Beowulf (2007 film)
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Modèle:Infobox Film Beowulf is a 2007 animated film adaptation of the Old English epic poem of the same name. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film was created through motion capture, a technique similar to that used by the director in The Polar Express. The cast includes Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, Alison Lohman, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Brendan Gleeson, and Angelina Jolie. It was released in the United States, Canada and the UK on November 16, 2007, and was available to view in IMAX 3D and Real D format.
Sommaire |
Plot
King Hrothgar has constructed a new mead hall, Heorot. The noisy celebration at the hall disturbs the deformed monster Grendel, who is pained by the noise even from miles away on the high moors. He attacks the hall, killing many of the men inside. Hrothgar challenges Grendel to fight him instead, but the monster after quietly staring at Hrothgar for a few moments, runs screaming off into the night. Back at his lair, Grendel is admonished by his (unseen) mother for attacking the humans and possibly inviting retribution. She calms down after Grendel tells her that he did not harm Hrothgar. The following morning, Hrothgar closes Heorot and proclaims that he will give half the gold in the kingdom to any man who can defeat Grendel. Soon Beowulf and his men arrive by ship from Geatland, and Beowulf offers to destroy Grendel. He convinces Hrothgar to reopen Heorot and let Beowulf's men stay there. Unferth, the King's advisor, challenges Beowulf's credibility. The warrior tells a tall tale of how he slew several sea serpents, and is capable of slaying Grendel too. Hrothgar offers Beowulf his precious golden drinking horn taken from the dragon Fafnir as a reward for Grendel's death. Beowulf is more entranced by Hrothgar's young queen, Wealtheow.
That evening, Beowulf asks his men to sing loudly. He undresses in order to fight the unarmoured Grendel on equal terms and elects to sleep until the monster arrives. As expected, Grendel is infuriated by the noise and attacks the hall. Beowulf fights him with his bare hands, proving more than a match for the nearly invulnerable demon. After Beowulf punches out the monster's sensitive ear, Grendel tries to flee for his life, only to have Beowulf taunt him and eventually rip his arm off. The dying Grendel flees back to his cave, where he tells the name of his killer to his mother. Beowulf is proclaimed a hero. That night, a private conversation between Hrothgar and Wealtheow indirectly reveals that Hrothgar was in fact the father of Grendel. Wealtheow has been refusing to sleep with her husband out of revulsion. This is why the king has no heir.
Enraged by grief over her son's death, Grendel's mother flies to Heorot. She distracts Beowulf in a dream by taking the guise of Wealtheow. When Beowulf awakes, he finds that all of his men in the hall have been killed, skinned and hung from the rafters like hunting game. Only his friend Wiglaf survived, only because he had been at the beach preparing their ship for departure. Beowulf confronts Hrothgar, who tells Beowulf that Grendel's mother is indeed the last of the monsters. Unferth apologizes to Beowulf for having doubted him, and offers his sword Hrunting for use against Grendel's mother.
Beowulf and Wiglaf seek out the flooded cave of Grendel's mother. Beowulf enters the cave alone to find it filled to the celing with treasure. Grendel's mother appears to him in the form of a beautiful woman, offering him fame and power if he will give her another son. She also asks for the Dragon Horn of Hrothgar, with the promise that Heorot will be safe as long as it is in her possession. Beowulf gives in to her temptations.
Beowulf returns to Heorot, claiming to have slain Grendel's mother. He brings back Grendel's head as proof of his deeds. He says that he lost Unferth's sword and Hrothgar's horn during the battle. In private, Hrothgar points out inconsistencies in Beowulf's story and asks if he did indeed slay Grendel's Mother. When Beowulf doesn't give a straight answer, Hrothgar knowingly says that with Grendel's death, he is no longer the cursed one. King Hrothgar names Beowulf heir to the throne. Hrothgar then leaps from the balcony to his death to the surprised horror of everyone. Beowulf is crowned king, and takes Wealtheow as his wife.
