth seeing. Beowulf takes the same outrageous tone as 300 and uses it to good effect retelling the classic Old English saga, complete with dismemberment and smashing of heads. The source material has been improved with a scrrenplay co-written by none other than Neil Gaiman, and is accessable to any moviegoer.
The animation style used to make "Beowulf" is somewhat puzzling to the viewer however. Most of the time, the quality of the images on screen is so high that one would swear that they were looking at live-action footage. There are moments, however, when one can clearly tell that they are looking at animation. The process is not perfect, but the strange switches are somewhat frustrating.
This is an exciting, action filled adaptation of classic literature that is fun to watch. There are some strange flaws here, but fans of films like "300" will not mind.
Horrible movie, it wasn't even in the same ballpark as the actual story. It isn't even real actors, all of the movie is animated. Don't waste your time, at the end of the movie you'll just wonder 'why?'
Not exactly the greatest, but it wasn't terrible, either. It has fantastic animation, a very moving soundtrack . . . but the story wasn't all that great. I love the poem (at least, the section that I read in English) but the movie took its own direction and moved slightly away from the poem . . . which I guess is OK, but it didn't make for a GREAT movie. Its decent.
Started great, but once Beowulf confronts Grendel's mother, the plot seems to disolve and the movie just drags on. In the end you find that Beowulf was nothing great and all kings are seducted by Grendel's mother and suffer the consequences.
MCT:June 11, 2008
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