Beowulf (2007)

Director:

Robert Zemeckis

Writers (WGA):

Neil Gaiman (screenplay) &
Roger Avary (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

16 November 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

Tagline:

Pride is the curse.

Plot:

The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel who is terrorizing towns, and later, Grendel's mother, who begins killing out of revenge.

Plot Keywords:

Bravery | Loincloth | Redemption | Breasts | Naked Man

Awards:

11 nominations

Cast

Robin Wright Penn	...	Wealthow (as Robin Wright-Penn)
Anthony Hopkins	...	Hrothgar
Paul Baker	...	Musician #1
John Bilezikjian	...	Musician #2
Rod D. Harbour	...	Musician #3
Brice Martin	...	Musician #4 (as Brice H. Martin)
Sonje Fortag	...	Gitte
Sharisse Baker-Bernard	...	Hild
Charlotte Salt	...	Estrith
Julene Renee	...	Cille
Greg Ellis	...	Garmund
Rik Young	...	Eofor
Sebastian Roché	...	Wulfgar (as Sebastian Roche)
Leslie Zemeckis	...	Yrsa
John Malkovich	...	Unferth

Also Known As:

Beowulf: An IMAX 3D Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
Beowulf: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence including disturbing images, some sexual material and nudity.

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Old English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Sonics-DDP (IMAX version) | SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:12A | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Singapore:NC-16 | Brazil:14 | Sweden:15 | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43938) | South Korea:15 | UK:12A | Malaysia:U | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Finland:K-13 | New Zealand:M (re-rating) | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-15 (director's cut) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | France:Unrated (with warning) | Taiwan:R-12 | New Zealand:R16 (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

ImageMovers

Trivia:

In some areas, Release prints were delivered to theaters with the fake 'Sally'.

Quotes:

[first lines]
King Hrothgar: I want mead! Give me some mead, my queen!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Seth Rogen/Spoon (#33.2)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Gently As She Goes

Beautiful but Flawed

Visually this film is stunning. More than once I had to remind myself that what I was looking at was not real actors caught on film but a CGI interpretation. It's difficult to purvey this feeling as either a negative or a positive one: on the one hand I cannot see the point in producing CGI if what the filmmaker's goal is realism of reality. CGI in film is of course appropriate when trying to achieve fantastical creatures and set pieces (which are of course inherently unrealistic) but in Beowulf each actor's face, verbal, and non-verbal performance are recreated in CGI verbatim. This I cannot fathom – why recreate what is already there, in the flesh and far more believable? On the other hand there is a sense of true wonder when in a handful of scenes you are genuinely fooled into thinking that what you are looking at is not CGI, but live action film. You are left with no choice but to marvel at the technical and artistic achievements. However, the illusion is inevitably shattered when you begin to pick up on some of the unrealistic lighting, dodgy physics and for some reason: gesticulation (wooden puppets spring to mind). It's really hard to understand what was being attempted with this film: genuine realism (then why recreate the actors in CGI?), complete fantasy immersion (then why are some scenes so tangible?), or (as I suspect) purely an exercise in what is possible with modern CGI.

The pace of the story itself is about right with a good balance of character development and plot enhancement. Anthony Hopkins puts in a decent performance as Hrothgar and John Malkovich as Unferth is suitably sinister. Ray Winstone is, well, Ray (WYSIWYG) Winstone. Angelina Jolie makes a brief and scantily-clad appearance as Grendel's Mother although at times I found it very difficult understanding the dialogue between Grendel (Crispin Glover) and Grendel's Mother due to some very obscure accents. It's difficult to discredit the physical acting because although it is clear that the original actors did perform physically I suspect that much was lost in the CGI transformation.

Unfortunately this movie's biggest flaw is the story itself. I appreciate that when interpreting the written media to film some degree of poetic licence is required, but why do so many filmmakers blatantly disregard original source material unnecessarily? Beowulf does present the key protagonists, and the first half of the film is fairly accurate but the second half is wildly aloof in its interpretation of the original text.

That said, overall the film is beautiful and should be applauded for what has been achieved but for the time being you are left feeling that this technique of story telling should be confined to games. Incidentally, I felt the same about The Polar Express, although that film was aimed at a far less mature audience…or was it?