Beowulf: 3D

[madd74]

(keep in mind, I have not read the extremely long peom this is based from)

I saw this film Sunday, on little sleep, and in 3D. The movie is PG-13 and done in CGI. I feel if this movie would not have been CGI, it could have gotten a rating of "R".

I tell you, 3D has come a long way since Jaws 3: 3D, Friday the 13th part 3: 3D, and The Three Stooges: Spooks. It must be noted that people who would first watch Beowulf: 3D will most likely be distracted (at first) by the visual effects. It took me a while to "get over" the difference between this and the old school anaglyph (the one when you looked at had the red "shading" to it that you saw without glasses).

Spoiler for Anaglyph image:

However, the 3D was wicked cool. There were a few instances when I would have sworn someone of the movie was right there in the audience. In fact, a part where a spear was being pointed towards the audience, it looked as if it was inches away from Jen's head. With some of the added sound effects, I felt the movie in a way not ever possible for me before, like an instance when someone ran into a tree. I actually flinched because it seemed "so real". So an excellent job on presentation.

Of course, a movie that only looks good with nothing else to back it is like a drop dead beautiful woman with no brains. You could only look at it so much before eventually, it gets old. Beowulf answers with a good story line and some excellently placed humor. A few of the character ties are done well. The relationship with Beowulf and his first man, Wiglaf, extremely excellent. I think this plays a key in the movie from their intro to the end credits. If it would not have been as solid as it was, the movie would not have been as powerful. To that, I do think Wealtheow's character was weak to the movie, more so regarding Beowulf's character.

Many parts are predictible, and some I should have seen earlier, however I did not. There were a few surprises that were snuck in. Also, Grendel's character surpassed Smeagol in "acting", motion, and preformance. If the two were up for an award, I would say give to Grendel hand's down. While he was not the best looking (in terms of quality, not actual looks), the acting was beyond excellent.

So overall, this movie is wonderful. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys action, even though remember I felt this movie would be R easy as live action (somewhat similar to 300).

[sewcute]

I really don't have a desire to see this movie, but I had some students that went this weekend and HATED it.

[madd74]

Do you know what about it they hated?

[cmplxty7]

I also absolutely loved it! I read Beowulf in high school, and from what I actually remember of it, the movie did it justice. Of course, it's always weird to read a book/story and have images of characters in your head, then the people who actually create visual images of the characters for the big-screen make them look totally different. The 3D effect was awesome, and I look forward to more movies in 3D.

I wonder if maybe the students didn't like the movie because of a certain maturity level? I could see high-schoolers enjoying the movie for the visuals, but not the storyline. I remember also reading Oedipus in high school, and some of the kids just weren't mature enough to handle the adult themes in the storyline.

[sewcute]

Do you know what about it they hated?

hmm I don't remember, I just remember them coming in saying they didn't care for it.

[madd74]

I admit, at first the director appeared to gear the movie a lot to "show off" the 3D grafix. However, it is obvious towards the later part of the movie that they switched gears and paid more attention to the actual movie as opposed to the look.