This quasi-animated version (enhanced live action) preserves the shell of the ancient story, set in sixth-century Scandinavia, while filling the center with something new. There is the monster Grendel, all right, the one thing I vaguely recalled from class, and his reign of terror upon a king and his people is what sets the story in motion. Beowulf (Ray Winstone) is the warrior who answers King Hrothgar’s (Anthony Hopkins) call for a hero. In this telling he is met not only with the beast, who comes looking like a giant man whose skin has been flayed, but by beauty, which looks a lot like what today we might call Angelina Jolie. The tale, then, is of bravery mixed with temptation, which is the new part.
The frame is sturdy, the look shiny and sharp, especially if you get to see the 3-D version, as I did not, and the climax, a one-on-one war of man and beast, rousing. There is one larger-scale battle sequence, but it’s short, and overall the movie’s only mildly action-oriented. What prevents it from being more memorable is that the temptation theme is not well-developed. A tragedy of weakness and redemption seems intended, but as the years skip by we really don’t see its full weight. Epic grandeur is needed, and lacking. Whereas perhaps we are to see Beowulf as a Samson figure succumbing to the charms of Delilah, I saw him more as Bill Clinton succumbing to the charms of Monica Lewinsky.
By no means is the film a failure, or dull. But it lacks the mythic power of 300, a rough analog of heroism and self-sacrifice set in a semi-mythic past.
I'd like to say you missed something by not reading "Beowulf" but I don't remember anything about it, other than it was assigned summer reading before 11th grade and we ended up not discussing it in class.
ReplyDeletemrc