Review: Beowulf

Beowulf ***1/2

I was prepared to be disappointed by Beowulf. I knew the new interpreters of this ancient story would tailor it for the 21st century. That was inevitable. There would be more emphasis on the blood and gore (not that there isn't a lot of that in the poem). I knew they'd probably mess around with the plot -- and they did. Grendel's Mother, played by Angelina Jolie, does not die when she's supposed to, and Beowulf doesn't go home to Geatland to be King. Instead, he hangs around with the Danes and rules them until his final battle with the dragon.

So, before I walked into the film, I decided to forgive its departures from the Old English poem. And I was blown away watching it in 3-D on a large screen. My advice: see it while it's in the theatres in 3-D. The experience is stunning. It might cost you $11.75, but it's worth it. Spears, arrows, and knives come right at you. Blood drips on you and snow falls so near and so gently, you reach out to feel it land in your hand. The animation is similar to that in Zemeckis's Polar Express, but it seems to be a few steps beyond that. And the technique allows for the perfection and alteration of bodies. Ray Winstone and Angelina Jolie both have beyond-belief-perfect bodies. Robin Wright Penn, who keeps her clothes on, is an errily stunning Danish beauty. Her jawline seems more square than in actuality and helps to make her every inch a queen.

The movie does do a fine job preserving the heroic culture of the late first millenium in England. The boasting and exaggeration are all there as well as the political structure of thanes and lords and the centrality of the mead hall. There are even a few nods to the introduction of Christianity to England -- "the Roman god, Christ Jesus." I especially enjoyed the few moments when a scop (a singer of tales) recited Beowulf in Old English. All in all, it's fine movie. If you liked 300, you'll enjoy this one too.