Many years pass. King Beowulf is unable to enjoy his power and glory, and his relationship with Wealtheow has grown cold. When Unferth's slave Cain finds the Horn of Hrothgar on a barren hill, Beowulf understands that Grendel's mother has ended their deal. Heorot is in danger once more. That night he dreams of his son by Grendel's mother. The son, who appears as a golden youth, threatens to kill Beowulf's wife and his young mistress Ursula. The next morning before dawn, a fierce dragon attacks a village outside of Heorot. The dragon gives a message to Unferth for Beowulf: "The sins of the father!"
Beowulf and Wiglaf ride to the cave of Grendel's mother and Beowulf confronts the dragon. The dragon flies to Beowulf's castle, but Beowulf is able to cling to its back. The dragon spots Wealtheow and Ursula on the castle wall and attempts to burn them. Beowulf finally manages to rip the dragon's heart out, losing one arm and severely burning the other in the process. The two fall to the shores far below. The dragon's form changes to that of the golden man from Beowulf's dreams. Wiglaf arrives at the beach in time to hear Beowulf's last words. Beowulf leaves his kingdom to Wiglaf.
Wiglaf prepares a Viking funeral for Beowulf. As Wiglaf watches the burning boat that serves as Beowulf's funeral pyre, he sees Grendel's mother kissing the corpse. Grendel's mother then appears in the water in human form and beckons to Wiglaf.
Production
Author Neil Gaiman and screenwriter Roger Avary wrote a screen adaptation of Beowulf in May 1997 (they had met while working on a film adaptation of Gaiman's The Sandman in 1996, before Warner Bros. canceled it).<ref name=empire> Tom Ambrose
. " He Is Legend " , Empire , December 2007 , pp. 139-142 . </ref> The script had been optioned by ImageMovers in the same year and set up at DreamWorks with Avary slated to direct and Robert Zemeckis producing. Avary stated he wanted to make a small-scale, gritty film, with a budget of $15-20 million, similar to Jabberwocky or Excalibur.<ref name=empire/> The project eventually went into turnaround after the option expired, the rights returned to Avary, who went on to direct an adaptation of The Rules of Attraction. In January 2005, producer Steve Bing, at the behest of Zemeckis who was wanting to direct the film himself, revived the production by convincing Avary that Zemeckis' vision, supported by the strength of digitally enhanced live action, was worth relinquishing the directorial reins.<ref> Nicole Laporte ; Claude Brodesser . " Sony, Bing get Anglo on 'Beowulf' " , Variety , 2005-01-20 . Retrieved on 2007-01-13 . </ref><ref> Kevil Kelly . " Comic-Con: 'Beowulf' Footage Screening, Q&A, and Party! " , Cinematical , 2007-07-26 . Retrieved on 2007-11-07 . </ref> Zemeckis did not like the poem, but enjoyed reading the screenplay. Because of the expanded budget, Zemeckis told the screenwriters to rewrite their script, because "there is nothing that you could write that would cost me more than a million dollars per minute to film. Go wild!" In particular, the entire fight with the dragon was rewritten from a talky confrontation to a battle spanning the cliffs and the sea.<ref name=empire/>
Sony Pictures Imageworks created the animation for the film. Animation supervisor Kenn MacDonald explained that Zemeckis used motion capture because “Even though it feels like live action, there were a lot of shots where Bob cut loose. Amazing shots. Impossible with live action actors. This method of filmmaking gives him freedom and complete control. He doesn’t have to worry about lighting. The actors don’t have to hit marks. They don’t have to know where the camera is. It’s pure performance." A 25 x 35-foot stage was built, and it used 244 Vicon MX40 cameras. Actors on set wore seventy-eight body markers, and transparent costumes. The cameras recorded realtime footage of the performances, shots which Zemeckis reviewed. The director then used a virtual camera to choose camera angles from the footage which was edited together. Two teams of animators worked on the film, with one group working on replicating the facial performances, the other working on body movement. The animators said they worked very closely on replicating the human characters, but the character of Grendel had to be almost reworked, because he is a monster, not human.<ref name=cgsociety> Barbara Robertson
. " Beowulf Effects " , CG Society , 2007-11-28 . Retrieved on 2007-12-02 . </ref>
In designing the dragon, production designer Doug Chiang wanted to create something unique in film. The designers looked at bats and flying squirrels for inspiration, and also designed its tail to allow underwater propulsion. As the beast is Beowulf's son with Grendel's mother, elements such as Winstone's eyes and cheekbone structure were incorporated into its look.<ref> Sheigh Crabtree
. " 'Beowulf' breathes fire into a new kind of dragon " , Los Angeles Times , 2007-11-04 . Retrieved on 2007-11-08 . </ref> The three primary monsters in the film share a golden color scheme, because they are all related. Grendel has patches of gold skin, but because of his torment, he has shed much of his scales as well as exposing his internal workings. He still had to resemble Crispin Glover though: the animators decided to adapt Glover's own parted hairstyle to Grendel, albeit with bald patches.<ref name=cgsociety/>
Cast
The cast members of Beowulf were filmed on a motion capture stage. They were altered on screen using computer-generated imagery, but their animated counterparts bear much resemblance to themselves.
