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5 Responses to “Beowulf [HD DVD] [2007] [US Import]”

1. 

   Paul Tapner says:

   October 25th, 2010 at 2:21 am

   Review by Paul Tapner for Beowulf [HD DVD] [2007] [US Import]
   Rating:
   A fantasy movie based on the old epic story of beowulf, which was pretty much the first thing to be written down in the english language. This is a new take on the story – about a warrior who battles a monster called grendel – and is quite an interesting updating, although purists probably won’t be that pleased.

   In the first half of the film beowulf battles grendel, then grendel’s seductive mother. as a result of this his actions come back to haunt him years later, when he’s an old king longing for his glory days. the second section of the film is mildly stronger as it’s a nice meditation on growing old and harking back to things that used to be. As a fantasy movie it’s very good rather than great and rates 7.5/10.

   the big selling point of the movie is that it’s done with computer animation and stop motion capture. thus real actors played the characters and the computer versions you see on screen were animated based on their performances. the effects are interesting, as they look almost but not quite lifelike. the human figures are very good, the monsters superb, but a lot of long shots and horse riding and the like look more like cheap model work.

   Still it’s an interesting experiment and worth a look for that.

   This is a DIRECTORS CUT but apart from a few scenes that are slightly longer and bloodier than in the cinema version I could see no difference.

   The second disc comes with the following extras:

   a twenty five minute long making of documentary. fascinating to watch, when you see what the actors went through for the stop motion process, wearing jumpsuits and markers on their face and in minimal sets. Oddly, angelina jolie is conspicuous by her absence from this and all the other features.

   There are ten short films about life on the set and what went on there, all running roughly two minutes. these are interesting for the same reasons as the main making of

   A short feature about the origin of the story of beowulf. interesting history, but a feature that could do with being a bit longer

   two six minutes features on the design of the film and of the monsters. these are short but interesting.

   and a two minute feature on the main character and the casting of the part. interesting but brief.

   there are subtitles and language tracks in pretty much every language out there.

   Quite a good film, and a very good package for it
2. 

   Keith Joseph says:

   October 25th, 2010 at 2:21 am

   Review by Keith Joseph for Beowulf [HD DVD] [2007] [US Import]
   Rating:
   Being a Noggin the Nog fan at 6, I naturally warmed to the Beowulf saga as a teen. Plus I enjoyed John Gardner’s ‘Grendel’ novel as a student, where the Beowulf story is retold from Grendel’s perspective: “His mother is totally incommunicative. In fact, his only real friends are the Danes he kills. Still, he knows he is dependent on Hrothgar’s survival. If I murdered the last of the Scyldings, he muses, what would I live for?”.

   When I found out the writer of the book ‘Stardust’ was helping to produce two movies, ‘Stardust’ and ‘Beowulf’, I knew I had to see them at the cinema. I took my son (11) to see both (‘Stardust’ was great). However, although my son enjoyed the film (well the two main action bits anyway), I did feel Beowulf was rather violent for just a 12 rating – this is one of the few films where I was actually shocked at one point. Beowulf fights Grendel without any clothes to prevent his armour hindering him, and there are articles placed about the mead hall that conveniently hide any obviously male bits from the viewer – and this overt coyness irritatingly distracts you from the horror that’s unfolding – i.e. Grendel’s attack (after that Beowulf faces Grendel’s mother in a loin cloth). When Grendel breaks in to the banqueting hall, looking frankly a bit too decayingly revolting, he proceeds to bite off the heads of the hapless Dane warriors and spray them up the wall (but that apparently isn’t as disturbing as a PC generated male figure in the buff – although even the Crazy Frog was anatomically correct on kids TV, and Bart Simpson for that matter). Granted my son didn’t seem perturbed by the graphic violence, but a 12 rating can bring in kids of any age with their dads. It doesn’t look quite so shocking on the small screen via DVD, but be warned if your young preteen sons want to watch this movie (I found this aspect slightly worse than similarly 12 rated King Kong, also a great movie otherwise). However for a 9+ audience all should be fine, and on the big screen this film is probably less disturbing for little ones than PG rated Jurassic Park.

