It's all about the sensory overload

Rating: 5/10 (14 November 2007)

The success of "300" and "Apocalypto" no doubt have set the stage for violent setpieces set during ancient history, where visual resplendence that cater to testosterone-bearing members of the audience are preferred to a richer narrative. The latest in line is Robert Zemeckis' "Beowulf".
Ray Wintstone plays the eponymous character, who travels the high seas to answer the call of the drunk King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins): to slay the demon Grendel (Crispin Glover), who has been terrorizing the town of Heorot. Beowulf does so but incurs the wrath of the demon's mother (Angelina Jolie), who in turns seduces him into a curse that befell generations of leaders.
Written for the screen by fantasy novel/comic book whiz Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary ("Pulp Fiction"), the film employs the same motion-capture 3-D animation he used in "Polar Express". Consequently, this retelling of an Old English epic is no doubt a sensory overload. The renderings are photorealistic, and the fight scenes are exhilarating. But at the course of its length, it all becomes tiresome with its source's themes relegated to the backseat in order for Zemeckis to suit it to modern viewers.
The same can be said of Zack Snyder's and Mel Gibson's previously mentioned works; but whereas those films managed to keep the viewer engaged through its action scenes, "Beowulf" doesn't. And in all its visual splendor, "Beowulf" also lacks stronger characters that would elevate it to the level of the film's technical breakthroughs. It's at once exhilarating yet exhausting.
The climactic battle scene (which in itself is an incentive to see the movie in IMAX) punctuates a two-hour exposition that lacks a thematic depth. It's not unlike one of those extended cutscenes in RPGs that seem to go on forever and ever, making you wonder when gameplay would start again.