“Beowulf” is light on history, but full of action
As many reviews of “Beowulf” have already stated, this is a blood-filled, sexy thrill ride that most people will love, except the English teachers of the world, who will most likely run screaming from the theater.
I remember reading the ancient poem about Beowulf in high school and being bored every second of it. If only I’d had the imagination of director Robert Zemeckis (“The Polar Express”) to create this world for Beowulf. Then I wouldn’t have been bored. I would’ve been enthralled. But, to create this kind of world, the only things that would’ve remained the same as the poem would have been the names.
Because the motion picture doesn’t stay true to the poem is no reason to fault it. It should be packed in with all the other praise this movie is getting.
One of the reasons this film is getting such rave reviews is because of the state-of-the-art animation. Zemeckis uses the same motion-capture animation that he used in “Polar Express,” which creates a sense of reality in a world of fantasy. Motion sensors are placed on the actors, creating a lifelike picture of them on screen.
The most lifelike character is Angelina Jolie (“Mr. and Mrs. Smith”), who plays Grendel’s mother, a sexy water demon with spiked feet that look like high heels and a killer braid.
But the story obviously revolves around Beowulf (Ray Winstone, “The Departed”), a verbose, often over-exaggerating young warrior that has come to Denmark to do away with the ugly monster Grendel, who terrorizes King Hrothgar’s (Anthony Hopkins, “Fracture”) kingdom every time there is “merry making” in the town hall.
The animation, writing and action scenes are worth the price of admission. But don’t be fooled by its PG-13 rating. This movie has enough nudity, blood, violence and gore to land it in R territory if it weren’t for the whole “animation” aspect.
“Beowulf” may not be teaching us anything of academic substance about the ancient poem, but it does give us a great insight on how arbitrary our movie-rating system is.
Grade: B+
-aaron.peck@aggiemail.usu.edu