A remarkable gore fest.

Rating: 7/10 (26 August 2009)

All over the world, fans of the God of War games want a movie based on the adventures of Kratos, with all the specific elements: gore, vulgarity, nudity and battles. Bloody, bloody battles. Unfortunately there is no God of War movie. But Beowulf is closest thing we have.
Beowulf is an old medieval poem about a Northern hero, Beowulf, who came to help the people get rid of menacing monsters. And that is pretty much the story here. Grendel (Crispin Glover), a demon with sensible ears, turns a grand feast into a blood bath. King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) is in luck: a man who calls himself Beowulf (Ray Winstone) and his men arrive, claiming that they can defeat the demon. After a hard-earned success, Beowulf has to face an even greater challenge: Grendel's mother (Angelina Jolie), while his influence and power grows.
The plot has little to no subplots, is linear and very solid. That's not the problem of the movie. The problem is that it doesn't manage to impress. Yes, it's based on a legend, but that doesn't mean it could rival the Lord of the Rings. Certain elements are keeping Beowulf away from the 5 star milestone.
First of all, the voice acting and acting are great, the actors are well-known, no complaints. BUT there still are two actors who stick out like a sore thumb - Malkovich and Jolie. John Malkovich plays Unferth, a Rasputin-like counselor of the king, who is at first sceptic about Beowulf. He's so stiff, I don't know where to begin... Then there's Jolie, but here it's not about acting, but about choice. She just isn't right as Grendel's mother, I couldn't buy it. I was like " Lara Croft is confronting Beowulf?". There are tons of actresses who could have had the role. By the way, since when do medieval demons wear modern-day shoes?
But the most obvious oddity is the full CG. Everything is CG, from actors to landscapes, and honestly, it looks incredibly well - photo-realistic, superb effects, fabulous animation. But you still know that it's artificial. They went to such lengths to animate and create everything, when they could have just used the REAL actors and just made it live-action. Okay, this isn't a flaw, it's the director's style and whether you like it or not - it depends on taste.
The movie is full of gore, nudity, epic music, great acting and marvellous effects. Unfortunately, the plot development, several flaws and two actors are pulling it down.
Final Verdict: Awesome. The should make a game based on this...wait...
Final Score: 3.5/5 or 7/10