Cast: Ray Winstone, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Crispin Glover

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Running time: 1 hr 54 mins

Genre: Animated/Action/Adventure


REVIEW:


As far as I could remember, back in high school years, I considered that old English poem ‘Beowulf’ as an every student’s nightmare. Stuffed with overly long lines, tedious to read and horrendously confusing, with a language so outdated. Apparently, it was written in 400 A.D. so what do I expect. If you come across this poem, chuck your copy in the bin – there’s no need, there’s a better medium, and this cinematic rendition of BEOWULF battling monsters, dragons, sultry sirens and his own frailty is told in a way that you would never expect somebody had decipher it from “that bloody old poem”. Yes, the film stuns, and it is rip-roaringly good.


The tale has been told throughout centuries, and throughout mankind, well at least to those who learned English. A Danish kingdom, ruled by scruffy and old King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) and young Queen Wealthow (Robin Wright Penn), is plagued by the local monster Grendel (Crispin Glover), a horrific beast that looked like a cross between Frankenstein and an Egyptian mummy, disturbed by the kingdom’s feasts and rabble-rousing noises. What comes next is that sort of rock-metal-post-punk gory pillaging you’ll ever see in an animated film. Now Beowulf (Ray Winstone) arrives at the kingdom from a Viking ship, fresh from a battle of sea monsters, and declares “I am Beowulf, and I am here to kill your monster”. He preps up for the upcoming attack, and unlikely, he sheds out of his armour and battles in the nude, as he reckons it would be fair to battle the monster in his own skin. He defeats Grendel, cuts off his arm, and the monster goes back to his lair, whimpering like a child and dies in the arms of his mother. Enter cunning, seductive temptress of a demon Grendel’s mother (Angelina Jolie) – the show turns into a slightly wicked affair.


This is Robert Zemeckis at his own pure element: he swore an oath many years ago that he would stop making live action films, and rather concentrate on motion capture animated technology. After his foray with THE POLAR EXPRESS, this sophomore effort of this genre is phenomenally stunning in technical aspects. He gives this archaic kingdom a believable feel, and his animated humans are oddly human-like and very detailed, almost pitch-perfect with conveying emotions. The visual bravura is splendid and an awesome achievement, and the dragon-slaying scene at the end steals the whole show away.


It is of course important to note performances of the hero we come to know of, Beowulf. Voiced by the actor Ray Winstone (who doesn’t look like Beowulf, not a tiny bit, whose fifty-something body is all big and corpulent), it’s a good choice for a voice that’s gruff, brutish and commanding enough to sound like a pure warrior. Beowulf here is digitally buffed up, with a set of abs that could parallel King Leonidas’ in 300, and with a face that looked a lot like Sean Bean. This is also a ‘nudist’ Beowulf, not the Beowulf that I know of in the old poem. Meanwhile, the other actors didn’t need enhancement, certainly not Angelina Jolie to play uber-hot monster’s mum, with gold-plated skin, long hair, long tail, and high stilettos that felt anachronistic for an 400 A.D. period. She’s nevertheless the cause of temptation and the fall of men. John Malkovich as counsel Unferth is a blatant choice, but brings humour enough in his sharp tongue calling the kingdom “pathetic” and Beowulf’s statement “bollocks”.


Let’s throw a big kudos to the writers Neil Gaiman (whose STARDUST is still in cinemas) and Roger Avary (PULP FICTION scribe, anyone?) for deciphering the monstrosity of the befuddling Anglo-Saxon poem. Although they took the ultimate liberty and produced a slightly subversive script with a modern language, they still manage to hold it together and give us a cracking good narrative and a pace that never hurries.


Thank Odin as well this film’s got depth. Impartially imperfect, this film has also its flaws, but certainly, they are levels to be eclipsed by the story that it is telling us: a tale of an egotistic, arrogant warrior swelling with pride, reduced to a human with a weakness he could barely face, turned into a king tortured by his own conscience crumbling from within, with a past that tempted him with power and wealth. The sins of the fathers reverberate unto his sons, and when they face the truths, they face a much bigger personal monster.


VERDICT:

Not 300, not LORD OF THE RINGS, this is uniquely BEOWULF: roar-worthy, gory, Gothic, and rabble-rousingly terrific that tells a tale of humanity in the old time of heroes and valour. It is a balance between huge entertainment and technical splendour. Also, it’s the bloodiest animated film going.



RATING: A-