Grade: B+
Synopsis: A Geatish warrior (Ray Winstone) comes to the aid of a Danish king (Anthony Hopkins) plagued by a demon (Crispin Glover).
Beowulf is quite an experience. Digitally animated using motion capture technology and filmed with a 3-D presentation in mind, director Robert Zemeckis’s movie represents the cutting edge of filmmaking. And boy, is it something to behold.
From the opening moments, Zemeckis takes full advantage of the freedom animation provides, using impossibly long tracking shots over intricately detailed sets. Further, by digitizing his actors, Zemeckis is free to turn Anthony Hopkins into a believable looking warrior king, while still retaining the likenesses and mannerisms that make his performance unique, and once Crispin Glover’s Grendel makes his first appearance, the movie really takes off. Here, Zemeckis sets the tone for the entire film: a bloody, violent, and very much adult picture that will thrill and scare you.
Ray Winstone is great as the titular character. Essentially pulling off a dual role as both a young warrior and aging king, Winstone’s performance is nuanced and believable. Granted, his cockney accent is a little jarring at first, but after the first ten minutes or so, it seems perfectly suited.
Unfortunately, Beowulf has two things working against it. The first is the lack of any strong emotional underpinning. Screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary reworked the epic poem to infuse stronger thematic elements, but, in Zemeckis’s hands, these themes take a back seat to the film’s thrill-ride visuals; which is a shame, as it’s precisely what separates a really good film from a great one.
The second thing working against the Zemeckis’s film is time. Beowulf won’t age well. While it represents the pinnacle of animation today, in twenty years it will look positively dated, and many of the “gee-wiz” moments that make up the meat of the film will lose their luster.
Still, for now Beowulf is a film that has to be seen (in 3-D) to be believed. While it may not be perfect, it’s a hell of a ride.
Bottom Line: As far as popcorn movies go, Zemeckis’s creation is the absolute cream of the crop, provided you take it for what it is. Recommended.