The protagonist, Beowulf, is portrayed by Ray Winstone. Zemeckis cast Winstone after seeing his performance as King Henry VIII of England on television.<ref name=empire/> On the topic of the original poem, Winstone commented during an interview that "I had the beauty of not reading the book, which I understand portrays Beowulf as a very one-dimensional kind of character - a hero and a warrior and that was it. I didn't have any of that baggage to bring with me."<ref name=bbc> Rob Carnevale
. " Beowulf " , BBC , 2007-11-12 . Retrieved on 2007-11-16 . </ref> Winstone enjoyed working with motion capture, stating that “You were allowed to go, like theater, where you carry a scene on and you become engrossed within the scene. I loved the speed of it. There was no time to sit around. You actually cracked on with a scene and your energy levels were kept up. There was no time to actually sit around and lose your concentration. So, for me, I actually really, really enjoyed this experience." Winstone also noted that his computer-generated counterpart resembled himself at the age of eighteen, although the filmmakers did not have a photo for reference.<ref name=cast> Sheila Roberts . " Cast of Beowulf Interview " , Movies Online . Retrieved on 2007-11-08 . </ref> Winstone also played a dwarf performer, and both the dragon and the "Golden Man."<ref name=bbc/>
The antagonists Grendel and Grendel's mother are portrayed by Crispin Glover and Angelina Jolie, respectively. Glover had previously worked with Zemeckis in Back to the Future (1985), when he portrayed George McFly. Zemeckis had found Glover tiresome on set, because of his lack of understanding of shooting a film, but realized this would not be a problem as on a motion capture film he could choose his angles later.<ref>"
Becoming Beowulf " , IGN , 2007-07-25 . Retrieved on 2007-11-16 . </ref> Glover's dialogue was entirely in Old English.<ref name=cast/> Jolie had wanted to work with Zemeckis. She had read the poem years ago but could not remember it well until she read the script and was able to recall basic themes. The actress was told that she "was going to be a lizard. Then I was brought into a room with Bob, and a bunch of pictures and examples, and he showed me this picture of a woman half painted gold, and then a lizard. And, I’ve got kids and I thought 'That's great. That's so bizarre. I'm going to be this crazy reptilian person and creature.'" Jolie filmed her role over two days when she was three months pregnant. She was startled by the character's nude human form, stating that for an animated film “I was really surprised that I felt that exposed."<ref name=cast/>
King Hrothgar is portrayed by Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins noted in an interview that since Zemeckis is an American, he wasn't certain what accent Hopkins should use for the role of Hrothgar. Hopkins told him, "Well, Welsh would be my closest because that's where I come from." It was also his first time working with motion capture technology. Hopkins noted that “I didn't know what was expected. It was explained to me, I'm not stupid, but I still don't get the idea of how it works. I have no idea [...] you don't have sets, so it is like being in a Brecht play, you know, with just bare bones and you have nothing else." When asked if he had to read the original poem of Beowulf in school, Hopkins replied: "No, I was hopeless at school. I couldn't read anything. I mean I could read, but I was so inattentive. I was one of those poor kids, you know, who was just very slow, didn't know what they were talking about [...] So I tried to get around to reading Beowulf just before I did this movie, and it was a good modern translation. It was Trevor Griffiths, I’m not sure, but I couldn't hack it, and I tend to like to just go with the script if it's a good script."<ref name=hopkins> Sheila Roberts
. " Anthony Hopkins Interview, Beowulf " , Movies Online . Retrieved on 2007-11-13 . </ref>
