Beowulf

"Sins of the fathers!" To start with, here’s my main objection: although performance capture animation has advanced a step or two since Polar Express, but it still suffers from Madame Tussaud’s waxwork syndrome. And some movements are a bit weird, to say the least. Mainly, I am trying hard to forget the horses. Right, and now for the “rest". The environment, the free floating camera, action scenes, Silvestri’s soundtrack, the voice performances and the excellent adaptation of this saga in verse into a classic-looking heroic drama that respects the spirit of this ancient saga. A movie that could have been outstanding, but the sterility of the characters doesn’t allow you to tune into the huge wave of strong emotions that can be found here. This applies partially to the part with Grendel, not to the outstanding royal part. That works as it should in all aspects and as a whole. Zemickis would doubtless have done better to make this as a classic epic. On the other hand, that would have meant no technical challenge, no leap forward for filmmaking, so it would have been rather pointless. And still Beowulf left a strong impression on me that will take a long time to fade. I don’t deny that the Imax version is responsible. At least we have a solid picture for adults that makes full use of the possibilities offered by 3D. And to make things better, it isn’t dubbed into Czech and so for the first time ever, the volume at Prague’s Imax wasn’t turned right down, so the clash with the dragon at the end was really spectacular. The sound pushes you back into your seat and the “such and such" flying at you has you flinching involuntarily. Beowulf could and, essentially, should be better. It is too significant a work for it to be just a mediocre movie. In this respect, it might have been better to make a more toned-down adaptation, a demythicized Beowulf & Grendel. But the subject material is so powerful that it has something to offer even in the places that it lacks energy. But you have to be ready to forgive the filmmakers a lot. An average movie that is perfect as a demo of the technical capabilities of Imax, and of cinema entertainment of the future in general. (11/29/2007)

An excellent retelling of the poem of Beowulf. Zemeckis is a great director who is engaging and can keep the pace of the story going, but the new technologies have proven to be more negative than positive. It is hard to enjoy a battle scene while under attack by flagrant digital artificiality. Unfortunately, it is also clear that the movie was made for IMAX, and the long fly-bys and spears in the face are more intrusive than interesting. But maybe if we wait a few years for special effects teams to create new textures, “enliven" their eyes, and fix all the mistakes, we'll be pleasantly surprised. P.S. Silvestri's music is excellent. (02/28/2008)

Effort is good and it definitely counts, but the fact that it is a 3D animated film where the characters look quite realistic is not a factor that would really throw me off. I remember not liking it even in the cinema, and after watching it a second time, I can only confirm this. There are great action scenes, but they don't redeem it overall. (03/11/2015)

The action sections are reminiscent of a slightly above-average computer game intro (although even here the creators could learn a lot, for example from the intro of The Witcher), the characters are inhumanely bulbous, the horses roll like fates, and the moments when emotions are supposed to radiate from the animation completely miss the mark. Which is actually a shame, because otherwise Beowulf is quite a nice and surprisingly not entirely clichéd heroic epic – if it is judged by the standards of Hollywood. It has decent music and a good atmosphere in places, but the animation absolutely fails with regard to reviving the world "offscreen". Beowulf is a horribly narrow film that lives only in a small section of the camera; otherwise, it resembles an indifferent thing that fatally lacks persuasiveness. (06/10/2009)

A naively simple story with a classic narrative that relies solely on its breathtaking visuals. Fortunately, they work, and although there will certainly be naysayers who claim that “it’s not proper”, technology is once again a step further, and perfection is only a little – or rather a few years – away. Zemeckis may not be a very skillful director, but he is not afraid to experiment, pursue his own vision, and play with the material. And even though this banal bloody fairytale is easily forgettable due to its flat plot, the heroic music and captivating visuals won't fade from memory so easily. The question then remains, to what extent is this a relevant “film” argument. (07/26/2008)