Beowulf Review
Summary: The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel, who is terrorizing Denmark, then Grendel’s Mother, who begins killing out of revenge.
- Starring: Ray Winstone, Crispin Glover, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, John Malkovich
- Director: Robert Zemeckis
- Writers: Neil Gaiman, Roger Avary
- Rating: PG-13
- Runtime: 1h 55m
- 3D Type: Native
Story:
Beowolf was directed by Robert Zemeckis who also directed the huge hit The Polar Express (2004).
This film version is a very interesting take on the original poem which is considered to be one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature.
Beowulf (Ray Winstone), a renowned mighty warrior must defeat the foul monster Grendel who has been terrorising King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins). Grendel is a disgusting tall, skinny monster with organs on the outside and pus from boils dripping from his face. Funnily, he has a strange whiny high-pitch human-like voice. Grendel’s mother (Angelina Jolie) is a shapeshifter and in the human form leads Beowulf to temptation, who falls to her curse.
I found the story to be enjoyable but a little bit basic. It is quite fast-paced spanning the life of Beowulf as he grows old and reigns as king. Though, some scenes drag, such as the mead hall feasts and celebrations. This causes the pace to be a bit uneven. No spoilers but the ending also doesn’t bring a great sense of closure. It is more of a show of the technology and CGI effects, rather than an amazing story.
Picture:
The CGI animation style used looks like a AAA (triple-A) video game to me, it is impressive. The motion capture of the movement and speech on some of the CGI characters look amazing though better on some than others. For example, Angelina Jolie looks almost photo-realistic, in the way she talks and moves. Beowulf has some great facial expressions too, even his facial hair looks top-notch.
Sound:
Alan Silvestri is responsible for Beowulf‘s score. I found the sound mix to be decent but is nothing to rave about. The music is decent and the film has a nice soundstage throughout. Some sound effects are annoying and plain weird, especially Grendel who has a high-pitched screech human-like voice, that is a bit deafening. Not very monster-like at all. But that is apparently due to his hyper-sensitive hearing.
3D
The native animated 3D looks great and it is a showcase of the 3D effects and technology of the time. Angelina Jolie looks smoking hot as always and is shown fully nude in animated form. I’m not sure how this film manages a PG-13 rating, as the nudity along with the gore and dismemberments are for mature eyes.
Pop:
Quite a fair bit of pop-out effects here that will keep you on the edge of your seat. For example, there is a horseback soldier’s long spear protruding right out of the screen. Beowulf’s sword pops out. Snowflakes fall down toward you. The soldier’s spears fly out of the screen as they are hurdled at the dragon. Followed by rocks falling down towards you as the dragon causes damage.
Depth:
From crowded mead halls with people feasting on food to the stunning visuals in the Grendel action scenes with flashing lights and objects flying everywhere, there’s a lot of depth and layers which all look very nice. All of the angles used throughout the film were chosen to showcase the 3D.
It must be said that a lot of scenes with flat 2D backgrounds exist, where only a few moving characters or objects show depth. It is not too noticeable though, as those 3D objects are nicely done and take all of your attention.
Verdict:
Beowulf is a fun action-adventure film that I found to be a weird but enjoyable movie and definitely worth watching. Be advised, the rating suggests it is suitable for a young audience, this is not the case. The 3D technology is a bit outdated compared to recent movies today, however, it’s a showcase of its time. So do yourself a favour, this one needs to be seen in 3D, not 2D – it’s an interesting take on the old English poem.
Category | Scores |
---|---|
Story: | ★★★★ |
Picture: | ★★★★★ |
Sound: | ★★★ |
Pop: | ★★★★ |
Depth: | ★★★★ |
TOTAL SCORE: | 20/25 |