Unferth is portrayed by John Malkovich. Malkovich became involved in the project because one of his friends, who had worked with Zemeckis, "spoke very highly of him. I had always found him a very interesting and innovative filmmaker. I liked the script very much and I liked the group involved and the process interested me a great deal also." He found the experience of working with motion capture to be similar to his experiences working in the theater. He also found the process intriguing: "say you do a normal day of filmmaking. Sometimes that’s 1/8th of a page, sometimes it’s 3/8th of a page, normally let’s say it’s 2-1/2 pages, maybe 3. Now it’s probably a little more than it used to be but not always. So you may be acting for a total of 20 minutes a day. In this, you act the entire day all the time except for the tiny amount of time it takes them to sort of coordinate the computer information, let’s say, and make sure that the computers are reading the data and that you’re transmitting the data. It interests me on that level because I’m a professional actor so I’d just as soon act as sit around." Malkovich also recalled that he studied the original poem in high school, and that “I think we got smacked if we couldn’t recite a certain number of stanzas. It was in the Old English class and I think my rendition was exemplary."<ref name=Malk> Sheila Roberts
. " John Malkovich Interview, Beowulf " , Movies Online . Retrieved on 2007-11-13 . </ref>
The cast also includes:
- Brendan Gleeson as Wiglaf, Beowulf's sidekick.
- Robin Wright Penn as Queen Wealtheow.
- Alison Lohman as Ursula, Beowulf's mistress when he is an old king.
- Sebastian Roché as Wulfgar.
- Costas Mandylor as Hondshew.
- Greg Ellis as Garmund.
- Tyler Steelman as Cain, Unferth's disabled slave. Dominic Keating plays the adult Cain.
- Rik Young as Eofor.
- Charlotte Salt as Estrith.
- Leslie Harter Zemeckis as Yrsa.
Differences from the poem
| "It occurred to me that Grendel has always been described as the son of Cain, meaning half-man, half-demon, but his mother was always said to be full demon. So who's the father? It must be Hrothgar, and if Grendel is dragging men back to the cave then it must be for the mother, so that she can attempt to sire another of demonkind." |
| — Roger Avary<ref name=empire/> |
One objective of Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary was to offer their own interpretation for motivations behind Grendel's behavior as well as for what happened when Beowulf was in the cave of Grendel's mother. They justified these choices by arguing that Beowulf acts as an unreliable narrator in the portion of the poem in which he describes his battle with Grendel's mother.<ref name="unreliable narrator">Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary: Shaping Beowulf's story, video interview</ref> These choices also helped them to better connect the third act to the second of their screenplay, which is divided in the poem by a 50-year gap.<ref name=chud> Jeremy Smith
. " INTERVIEW: NEIL GAIMAN AND ROGER AVARY (BEOWULF) " , CHUD , 2007-07-30 . Retrieved on 2007-11-07 . </ref>
Some of the changes made by the film to the original poem, which have been the subject of discussion by teachers and scholars, include: the style and tone of the dialog; the portrayal of Beowulf as a flawed man (rather than a standard hero); the addition of Christian elements (and the portrayal of Unferth in this context); the hedonism in Heorot and which kingdom Beowulf becomes ruler of; the portrayal of Grendel's mother as a "seductress" and her seductions of Hrothgar (making him the father of Grendel) and Beowulf (making him the father of the dragon) as well as the elimination of the battle sequence between Grendel's mother and Beowulf which (in the poem) ends with her death; the portrayal of King Hrothgar as a "hedonistic lout," or "a drunk and womanizer" and the elimination of his two sons with Wealtheow; Wiglaf's role; and the nature of Beowulf's funeral.<ref name=Pitts> Walter Quinn
