Last night in a fit of TGIF me and and the boys went to see Beowulf Imax 3D. Short opinion: I predict Beowulf wins Best Picture 2007.
Cinematically it reaches within swiping distance of Return of the King. Though smaller in scale the motion capture allows for the kind of camera effects reality does not.
Scriptically Mr. Gaiman's license with the epic is more creative and thoughtful than anticipated. This isn't a bonehead thriller. I doubt his conclusions about Christianity or immortality are very good but they are very pagan and provocative. And it's complicated enough that I can't decide if it's redemptive without a re-watching. Add this as a reason it will win Best Pic.
Hero Quotient does go to 10. If you wonder how a man could fight beasts and demons you might start to believe after watching this film. Much better than 300 in that it is not perverse-fetishistic nor gratuitous. Though, plenty violent in a hero-mashes-monsters-who-mash-thanes kind of way.
And, yes, the film is titillating. In fact you see pretty much everything but Ms. Jolie's titillation (and plenty of other mead hall raunchiness). I don't know how B-wuf escaped the MPAA without an R. I won't endorse the sensuality. Don't take your anybody-unmarried to see it. It does however play to a more profound theme about the seduction of glory and does so effectively. But I reiterate that the sensuality is a deal-breaker for anyone sensitive the the ugliness of lust. Not sure I could have gone to see it had I known.
Magnificent film. Perhaps not redemptive. Beware the seduction.
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Nov 17, 2007
Beowulf PrognOscartication
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5 comments:
A bold prediction! I like contrarian views but I don't think this one will even get nominated for more than technical awards.
I liked the revisionist innovations on the original story (I'm not a fundamentalist on textual fidelity since all adaptations are interpretations anyway) but apart from Grendel and the Drake I wasn't absorbed.
I think the way forward, instead of rotoscoping, is real actors in digital backgrounds. I know the integration didn't look great in the Star Wars prequels but I think that was because they were too bright. Sin City and 300 were more successful at it. I don't think the "consistency" of digital characters in digital environments is (yet?) worth the loss in intangible human expression.
Digital facsimiles of humans are a hi-tech equivalent of the Un-Man in Perelandra: every micro movement may be aped perfectly but it lacks the master touch. Don't know if the "uncanny valley" is in play as well.
I hate it even though all I've seen are previews and reviews, but then, I am somewhat a fundamentalist on textual fidelity--depending on how the text is interpreted. This interpretation just looks crappy IMNSHO--"nobody"'s comparison to the "Un-Man" is about right, in more ways than one.
So... I finally saw this on DVD - and that makes this a really late comment. I wholeheartedly disagree with your evaluation on almost every point. Of course, our tastes have come apart in the past... if I recall, you sang similar panegyrics over "Troy". (Which I recall as the worst blockbuster-style movie I'd ever seen up to that point)
This wasn't as bad as "Troy", mostly because it dropped the idiotic and anachronistic love story.
I didn't find Beowulf compelling as a hero. He really had little depth, really showed very little heroism, and gave us little reason to hope he would keep being a hero, other than to hope that we wouldn't get even more distracted by the plastic cgi faces. I wouldn't lavish a hero quotient of 5 on this lackluster hero. Every hero in the LOTR movies outheroes beowulf. Even Luke Skywalker outheroes Beowulf. Your scale needs recalibration.
Bill
I don't recall thinking Troy was great. I don't now think so.
Beowulf film is not redemptive or profound or thematically heroific. As a vehicle for fight scenes and cool action it works well. The 3D rendering I splurged to see was really impressive.
But my original post obscures my own opinion that this isn't a great film on the inside even if it's ripped and grippy on the outside.
I have a feeling MWS's extraordinary experience of Beowulf might have been largely due to the 3D effects.
I saw Beowulf without 3D and was pretty bored through most of it except the sea serpent fight. But a few days ago I saw U2 3D in IMAX and it was the most transcendental experience of my life, including the stageside spot I had on the same tour three years ago.
I'm not sure how much of that was just due to the U2 and the IMAX rather than the 3D, but maybe the 3D altered MWS's perception of Beowulf.
As for Troy, I got the director's cut at Christmas which I understand is a vast improvement but haven't had a chance to view it yet.
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