English majors might want to beware that the epic Old English poem has been brought up to date by filmmaker Robert Zemeckis. If you think the original poem to be akin to the bible then you’ll probably despise this film. If you think that the tale is just moving to another medium and for another generation then you may like it.
King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins), his queen Wealtheow (Robin Wright Penn), and his company are celebrating the opening of the king’s new mead hall called Heorot. The noise and merrymaking irritates the gruesome monster Grendel (Crispin Glover) who arrives at the hall and slaughters all within save Hrothgar, Wealtheow, and the king’s advisor Unferth (John Malkovich).
The new hall is closed and the reward of half the gold in the kingdom is offered to whoever will slay Grendel. Beowulf (Ray Winstone) journeys across the ocean with his men to slay the monster and collect the reward, but finds that he would rather have Hrothgar’s queen than the gold.
Beowulf and his men stay the night at the hall, but Wiglaf (Brendan Gleeson), Beowulf’s second in command, doesn’t think that this is such a good idea. Beowulf instructs his men to sing loudly as to attract the beast and strips naked to make it a fair fight.
Grendel does arrive and a great battle ensues in which Beowulf mortally wounds the beast. Grendel limps back to his hiding place and dies in his mother’s (Angelina Jolie, with built in stiletto heels no less!) arms and she swears revenge against the man that murdered her son.
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem that has been around since the 8th or 11th century. The only surviving manuscript dates back to 1010. The author is unknown so Robert Zemeckis need not worry about paying anyone royalties, not that copyright didn’t expire several hundred years before. The tale was passed down from storyteller to storyteller until the manuscript of 1010.
One can imagine that each of them added their own spin as they told the tale and this is no different that what Zemeckis does when he and screenwriters Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman do with this retelling. Now if you think that the epic poem should be somewhere up there with the bible then you’ll no doubt hate what Zemeckis and company have done. Each generation did with the tale as they pleased so I’m not too offended that this version has been done.
However, you do have to say that it’s like Beowulf the videogame since Zemeckis uses the motion-capture system that he made the Polar Express with. The technique has improved, but the characters still have a strange look about the eyes. It’s also somewhat strange to see the actors’ faces covered with dots and in their black jumpsuits, but that’s in the special features.
There are some moments that border on the comic, such as when the nudity of Beowulf is obscured by various objects during the big battle and Jolie’s stiletto heels. I thought the film started off strong (well aside from those comic bits), had a somewhat tired middle, and then had a rousing, exciting finish as Beowulf challenged a dragon.
All in all it’s something that you might want to show to your buds around the glow of the television since sitting around the pyre in the mead hall is so out of fashion these days.
This version is the unrated, director’s cut of the film but those hoping for more nudity (either from the virtual Winstone or Jolie) will be disappointed as it’s more blood as far as I could tell.
Beowulf is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include the 23 minute “A Hero’s Journey” which is a making of and you’ll get to see the actor’s all gussied up in their black tights on the motion-capture stage.
The 7-minute “Beasts of Burden” is about the design of Grendel, his mother, the dragon, and the sea monster. The 5-minute “Origins of Beowulf” is about the poem. The 2-minute “Creating the Ultimate Beowulf” is about the design of the character in the CGI realm. It allows someone “a bit on the plump side” as Winstone says to portray the epic hero.
Next are 10 minutes of deleted scenes but they’re not completed and are just the animatics for the cut scenes. Finally there’s’ the 2 minute theatrical trailer and trailers for other Paramount DVDs.
Depending on your tolerance for the updating of the classic poem I imagine will flavor your appreciation for what Zemeckis has done. I found the dragon finale well worth the price of admission, but wish that some of the slower middle bits might’ve been sped up a bit. I can’t really give it a 3.8 so I’m rounding up to four.
Beowulf (Unrated Director's Cut) is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a March 17th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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