. " Beowulf' movie takes poetic license — and then some — from the original text " , Pittsburgh Tribune-Review , 2007-11-23 . Retrieved on 2007-11-27 . </ref><ref name=Jsonline> Duane Dudek . " The Real Beowulf " , Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , 2007-11-16 . Retrieved on 2007-11-27 . </ref><ref name=republic> John V. Fleming . " Good Grief, Grendel " , The New Republic , 2007-11-29 . Retrieved on 2007-11-29 . </ref>
Philosophy professor Stephen T. Asma argues that “Zemeckis's more tender-minded film version suggests that the people who cast out Grendel are the real monsters. The monster, according to this charity paradigm, is just misunderstood rather than evil. The blame for Grendel's violence is shifted to the humans, who sinned against him earlier and brought the vengeance upon themselves. The only real monsters, in this tradition, are pride and prejudice. In the film, Grendel is even visually altered after his injury to look like an innocent, albeit scaly, little child. In the original Beowulf, the monsters are outcasts because they're bad (just as Cain, their progenitor, was outcast because he killed his brother), but in the new liberal Beowulf the monsters are bad because they're outcasts [...] Contrary to the original Beowulf, the new film wants us to understand and humanize our monsters." <ref> « »</ref>
Southern Methodist University's Director of Medieval Studies Bonnie Wheeler is “convinced that the new Robert Zemeckis movie treatment sacrifices the power of the original for a plot line that propels Beowulf into seduction by Angelina Jolie -- the mother of the monster he has just slain.' What man doesn’t get involved with Angelina Jolie?' Wheeler asks. 'It’s a great cop-out on a great poem.' [...] 'For me, the sad thing is the movie returns to…a view of the horror of woman, the monstrous female who will kill off the male,' Wheeler says. 'It seems to me you could do so much better now. And the story of Beowulf is so much more powerful.'"<ref>"
Beowulf movie cops out with revised theme:It’s that evil woman’s fault " , SMU , 2007-11-16 . Retrieved on 2007-11-27 . </ref>
Former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo argues that “The film changes the very nature of its hero. He becomes vulnerable and flawed, and he loses much of his nobility. The minute he starts lying, he becomes less interesting. The monster, Grendel, is also rather diminished here. He is imagined as a pathetic creature - you feel as if he's being eaten from the inside by maggots. I never had the sense of his enormous and terrifying strength. They've created a whole new plot about who slept with Grendel's mother, which feels clunky."<ref> Paul Arendt
. " Children's author Michael Morpurgo on Beowulf " , Guardian , 2007-11-20 . Retrieved on 2007-11-27 . </ref>
Release
Columbia Pictures was set to distribute the film, but Steven Bing did not finalize a deal, and arranged with Paramount Pictures for U.S. distribution and Warner Bros. Pictures for international distribution.<ref> Michael Fleming
; Dave McNary . " Par, WB cry 'Beowulf' " , Variety , 2005-08-17 . Retrieved on 2007-01-13 . </ref> Beowulf was set to premiere at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, but was not ready in time.<ref> Eric J. Lyman . " 'Beowulf' misses Venice festival bow " , The Hollywood Reporter , 2007-06-13 . Retrieved on 2007-11-08 . </ref> The film's world premiere was held in Westwood, California on November 5 2007.<ref> Robert Sanchez . " Exclusive Photo Gallery: World Premiere of Beowulf! " , IESB , 2007-11-05 . Retrieved on 2007-11-09 . </ref>
At Comic-Con International in July 2006, Gaiman said Beowulf would be released on November 22, 2007.<ref> Hilary Goldstein
