An interesting plot that turns lazy on its second half

Rating: 6/10 (5 December 2009)

I rented a DVD of this movie without knowing anything of the story told. Overall, I have found this movie full of good surprises although the plot turns a bit disappointing in its second half.
The fact that the whole movie is presented in CGI suites perfectly well to the telling of a legend as it contributes in providing a unity to this imaginary world. The look, facial expressions and movements of monsters stand on equal terms with those of human characters, and monsters thus appear fully integrated in human settlements and not just as pieces of CGI "added to the reel after shooting". Likewise, human characters stand on equal terms with monsters in being integral components of the fantasy world. To my opinion, this is one of the strengths of comic books (and more generally books) over cinema, and Beowulf transfers this advantage to cinema by its wise use of CGI.
During its first half, the story is very interesting and attractive because, although the hero is brave and physically strong, he is also flawed and, most importantly, can be bought. The plot gradually provides some evidence that a strong motivation for the main character to kill monsters and demons is getting fame (and what comes with, i.e. money and women). But because this is a Hollywood movie (and also because I knew nothing of the legend before watching this movie), I was not expecting that such flaw would lead the "hero" to loose the most important confrontation of his life with a demon. Yet, where one would expect a both physically and mentally fierce fight between two strong opponents, one can only watch the main character being tamed and seduced by a demon in a few minutes.
To this moment, I was really enjoying the movie and thought that the plot was quite original. However the second half of the movie became, again to my opinion, lazy. We are told that, thanks to his pact with the previously cited demon, Beowulf has now become (thirty to forty years after the pact) a famous and rich king who can easily fill his bed with young ladies. However, sooner or later, he must pay the price for all these earthly pleasures. The bill comes under the form of his son that Beowulf sired with the demon, and therefore that has developed the bad habit of terrorizing and slaughtering human beings. To protect his wife and his mistress (and secondarily his people), Beowulf has no choice but killing his son. This second part of the movie is quite straightforward and mostly devoted to action. Very little is shown of the evolution of Beowulf personality, which makes this character looks quite insensitive and unresponsive to what happens in his life.
Independently of what the original legend describes, the plot would have better kept my attention had it (a) explored the evolution of Beowulf personality following his pact with the demon, the slow deterioration of his relationship with his wife and his feelings toward his son, and (b) developed a bit Beowulf son's history and feelings toward is father (after all, although it was sired by a demon, part of him is human).