Beowulf [2007]

Shikyo's Ratings: 3.5 outta 5 PoPcOrNz!

Scores on plot
        -- story kept very close to the original poem
Deductions on "acting"
        -- characters were like souless puppets on strings


I remember reading the story of Beowulf & Grendel waaay back in elementary school, but the version I read only covered Beowulf's first and third battle -- the Battle with Grendel and the Dragon. Wherein Beowulf is known for slaying monsters like Grendel and later, when some idiot steals a golden cup from a Dragon, Beowulf is called in to save the day again. I guess the kid's dumbed-down version has a way of boiling down to the part where important lessons need to be learnt: (1) Be afraid of monsters that only come out at night, and (2) thou shalt not steal ...from fire-breathing monsters.


Having read Wiki's summarized version of the really long Ole English poem, I now fully appreciate all the effort the screenwriters (Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary) put into stitching up all three battles plus the 50 year gap into a plausible story... with the addition of a juicy untold secret =)


And as with all monster-killing movies, you can expect a main course of gore, blood, screaming and madness. You'll find it all in Beowulf, along with a sizeable helping of nudity.

* S * P * O * I * L * E * R * S *

Here's where you stop reading
if you haven't seen the film,
and you intend to do so

* A * H * E * A * D *

Plot: Loved it =)
It's a story about men's weakness for beauty and power, what's not to love? The plot came full circle with no questions left answered. Another thing I really liked were the references and hints to greater things. For example, Queen Wealtheow sings a song about Rose Red (which I believe is a reference to Snow White and Rose Red -- a really old german fairy tale). The film also shows the arrival of christian missionaries which raises a bit of a tension between pagan beliefs versus new "christ-god" beliefs. If I remember right, at one point a character suggested that they start praying to the new god, and the king dully states that new gods would not save them from old curses. Beowulf also has a line in which he states that the "christ-god" had killed the Heroes of the world and left them with "weeping martyrs."


Protrayal of Women: Loved it =)
In the beginning it seemed like Queen Wealtheow was the king's subservient wife but where she draws her boundaries, she admirably sticks to them. She's silent and wise, and knows how to look out for herself. Of course there's Grendel's mother -- that immortal water-witch who finds sport in toying with the emotions of men... how evil is that! >=) I know she's shown nude like ALL the time but eh, that's who she is.





Grendel's speech: Wtf huh? O_o
I couldn't understand half of the gibberish that came out of Grendel's mouth and what's worse, I couldn't read half of the chinese subtitles either ~_~" So if you watch this film, you NEED to brush up on some o' Ye Ole English tongue or make sure you can read chinese subtitles. For example, when Grendel addresses his mother, I picked it up as "Mordru" thinking it was her name... he was actually saying "modor" which is "mother" in Ye Ole English tongue.


Beowulf battles Grendel: Didn't like it...
It turned out more into a sequence of how creatively Beowulf can block a direct viewing of his manhood from the audience. And an hour later Grendel's mother is shown in full nudity as the camera pans from her stilettoed-feet to her head without attempting to cover anything... except with some use of gold liquid which didn't leave much to the imagination. So Beowulf's nudity was just a failed attempt at humor...


Mo-cap technology: Hated it...
Motion capture may sound cool and all, but I think this movie would've been better in live action. If the 3D characters had been actors, they would've been considered very, very bad actors. There are some scenes where you can tell the eyeballs weren't tracking right -- they wander as if dazed and confused. And there are some scenes where the character's movements are so fake, and some where their body language doesn't correspond with the speech they're delivering.


All in all, if you can forgive the phony acting of 3D characters, you should definately catch this movie. A must see in theatre for surround sound and reverberation effects xD