. " Comic-Con 2006: Neil Gaiman's Future Movies " , IGN , 2006-07-21 . Retrieved on 2007-01-13 . </ref> The following October, Beowulf was announced to be projected in 3-D in over 1,000 theaters for its release date in November 2007. The studios planned to use 3-D projection technology that had been used by Monster House, Chicken Little, and 3-D re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas, but on a larger scale than previous films. Beowulf would additionally be released in 35mm alongside the 3-D projections.<ref> Ben Fritz ; Pamela McClintock . " 'Beowulf' gets 3-D bigscreen bow " , Variety , 2006-10-24 . Retrieved on 2007-01-13 . </ref>
To promote the film, a four issue comic book adaptation by IDW Publishing was released every week in October 2007.<ref>"
"BEOWULF" COMING TO THEATERS AND COMICS " , Comic Book Resources , 2007-06-19 . Retrieved on 2007-11-13 . </ref> A video game featuring the vocals of Winstone, Gleeson and Hopkins was released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and PSP formats.<ref> John Gaudiosi . " Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone Make Video Game Debuts in Beowulf " , Game Daily , 2007-10-23 . Retrieved on 2007-11-13 . </ref> and the soundtrack composed by Alan Silvestri was released on November 20, 2007. Critics and even some of the actors expressed shock at the rating of film, which allowed children under twelve to see it in American and Britain. Angela Jolie called it "remarkable" that the film had such a young rating, and admitted that she would not take her children to see it.<ref> BBC . " Beowulf violence 'shocked' Jolie " , BBC , 2007-11-12 . Retrieved on 2007-12-24 . </ref>
Box office
Beowulf ranked #1 in the United States and Canada box office during its opening weekend date of November 18 <ref>"
Beowulf tops US box office chart " , BBC , 2007-11-19 . Retrieved on 2007-11-19 . </ref> grossing $27.5 million in 3,153 theaters.<ref> Beowulf (2007) . Box Office Mojo
. Retrieved on 2007-11-21. </ref>
As of December 17, 2007, the film has grossed an estimated domestic total of $80,046,402 and a foreign box office total of $100,000,000 for a worldwide gross of $180,046,402.<ref> Beowulf (2007) - International Box Office Results
. Box Office Mojo
. Retrieved on 2007-11-25. </ref>
Critical reception
As of December 4, 2007 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Beowulf received a rating of 70 percent, based upon 155 reviews. Under the category "Cream of the Crop" Beowulf received a rating of 71 percent, with an average reviewer rating of 6.5/10.<ref> Beowulf - Rotten Tomatoes
. Rotten Tomatoes
. Retrieved on 2007-12-04. </ref> On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 59 out of 100, based on 35 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.<ref> Beowulf (2007): Reviews
. Metacritic
. Retrieved on 2007-11-19. </ref>
Giving Beowulf three out of four stars, Roger Ebert argues that the film is a satire of the original poem.<ref> Roger Ebert
. " Beowulf " , Chicago Sun-Times , 2007-11-15 . Retrieved on 2007-11-16 . </ref> TIME magazine critic Richard Corliss describes the film as one with "power and depth" and suggests that the "effects scenes look realer, more integrated into the visual fabric, because they meet the traced-over live-action elements halfway. It all suggests that this kind of a moviemaking is more than a stunt. By imagining the distant past so vividly, Zemeckis and his team prove that character capture has a future."<ref> Richard Corliss . " Beowulf and Grendel — and Grendma " , TIME , 2007-11-16 . Retrieved on 2007-11-17 . </ref> Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers argues that “The eighth-century Beowulf, goosed into twenty-first century life by a screenplay from sci-fi guru Neil Gaiman and Pulp Fiction's Roger Avary, will have you jumping out of your skin and begging for more [...] I've never seen a 3-D movie pop with this kind of clarity and oomph. It's outrageously entertaining."<ref> Peter Travers . " Beowulf (Paramount) " , Rolling Stone , 2007-11-15 . Retrieved on 2007-11-17 . </ref>
