Beowulf is the oldest known piece of English literature. And even though the story has been made into a movie many times, (Beowulf, Beowulf and Grendel, Grendel Grendel Grendel, The13th Warrior, and others.) and may be as familiar as Snow White to many it somehow doesn't seem possible to discuss this movie without giving spoilers.
Every version I've ever seen has tried to embellish the story, usually disastrously. Zemeckis' version too takes artistic license with the story. There is one key difference. The additions only serve to seal gaps in the story and give us single narrative. Something the original poem doesn't do. I haven't decided whether they went to far or whether it works. I will say this, that this version changes it the least and that's with Angelina Jolie as Grendel's Mother.
Visually, the film is far less powerful than I would expect. There is no reason for this to be animated. Actors are safe for a few more years. The biggest problem is the eyes. They tend to look lifeless making the digital performances lacking. I found the monster Grendel to be extremely unbelievable, something that couldn't possibly be alive.
They milk everything they can from a PG-13 rating, it's shameful. It's looks nice in IMAX 3D. Three toes up. That may change on a repeat viewing.
Every version I've ever seen has tried to embellish the story, usually disastrously. Zemeckis' version too takes artistic license with the story. There is one key difference. The additions only serve to seal gaps in the story and give us single narrative. Something the original poem doesn't do. I haven't decided whether they went to far or whether it works. I will say this, that this version changes it the least and that's with Angelina Jolie as Grendel's Mother.
Visually, the film is far less powerful than I would expect. There is no reason for this to be animated. Actors are safe for a few more years. The biggest problem is the eyes. They tend to look lifeless making the digital performances lacking. I found the monster Grendel to be extremely unbelievable, something that couldn't possibly be alive.
They milk everything they can from a PG-13 rating, it's shameful. It's looks nice in IMAX 3D. Three toes up. That may change on a repeat viewing.
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Los Angeles
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Re: Beowulf
Wed, November 21, 2007 - 8:06 PM(xPost from movie whores)
The whole thing would have been great had they used real actors. The digitized automatons were distracting except during wide shots and battle scenes. Obviously they did stunts that they could never do with real people. And if you're going to see it at all, see it in IMAX 3D, which looks amazing. The 3D rendered universe is the best thing about it. Whenever in close up or conversing (which is often), it's like a prelude to a video game. There are some truly great parts and some really bad ones too.
As for the story (SPOILER)... can someone explain what was so bad about the curse?
The whole thing was that Beowulf got the king's curse, but if you ask me, it seemed pretty good. You get to sleep with Angelina Jolie and then Robin Wright Penn (among countless other women its implied), grow old as the king and become rich doing it. One day your son might come back in the form of a giant dragon (side note: why was the king's son (Grendle) a hideous monster and Beowulf's son a beautiful dragon?) and try to kill you where you die in battle. Oh and it seemed Beowulf was less of an ass hole after he got the curse, but I guess sleeping with Angelina will do that to a guy. -
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Re: Beowulf
Mon, November 26, 2007 - 10:29 AMI liked how they linked the eras - very comic-bookish animation/storyline. Saw it in 3d IMAX. Though impressive, action scenes were hard to follow - heard that from others, too. The PC game is fun; has Winstone and Hopkins' voices. The button mashing gets old quick, though. -
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Re: Beowulf
Mon, January 28, 2008 - 11:18 AMI thought everything was fine up until they gave the mother creature high heels...WTF? -
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Re: Beowulf
Thu, January 31, 2008 - 7:18 PMI don't think I'm ever gonna watch 3D again. That shit was blurry and made my head hurt. IMAX is still fun though.
As for the movie itself, well there was way too much cheese but it was a lot of fun anyway. The animation was great. Story-wise, I kinda agree with Starfox. What's wrong with a curse that makes you King and gets you lots of pussy? We're sending the young boys of America a mixed msg there. -
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Re: Beowulf
Fri, February 1, 2008 - 1:34 AMYou saw it in IMAX 3D and thought it was blurry? You put the glasses on, right? -
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Re: Beowulf
Fri, February 1, 2008 - 9:24 AMNo, I understand that. Is aw it in IMAX 3D and it took a while to adjust. It was blurry at first. -
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Re: Beowulf
Fri, February 1, 2008 - 1:50 PMI have never had a badly focused or too dark a picture to make out what's happening on the screen experience in IMAX or IMAX 3D as some people here have complained about on this film and others. Are theaters having snack bar staff queue up the film between filling popcorn buckets that the film isn't set up correctly? AT $15+ a ticket, I'd be complaining immediately to get it fixed. In 3D I find it's best to sit center and in IMAX towards the back of the theater and keep my head centered and level.
The only thing that bugs me technically about films like Beowulf is that since it is completely generated on a computer, the 3D version could have made by the original studio at the same time. It's fairly trivial except for potentially double the cost of rendering time. Instead they farm out the 2D print of the film to some people that go through it and manually make a 3D version from it. Highlighting areas and then forcing them to foreground or background, etc. Seems like not just a waste but a totally lame and unnecessary way to do it.
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