Beowulf (In 3D!!!)

It just hasn't been the same for me since the winter of 2003. For the few years prior to that, we had been getting a steady diet of high-quality fantasy in the form for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Harry Potter movies....well, sorta high quality in the case of the Columbus HPs. I began to equate fantasy at Christmastime the way some people equate stab wounds with trips to Spanish Harlem. At any rate, it seemed like every year after Sam couldn't carry the ring for him, but could carry Frodo was going to be a letdown. Part of this could be because Return of the King is one of the best movies ever made, but I digress. Enter Fantasy Contestant #1 of 2007, Beowulf. Is it a contender? The short answer is no, but despite my hatred of Robert Zemeckis, it came a hell of a lot closer than I ever would have given it credit for.
Zemeckis has always, to me, made films that are either good ideas that aren't quite classic (Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Cast Away), too cute for their own good (Forrest Gump), or something else (What Lies Beneath....I'll tell you what lies beneath.....the sound of Alfred Hitchcock turning in his grave. Ahem.) So it's the law of lowered expectations that helped me enjoy Beowulf with the proper frame of mind. It doesn't hurt that the film was written by Roger Avery (Pulp Fiction) and fantasy legend Neil Gaiman (DC/Vertigo's Sandman comics, American Gods). The basic story is thus: King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) is plagued by the monster Grendel (Crispin Glover)'s constant attacking of his noisy mead hall. After a particularly brutal slaughter, the hall is closed and Hrothgar sends out for a hero. The call is answered by Beowulf (Ray Winstone), his right-hand man Wiglaf (a rock-solid Brendan Gleeson), and Beowulf's thanes. After being greeted by the king, insulted by the king's wormy advisor Unferth (John Malkovich), Beowulf attracts the attention of Grendel and Pwns him. But further violence occurs late the next night which raises questions. Is Grendel really dead? No, Hrothgar says, it was Grendel's mother. Beowulf goes into the hills into Grendel's cave to confront the monster, and makes a very foolish decision......
I could talk about differences between poem and film, but I've been typing for the last two hours, so no. I will say that I found Beowulf pretty darn enjoyable. I liked the performances a lot, and was impressed with Ray Winstone's commanding presence. I liked how even though he stretched the truth (a lot), Beowulf was still really badass. I liked the themes of being haunted by past decisions, and the how the past catches up with one. It's not terribly deep, but there's more to the film than pretty pictures.....though those pictures are pretty indeed. The motion capture CGI used for Beowulf has come a long, long way since The Polar Express, and there are some shots in the movie that are almost photorealistic. And the 3D?
I saw Beowulf twice: once in Digital 3D at the Loew's Boston Common, and once in 3D IMAX at the Jordan's Furniture in Natick. The picture was nice and clear at BC, and there was only minor blurring in certain 3D effects. I suspect that some of the imperfections result not from the technology, but what the human eye can process in the span of seconds. The glasses for the real 3D were comfortable, and covered my eyes completely. I was, however, disappointed by the IMAX experience. Bulky glasses were passed out that couldn't comfortably be pushed up one's nose so that the lens completely covers the eyes, and it takes some concentration to block out the frames of the glasses, and concentrate on the film. In addition, the Natick theater had a surprisingly small IMAX screen, and the lights in the aisle floors are too close to the ends, and anybody not sitting at least 5 seats in is going to get some pretty distracting glare. I had to lean to the right to compensate for this. The sound system at the IMAX is vastly superior to that of the Boston theater, with a massive subwoofer underneath the floor. The 3D is very immersive, and greatly enhances the viewing enjoyment. If I was watching, say, The Spitfire Grill, in 3D, it would probably get a higher rating than I would otherwise give it. I give Zemeckis a lot of credit for being at the forefront of exciting new technology that will be increasingly more common, I hope.
Overall, Beowulf is a very solid, but not amazing, film. There's lots of eye candy, solid performances, some decent uses of irony and foreshadowing in the story (Has this been THE dumbest year for movies or what?), and fun battle sequences. I would encourage you to see Beowulf in 3D, not 35mm, due to the immersive nature of the format. I give Beowulf an 9(14) out of 22 on the 22 scale (The number in parentheses is for 3D).

Totally Awesome Quotes:

Beowulf: "I am Ripper... Tearer... Slasher... Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength... and Lust... and Power! I AM BEOWULF!"

Grendel: (dying in his cave) "He wasth stho strong..........stho strong..."