Monday, November 19, 2007

Beowulf Reveiw

Saw Beowulf this weekend

I liked it a lot the writers Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman did a very good job with the screen play. The screen play does take some liberties with the story at times so look out purists. Considering there are some inconsistencies with the poem the writers do shore up loose ends and plot holes. They change things just enough to make the story flow better and make sense.

The acting is top notch and as a guy I have to say I really liked the parts with Angelina Jolie (Grendel's Mother). Anthony Hopkins (Hrothgar) is incredible the man could act in anything and I would like it. Ray Winstone (Beowulf) was someone I wasn't familiar with at first but, when I found out he is Mister French in The Departed, I was interested to see more of his work. John Malkovich (Unferth) as always plays his part with incredible finesse and skill. The standout for me was Brendan Gleeson (Wiglaf) I find myself more impressed with him in every movie I see.

Overall the movie was a great interpretation of an epic but old poem so it's not going to be for everyone. I want everyone to go see it but I can't recommend it to everyone though. There are some issues I saw with the CG that may affect you watching it. I'll point them out in the spoiler section. They haven't perfected the fully animated mo cap process but, I think it will be a stand out in the CG films genre for awhile.


WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD

If you don't already know a short synopsis of the poem

Beowulf the poem is about a monster that attacks a mead hall in Denmark. No one has been able to slay the beast until the Hero; Beowulf sails in from parts unknown. Beowulf is a boastful man claiming to have slain many monsters in the past. He and his small army of Thanes set to sleep in the cursed mead hall and are attacked by the monster Grendel. Defeating Grendel by severing his arm Beowulf then has to contend with the fearsome mother of Grendel after she takes revenge for the death of her son by killing the king of the mead hall's most trusted warrior. Beowulf and his men then go to the creature’s lair where Beowulf kills the mother. Beowulf later becomes king and a slave angers a dragon and Beowulf has a monster to fight once more this time when the battle is over Beowulf has been mortally wounded and dies.


Do not read this is if pointing a out flaw makes them stand out more to you and you want to see the movie.
The problems I had with the CG were a few but very hard for me not to have caught. One could have been the print of the movie and the other was just not taking their time to get it right. I'm just going to say this once more don't read this is if pointing out flaws makes them stand out more to you and you want to see the movie.There were a few occasions in the movie where the characters take to horses to move from place to place. I may be a bit nit picky here but, to me the horse’s rate of movement didn't match up to the way they were animated. It made them look more fake than the actors who were Mo Caped. Now if the horses were Mo Caped they should have just done them in straight CG because they looked like they were out of a PS one game.

The second problem I saw could have been the print of the movie and nothing more but, it irritated me to see in a movie. During the final battle with the dragon I saw the freaking frame rate drop. There is a part where the dragon is heading toward the remains of a land locked ship with Beowulf hanging off of it. The frame rate dropped out before the actual impact it was just disgusting to see that happen in a movie. It made my eyes hurt

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