   Otherwise I loved the movie (other than wishing Grendel had inherited his mothers, fathers and step-brothers good looks). The change to the story and Grendel’s family tree/mothers fate was fine (it made Beowulf more vulnerable and so an even greater hero in overcoming his shame to defeat the avenging fire dragon). The mix of accents didn’t worry me (who wants a Danish `allo allo’, and Beowulf and Hrothgar are from very different settlements anyway, being born in Sweden and Denmark respectively). The PC animation was pretty good if a little stilted occasionally, and I could certainly see the attraction of Grendel’s mother (killing her looked a heck of a lot harder). Plus Anthony Hopkins [Hrothgar], Brendan Gleeson [Wiglaf], Angelina Jolie [Grendel's mum] and John Malkavich [Unferth] provide superb support for Ray Winstone’s Beowulf. Perhaps I would have preferred a live action `Conan the Barbarian’ style version, as much of the fighting and monsters would have been the same CGI anyway, but I was impressed with Beowulf the great Nordic warrior, he cut a believable tough heroic figure and the film evoked well the tragedy of his plight as he goes from hero to zero, and back again. Besides, any Beowulf is better than nothing and this was a good stab at the story. The original poem is a long slog anyway, but worth scanning through – you can find it on the web for free. Also try Gardner’s Grendel, and Seamus Heaneys poetical interpretation `Beowulf’ (it’s more than a translation and has the original alongside to compare). The original Beowulf isn’t impossible to read, and rather like Mallory’s Morte d’Arthur it puts you closer to those of the era if you read it as written down.

   I didn’t actually notice much had changed in the director’s cut other than the fight scenes are noticeably more gory than the movie release, but this doesn’t actually detract from the film at all and does add a bit more gritty realism – after all Grendel and his mum are the stuff of nightmares. However those watching with their sons might opt for the standard release. As usual I haven’t watched the extras yet, other than the `making off’ which was interesting, showing how the live actors helped the CGI movements – and it made you wish the actors were in the film when you see every nuance of their real facial expressions. But otherwise a pretty good movie.
3. 

   Keith Joseph says:

   October 25th, 2010 at 2:33 am

   Review by Keith Joseph for Beowulf [HD DVD] [2007] [US Import]
   Rating:
   Being a Noggin the Nog fan at 6, I naturally warmed to the Beowulf saga as a teen. Plus I enjoyed John Gardner’s ‘Grendel’ novel as a student, where the Beowulf story is retold from Grendel’s perspective: “His mother is totally incommunicative. In fact, his only real friends are the Danes he kills. Still, he knows he is dependent on Hrothgar’s survival. If I murdered the last of the Scyldings, he muses, what would I live for?”.

   When I found out the writer of the book ‘Stardust’ was helping to produce two movies, ‘Stardust’ and ‘Beowulf’, I knew I had to see them at the cinema. I took my son (11) to see both (‘Stardust’ was great). However, although my son enjoyed the film (well the two main action bits anyway), I did feel Beowulf was rather violent for just a 12 rating – this is one of the few films where I was actually shocked at one point. Beowulf fights Grendel without any clothes to prevent his armour hindering him, and there are articles placed about the mead hall that conveniently hide any obviously male bits from the viewer – and this overt coyness irritatingly distracts you from the horror that’s unfolding – i.e. Grendel’s attack (after that Beowulf faces Grendel’s mother in a loin cloth – not that he needed it then). When Grendel breaks in to the banqueting hall, looking frankly a bit too decayingly revolting, he proceeds to bite off the heads of the hapless Dane warriors and spray them up the wall (but that apparently isn’t as disturbing as a PC generated male figure in the buff – although even the Crazy Frog was anatomically correct on kids TV, and Bart Simpson for that matter). Granted my son didn’t seem perturbed by the graphic violence, but a 12 rating can bring in kids of any age with their dads. It doesn’t look quite so shocking on the small screen via DVD, but be warned if your young preteen sons want to watch this movie (I found this aspect slightly worse than similarly 12 rated King Kong, also a great movie otherwise). However for a 9+ audience all should be fine, and on the big screen this film is probably less disturbing for little ones than PG rated Jurassic Park.

   Otherwise I loved the movie (other than wishing Grendel had inherited his mothers, fathers and step-brothers good looks). The change to the story and Grendel’s family tree/mothers fate was fine (it made Beowulf more vulnerable and so an even greater hero in overcoming his shame to defeat the avenging fire dragon). The mix of accents didn’t worry me (who wants a Danish `allo allo’, and Beowulf and Hrothgar are from very different settlements anyway, being born in Sweden and Denmark respectively). Plus Anthony Hopkins [Hrothgar], Brendan Gleeson [Wiglaf], Angelina Jolie [Grendel's mum] and John Malkavich [Unferth] provide superb support for Ray Winstone’s Beowulf. The PC animation was pretty good if a little stilted occasionally, and I could certainly see the attraction of Grendel’s mother (killing her looked a heck of lot harder). Perhaps I would have preferred a live action `Conan the Barbarian’ style version, as much of the fighting and monsters would have been the same CGI anyway, but I was impressed with Beowulf the great Nordic warrior, he cut a believable tough heroic figure and the film evoked well the tragedy of his plight as he goes from hero to zero, and back again. Besides, any Beowulf is better than nothing and this was a good stab at the story. The original poem is a long slog anyway, but worth scanning through – you can find it on the web for free. Also try Gardner’s Grendel, and Seamus Heaneys poetical interpretation `Beowulf’ (it’s more than a translation and has the original alongside to compare). The original Beowulf isn’t impossible to read, and rather like Mallory’s Morte d’Arthur it puts you closer to those of the era if you read it as written down.

