Karina Gonzalez
There’s not much that can be done to save a 1300-year-old epic poem from making a dull film, but digital recreation of Angelina Jolie as a demon sorceress is certainly a step in the right direction.
Despite its age, the raw coolness of “Beowulf” promptly does away with any bad memories high school English may have left with audiences.
Visually stunning in every sense, this film is packed with every element action-lovers could ask for-sea serpent battles, demon bar fights, aerial dragon slaying-all seamlessly woven into 113 minutes of epic legend.
Granted, watching it through the blue and red plastic lenses may not be standard, but if given such an opportunity, take it. “Beowulf” was created to be viewed in three dimensions.
Not only are characters and objects often placed distinctively in the foreground for the purpose of popping off the screen, but camera angles are also very stylized and in-your-face.
“Beowulf” earned every ounce of its generous PG-13 rating, with more nudity and gore per minute than a lot of NC-17 movies.
Though the nudity throughout the picture is tastefully (and cleverly) done, there is certainly a lot of it. Both Beowulf, played by Ray Winstone, and Grendel’s mother, played by Jolie, are nude in most of their scenes.
It just also just so happens that the two actors who are naked through the majority of their camera time deliver the most stand-out performances.
Winstone conveys cocky and fearless to a T, while Jolie brings a distinctively demonic brand of sexy to her character.
The film’s intense brutality and life-like gore put yet another refreshing spin on the animated motion picture.
One such scene in particular comes to mind, in which the demon Grendel is holding two humans by their legs, one in each hand, swinging them around a tavern at the patrons and slapping their limp bodies against the floor.
The realism of its computer-generated imagery also helped to set “Beowulf” apart from everything else in the genre. Battle scenes are brutally authentic in appearance and the assortment of flying body parts and spattering blood are truly stomach-turning.
But regardless of all the pretty effects to keep their eyes dancing, fans of the original poem may indeed be disappointed by the screen adaptation. Overall, the film achieves nowhere near as mysterious a feel as the poem.
Furthermore, the original story line essentially consisted of three foes and three corresponding battles. The industry, of course, could not let such an unconventional plot go unchanged.
The film version, of course, revolved instead around betrayal, love affairs, misplaced trust, and secret pacts between good and evil.
What could have left no one disappointed, however, was the finale-the epic battle scene between Beowulf and the fire-breathing dragon threatening his village.
Ultimately, “Beowulf” never claimed to be anything more than what it actually is-very simply, fun to watch.
Review Rating: A
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures (Courtesy of Paramount Pictures)