Cinema review
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring Ray Winstone, Robin Wright Penn, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Brendan Gleeson
Release date 16 November 2007

The great warrior Beowulf sets out to save a kingdom from the ferocious demon Grendel. But resisting the charms of Grendel’s mother might not be so easy…

It’s an entire second into Beowulf before the faces of audience members light up in wide-eyed glee. And that’s just at the sight of the studio’s logo…

It must added that this is the 3-D IMAX screening of Robert Zemeckis’s epic fantasy, and it’s the format that the movie was made to be seen on. Arrows fly out of the screen, rats scurry in front of you, long spikey things are pointed in your face and, yes, the studio’s logo beams out towards you. Jaws 3-D was never like this.

Robert Zemeckis’s movie may be based on the Anglo-Saxon poem thought to originate from the 11th Century, but there’s nothing remotely old fashioned about this version of Beowulf. Incorporating the distinctive motion capture animation of the director’s The Polar Express (which basically involves actors prancing about in leotards and motion detectors, and then being digitatally reformed amid CG backdrops), this is undoubtedly the best special effects movie of the year, trumping even Transformers in the jaw-snapping spectacle stakes.

Thankfully, unlike Transformers, there’s more to this movie than just the effects. The script, by the unlikely pairing of Neil Gaiman and Killing Zoë writer-director Roger Avary, is imbued with the language of epic fantasy (“I am the teeth in the darkness, the talons of the night!”), yet also has just enough sly wit to suggest that you shouldn’t be taking things too seriously. Witness, if you will, Beowulf’s stark naked punch-up with Grendel, with only strategically placed furniture to mask certain intimate parts. The scene feels like it’s been borrowed from the end of the first Austin Powers movie, but it makes for a chucklesome set piece that you’re unlikely to forget in a hurry.

Beowulf himself is an intriguing flawed hero. This is a character with few qualms about cheating on his wife or exaggerating long-winded stories about his bravery, and he puts the entire kingdom at risk by succumbing to Angelina Jolie’s seriously sexy demon. Yet at the same time, Beowulf is a slightly more kind-hearted hero than, say, 300’s Leonidas – you can’t imagine that character rushing to the aid of an enemy soldier being kicked about and humiliated.

As the hero of the title, Ray Winstone is an inspired piece of casting, his voice resonating with power and authority. But Winstone also lends the character a certain vulnerability, allowing the occasional moment of sorrow and regret to creep in. The little fact that the ever-so-slightly porky Winstone looks nothing like anyone’s idea of a fantasy hero is solved through a buff CG reimagining that renders him virtually unrecognisable.

It goes without saying that Angelina Jolie - complete with serpentine hair, dangerous eyes and feet that look suspiciously like high heels - is a fabulous choice of supernatural femme fatale. It’s no stretch of the imagination to believe that men would gladly risk the happiness of their kingdom for this particular monster.

Elsewhere, John Malkovich is on fine snivelling form as Beowulf’s chief critic Unferth and Anthony Hopkins is clearly enjoying himself as the drunk and lecherous King Hrothgar. Then there’s the digitally recreated Crispin Glover as the troubled demon Grendel – like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, you can’t help but feel a little sorry for the chap, despite his head-chomping nature.

Put simply, Beowulf is thunderous good fun. It’s fast, funny and violent (though none of the bloodletting is especially intense – hence the 12A certificate that Jolie recently expressed surprise at), and the movie even ends in a surprisingly moving fashion. As a big budget fantasy that isn’t content to simply emulate Lord of the Rings, it’s truly spectacular entertainment. Whether it will hold up quite so well on DVD remains to be seen. Make sure you see it on the biggest screen possible. Matt McAllister

VERDICT: 8/10
Eye-popping visuals and a smart, witty script, make this the movie spectacle of the year.

Click here for an interview with Ray Winstone.