Beowulf - Truth in the Poem

Last night at around one o-clock in the morning, suffering from a little insomnia I decided to sit myself down on the couch and settle my mind with a film I hadn't yet seen, but had been curious about for some time. That film was Beowulf by director Robert Zemeckis.

As soon as the movie began I found myself slightly recoiling. The computerised images of the characters like king Hrothgar and the dinner scene in the great mead hall of the Danes was something likened to a Playstation movie, and a step backwards from an old favourite of mine Final Fantasy which was made quite a many years before. But then maybe like all movies, they seemed better 'then' when you first watched them upon when revisiting them years later you start noticing all the outlines on the special effects jobs. The problem with Beowulf is you notice all the outlines first time around and that is always enough to make me cringe.

But then the crudity began. The king arrived on the scene two parts cut with his clothes falling off. There where rude gestures and many sexual implications and suddenly I realised I wasn't watching a children's movie. Then Grendel the great man-daemon abomination arrived and started pulling people apart quite graphically and I was suddenly pleased. Zemeckis had spared nothing in his rendition of the original story which was quite true to the Poem.

The story took hold of me and suddenly the terrible platforms and stagnant character expressions became bearable and somewhat different and enjoyable. I even began to notice that some elements of the animation where greater than others and I began to appreciate that aspect a little more. But I very quickly began to realise how fast Beowulf was nakedly punching his way through the original story and I began to suspect an impending deviation from the Poem.

Now I don't usually like deviations from original work, especially original work I have come to appreciate but I a was compelled to make an exception after what I saw in Beowulf. Zemeckis by rights did not deviate above minor details from the Poem, instead he treated the original text as it was, a boast of a deed past and not necessarily the truth. From the boast Zemeckis developed his own truth as to the story of Beowulf and that then became the heart of the film. As grim as this new story was I found myself enjoying it and what's more I could only applaud the way that Zemeckis skilfully pulled it off without tearing the original text to bits and pissing on it in the process.

This is a film worth the watch, even if you do have to cringe at the monsters once or twice. The Zemeckis Daemon mother is an improvement if anything on the the rather unflattering Poem's explanation of her. She is an enjoyable sight.

Three stars * * *