Overdone

Rating: 3/10 (23 November 2007)

I saw the film in its 3-D Imax incarnation. I found certain aspects of the film appealing: at the core of the film is a psychological and moral allegory about kingship in a warrior culture committed to offensive warfare for the sake of treasure (hence, the role of Grendel's mother). As such, I don't mind the plot changes from the original poem, which in the end also simultaneously celebrates and critiques the Teutonic warrior ethos.
What did bother me, and what almost sent me running from the theater a few times, was the emphasis on the gaudy and garish visual effects, not to mention the overdone soundtrack. The depiction of Grendel as an anguished, pathetic simpleton upset by the noise coming from Heorot is far less effective than the original poem's presentation of him as a mysterious, undescribed evil descended from Cain. Having a completely disrobed Beowulf fight Grendel led to gratuitous comedy (one was always wondering, "how are they going to cover it next?") that detracted force from what should have been one of the more tense scenes in the film.
The graphic novel look, which was successful in "Sin City" and "300," struck me as less effective here, perhaps because it is no longer fresh but now formula. And while some of the 3-D effects were noteworthy (the long shot to the ship across the beach early in the film, I thought, was pretty neat) the technology hasn't advanced much since "Invaders from Mars," so there's often an obvious artificiality to it that I thought detracted more than it added.
Perhaps the words "formulaic" and "artificial" best sum up my experience of this film (along with "loud" and "garish"). It had entertaining moments (some of the fight with the dragon, I admit, got me going), but in the end it was all overdone to the point of being indigestible.