Tom Ambrose of Empire gives the film four out of five stars. He argues that Beowulf is "the finest example to date of the mo-capabilities of this new technique [...] Previously, 3D movies were blurry, migraine-inducing affairs. Beowulf is a huge step forward [...] Although his Cockney accent initially seems incongruous [...] Winstone’s turn ultimately reveals a burgeoning humanity and poignant humility." Ambrose also argues that “the creepy dead eyes thing has been fixed." <ref> Tom Ambrose
. " Beowulf " , Empire . Retrieved on 2007-11-12 . </ref> Justin Chang of Variety argues that the screenwriters "have taken some intriguing liberties with the heroic narrative [... the] result is, at least, a much livelier piece of storytelling than the charmless Polar Express." He also argues that “Zemeckis prioritizes spectacle over human engagement, in his reliance on a medium that allows for enormous range and fluidity in its visual effects yet reduces his characters to 3-D automatons. While the technology has improved since 2004's Polar Express (particularly in the characters' more lifelike eyes), the actors still don't seem entirely there. Beowulf is more vocally than visually commanding."<ref> Justin Chang . " Beowulf " , Variety , 2007-11-09 . Retrieved on 2007-11-11 . </ref>
Kenneth Turan of National Public Radio criticizes the film arguing: “It's been 50 years since Hollywood first started flirting with 3-D movies, and the special glasses required for viewing have gotten a whole lot more substantial. The stories being filmed are just as flimsy. Of course Beowulf does have a more impressive literary pedigree than, say, Bwana Devil. But you'd never know that by looking at the movie. Beowulf's story of a hero who slays monsters has become a fanboy fantasy that panders with demonic energy to the young male demographic."<ref> Kenneth Turan
. " Beowulf' Sexes Up, Dumbs Down an Epic " , National Public Radio , 2007-11-16 . Retrieved on 2007-11-16 . </ref> Manohla Dargis of the New York Times compared the poem with the film stating that, "If you don’t remember this evil babe from the poem, it’s because she’s almost entirely the invention of the screenwriters Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman and the director Robert Zemeckis, who together have plumped her up in words, deeds and curves. These creative interventions aren’t especially surprising given the source material and the nature of big-studio adaptations. There’s plenty of action in Beowulf, but even its more vigorous bloodletting pales next to its rich language, exotic setting and mythic grandeur [...] Yet the 3-D is necessary to the film only in so far as it keeps your eyes engaged when your mind starts to wander. Stripped of much of the original poem’s language, its cadences, deep history and context, this film version of Beowulf doesn’t offer much beyond 3-D oohs and ahs, sword clanging and a nicely conceived dragon." <ref> Manohla Dargis . " Confronting the Fabled Monster, Not to Mention His Naked Mom " , New York Times , 2007-11-16 . Retrieved on 2007-11-16 . </ref> San Francisco Chronicle critic Mick LaSalle suggests: "It's the Beowulf saga once again, and the movie becomes tiresome and trivial - well done within the narrow limits of its aspiration but not worth the inflated effort. To do Beowulf again, there should be some reason to do Beowulf at all. In 2005, for example, Beowulf & Grendel revisited the tale in order to present Grendel as a nice guy with his own point of view. That was a very bad reason to revisit Beowulf, but at least it was a reason."<ref> Mick LaSalle . " Review: 'Beowulf' is back, beefed up, in 3D " , San Francisco Chronicle , 2007-11-16 . Retrieved on 2007-11-17 . </ref>
References
External links
- Official site
- Beowulf at the Internet Movie Database
- Modèle:Rotten-tomatoes
- Modèle:Metacritic film
- Modèle:Mojo title
- Modèle:Amg movie
Modèle:Beowulf Modèle:Robert Zemeckis Modèle:Footer Films Roger Avaryde:Die Legende von Beowulf fr:La Légende de Beowulf it:La leggenda di Beowulf hu:Beowulf – Legendák lovagja nl:Beowulf (film) ja:ベオウルフ (2007年の映画) pl:Beowulf (film 2007) pt:Beowulf (2007) ru:Беовульф (фильм, 2007) sv:Beowulf (2007)