   I didn’t actually notice much had changed in the director’s cut other than the fight scenes are noticeably more gory than the movie release, but this doesn’t actually detract from the film at all and does add a bit more gritty realism – after all Grendel and his mum are the stuff of nightmares. However those watching with their sons might opt for the standard release. As usual I haven’t watched the extras yet, other than the `making off’ which was interesting, showing how the live actors helped the CGI movements – and it made you wish the actors were in the film when you see every nuance of their real facial expressions. But otherwise a pretty good movie.
4. 

   O. Buxton says:

   October 25th, 2010 at 2:58 am

   Review by O. Buxton for Beowulf [HD DVD] [2007] [US Import]
   Rating:
   When I was but a callow freshman my mother, an archetypal Danish monster*, meaning well, made me sign up for a Mediaeval English Literature class. At the time this aggrieved me, but despite myself I enjoyed it immensely, and especially the really old bits – derived from Icelandic and Old High German, prominent among them Snorri Sturluson’s sagas in which people ritually burn each other and the anonymous Danish legend Beowulf. It’s a great story, even in its original old English (which considerably pre-Chaucer, so tough if you have trouble navigating the vowel shift), and – being the archetypal “confronting the Monster” story – ideal fodder, you would think, for a cinematic treatment.

   And in recent times, it has had more than its fair share. Derek Jacobi and Ralph Fiennes have narrated a 30 minute animated version; Gerard Butler and a bunch of Canadians endured gales and abysmal weather in Iceland to make an earnest and frugal but, in truth, not especially imaginative version in 2005. And there’s this one.

   Well, you certainly couldn’t mark this one down for not being imaginative. First the positives: the cast, as announced, is astounding, numbering amongst them Anthony Hopkins (Hrothgar), Ray Winstone (Beowulf), John Malkovich (some other guy) and Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s Mother. Yes: you read that right: Brad Pitt’s wife (as she then was) plays one of the most famous monsters in the history of literature. Short of a Charlize Theron turn as an Eileen Wurnos type character, that has to be one of the most extraordinary pieces of miscasting since they put Keanu Reeves in Much Ado About Nothing.

   Unless, of course, the film-makers have been so imaginative that they’ve completely re-imagined the part of Grendel’s mother. I hope it won’t be considered poor sport of me to let on that they have.

   And the script is witty and the screenplay and staging – while frequently indulging in 3D effects for the hell of it, as 3D movies tend to do – is impressive. Grendel (junior) is well rendered and achieves surprising empathy for an entirely digital performance. I think he also speaks in Old High German, and is portrayed not as merriment-resenting curmudgeon (as in the original) but as having a very nasty ear infection!

   Now the negatives. Beowulf is designed as an onscreen rendering of a graphic novel (in old fashioned lingo, a comic), so do not come to this expecting a faithful or reverent iteration of the film. The plot has been significantly revised, although for the most part thoughtfully and cleverly, albeit conducted at breakneck speed, and with lashings of gore. Then again, it would be difficult to depict as much dismembering the story requires (even in its original state) without a fair bit of splatter.

   But the biggest thing to note is that (being produced by the Polar Express team) Beowulf is entirely digital – not just acted in front of blue screens, but fully animated, like Shrek; the actors have been completely re-rendered. In some cases this works well (Hrothgar): I dare say portly cockney geezer Ray Winstone was absolutely chuffed to be presented as a 6 foot 5 inches of rippling Geatish hunk; but the remainder of the characters do have an unfortunate Shrek-ish sort of bearing and their movements aren’t especially convincing (particularly the horses, which all look rather stumpy and ponyish). Ultimately I found this immensely distracting to the point where it spoiled what otherwise would have been a tremendous film.

   There’s a place for the technical wizardry, as Peter Jackson has ably demonstrated; but when it becomes the principal point of the film something is bound to have been lost.

   Olly Buxton

   *Joking about my mum being a Danish monster. She’s a Kiwi, and she’s the best.
5. 

   Exasperated... says:

   October 25th, 2010 at 3:08 am

   Review by Exasperated… for Beowulf [HD DVD] [2007] [US Import]
   Rating:
   Despite some departures from the Beowulf story that I wonder at the necessity of, this film really does capture the spirit of the age and the feel of Old English heroic literature. The performances are sterling and having Grendel speak in Old English is inspired. Personally I would have given this film a 15 rating since it IS very gory and also has some scary moments, particularly if the volume is up high on a surround sound speaker system. For the most part the graphics are photo-realistic and the film is well directed and very well paced: at no point did I find my attention wandering off. The special features aren’t particularly inspiring, though what’s there is very interesting. So, if you’re looking for a romping fantasy tale with a good story and the feel of an ancient past, this is the film for you.

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