Very disappointing

Rating: 1/10 (26 November 2007)

I was excited to see that a new version of Beowulf was coming out on the same weekend that I was visiting Oslo as part of an ongoing exploration of Scandinavian history. The signs were good: a promising looking cast, including Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Angelina Jolie; a good story; and an excellent precedent in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. (The two stories have much in common: Tolkein was a professor in Old and Middle English and was deeply familiar with the Beowulf poem).
However as soon as the film starts one realises that the whole thing looks like a teenage video game. The overall visual style could be called 'arcade-cheese'. In the original poem the characters are admittedly highly simplified, 'symbolic' figures - who do nonetheless have a basis in history. With this as a starting point it would be possible to build on the poem, as Tolkein did with the Lord of the Rings, and create credible characters with believable human characteristics. In this film, however, all the characters are cardboard cutouts. Consequently there is no real acting to speak of throughout the film.
The storytelling in the film lacks the keen edge of the poem. Beowulf is an epic story of heroes and monsters, told in a high style. The film fails to capture the poem's seriousness and a better telling can be found in the audio version produced by Naxos, which is a much more exciting affair: http://www.naxosaudiobooks.com/PAGES/242512.htm. It is also worth noting that the film script departs very considerably from the story in the poem. This fact didn't bother me especially, although the changes didn't add anything significant to the story. The scriptwriter showed a tabloid instinct for inventing murky sexual secrets, combined with a Disney-style sense of humour: elements that were of course totally lacking in the poem.
The single star is awarded for Beowulf's battle with the dragon, which was excitingly done.
Those of you, like me, who were expecting Lord of the Rings style quality may well be disappointed. Very disappointed.
Overall: visually unimpressive, bad/no acting, flat characters, weak storytelling.