Beowulf (Unrated Director's Cut)

Buy This Item Beowulf (Unrated Director's Cut) by Paramount  Available from Amazon  $18.99  on 8-28-2008     BEOWULF - DIRECTOR'S CUT (DVD MOVIE) Reader Reviews When I was in high school we had to read the story of Beowulf during one of my English courses, and it was required reading which meant I wasn't all that excited to get into the story. Now, I have to admit that based on what we read and how we did it in my class, it was done by group reading (which meant different vocal inflections that seemed to improve upon or possibly take away from what was being read aloud at any given time), I wasn't too impressed by the story, and had therefore forgotten most of it. So, when I read that acclaimed director Robert Zemeckis ("Castaway") was helming a film adaptation of the epic story, I was unexcited by the prospect. However, that attitude quickly changed when I saw the previews to the movie and was able to see just how cool they were making the story appear, and the digital effects employed to bring the live actors to life in a CGI way looked truly outstanding. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to see "Beowulf" in theaters, but I made sure that when the movie arrived on DVD that I added it to my ever-growing movie collection, even though I hadn't already seen it. However, before I rushed out to purchase the movie, I was a little unsure about just how much I would actually enjoy it. When it was initially released to theaters, the movie had received fairly mixed reviews from critics, some said it was terrific and mind-blowing, while others felt it was too fake and lacking drive and content; however, my friends and family that saw the movie all enjoyed it so I ignored the critics that hated it, and took a chance. "Beowulf" is the story of a Danish kingdom ruled by King Rothgar (Anthony Hopkins) who finds both his kingdom and his people under attack by the monstrous Grendel (Crispin Glover). Hearing of the attacks and hoping to gain plenty of glory and reward, the heroic Beowulf (Ray Winstone) leads his band of warriors into battle in hopes of destroying the dreaded beast. After successfully ridding the land of Grendel, Beowulf encounters Grendel's mother (Angelina Jolie), and her temptations of Beowulf may spell further disaster and despair for the kingdom and its newfound hero. Wow, this was an extremely entertaining and action packed movie that grabs you from the very beginning and doesn't really let up until the very end. The story is full of action, suspense, some humor, and even a little digital nudity (which is kind of weird). The overall scope of the story seems pretty close to what little I do actually remember from reading it in high school; although I did read that for the most part, the details of the movie deviate to varying degrees from the original story, apparently director Robert Zemeckis wasn't too big of a fan of the original story and wanted numerous elements revised or removed. The actors were all excellent in their individual roles, even though we never actually saw the real actors; their digital counterparts seemed capable and were given their motions through motion capture devices that were used with the real actors to record their actual movements. So, even though they never appeared on screen, their physical performances remained intact. Each of the digital actors closely resembled the actor that was playing the role, except for two of the characters whose outward appearances were drastically different from real life. The monster Grendel only had minute similarities to actor Crispin Glover ("Willard") that portrayed him, and Ray Winstone's ("The Departed") title character, Beowulf, was much leaner, muscular, and younger than the veteran actor voicing him and acting out his physical movements. For some reason, and I can't really understand why, unless it's just a desire to push the envelope of technology further, director Robert Zemeckis has made two films in a row that featured all CGI versions of the actual actors he hired to play the parts. It's strange, that he takes this approach, because the actors still act out their roles, but instead of being in costume they have little motion capture devices stuck on various parts of their skin-tight body suits for the computers to record each of their movements and translate that into the CGI character that will be onscreen. Zemeckis' first attempt at an all CGI enhanced live-action movie was the incredibly boring "The Polar Express" starring Tom Hanks. The technology was pretty impressive when that film was made a few years ago, but the actors did look a little zombie-like because their eyes didn't have any semblance of life to them, and their facial expressions seemed wooden. For "Beowulf" the technology seems to have advanced by leaps and bounds in the overall physical performance of the characters, the movements seem less wooden; although there are a few times where certain movements look oddly stiff, but the biggest improvement was made in the faces of the characters. Gone are the zombie-like, almost dead eyes, and the stiffly unimpressive facial expressions, and in their place are lifelike faces that in some instances could easily fool someone into believing it was the actual actor onscreen and not a digital counterpart. As much as I enjoyed "Beowulf" I did have one minor gripe with the movie. The movie boasts such impressive action and suspense that it feels like you hardly get a chance to catch your breath, which is fine with me, I enjoy it when a movie seems to move at break-neck speed. However, there is a point in the movie where I guess the writers, or maybe it was the director, wanted to kind of slow down the proceedings just a little bit, possibly out of fear that they may be losing their audience by going too quickly (though that was not the case in my experience). When this slower moment hits (occurring shortly after Beowulf encounters Grendel's mother) it feels strangely out of place, and really drags the movie down for its entire five or ten minute span, however long the breather in the pacing actually lasted I'm not entirely sure, but thankfully the respite was mercifully short and the movie's pace picked right back up as if it had never slowed down one iota.. I don't know why that down time occurred in the movie, and maybe that was one part from the original story that actually remained in the picture, which may explain why it felt different from the rest of the movie, but director Robert Zemeckis seemed to have no problem getting the movie to regain its momentum, and the rest of the movie proceeded along as if that brief low point had never happened. The visually stunning film "Beowulf" is a thoroughly entertaining and action-packed epic thrill ride, which I believe captures the essence of the original story of Beowulf, while giving it a somewhat modern polish that makes for an incredibly enjoyable movie experience. "Beowulf" is available in PG-13 and unrated editions both contain violence and brief nudity.

Beowulf (Unrated Director's Cut) Available from Amazon Price: $18.99 Updated on 8-28-2008.

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