February 28th, 2008 -- Written by Rodney
I had the glorious task of watching Beowulf on DVD today. It was the director’s cut and I was looking for new scenes, but if they existed - they escaped my notice. I am guessing some of the battle scenes were a bit more violent, and a few shots simply escaped my eye. None the less, it was great to see the film again and although I preferred it with 3-D glasses; the picture quality was incredible and the film was still very watchable a second time around.
The special features on the DVD included: A Heroes Journey: The Making Of Beowulf, Beasts Of Burden: Designing The Creatures Of Beowulf, The Origins Of Beowulf, Creating The Ultimate Beowulf, The Art Of Beowulf, Deleted Scenes, Theatrical Trailer and Previews. I will not go into details on all the special features but will discuss a pair of my favorites. I am not a huge fan of special features; but this set kept me entertained (which is certainly a break from the norm). My love for the film fueled my interest, and I assume those that purchase this DVD will be in the same boat.
A Heroes Journey: The Making Of Beowulf
Love it or hate it, motion capture takes a ton of fucking work; and peculiar work it is. All the neon props and costumes made it look like everyone was acting in the world of Tron. To see the confused looks on the actors faces the day before shooting was hilarious, even when they first started acting in the suits - they seemed embarrassed. Only when the art director showed them concept pictures and “made them up” as costumed characters did their countenances start to change. They realized that they were skeletons for the characters that they could now see, take pride in and ownership of. Tom Hanks shows up in this segment for a quick pop in to say word to Zemeckis, and we also see them pitch Grendel to the man that was born to play him - Crispin Glover.
This segment was my favorite part of the special features. I thought this mini documentary was put together quite well.
The Art Of Beowulf
The art direction on this film was insanely thorough. The concept paintings are delightfully detailed and were very inspirational for the overall look of the film. They created additional miniatures, paintings, props and costumes as points of reference for the actors and animators. With so many talented artists on board, it made me wish they used costumed actors as opposed to motion capture. When possible I always prefer “man i suit” and I certainly think they had the talent here to make Beowulf motion capture, animated or live action. The artistic team behind this film was outstanding and it was a pleasure to see them build a world up from the script.
In Conclusion
This film is an over the top, testosterone-fueled adventure tale where demons are slain, legends are born and kings are made by way of the sword. I love this film and think it should be a staple in every home library. It reminds us that: forgotten mistakes can live on to haunt us later in life, it is essential to know your weaknesses, and when fighting a dragon always go for the tender underbelly.
The only thing I would have added to the special features is a Crispin Glover / John Malcovich commentary track; that would be the stuff of legend.
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I still think i’m not going to enjoy the film half as much on DVD but i’ll still be picking it up on release day.
The image is that of a HD DVD case! Doug, did you see this in HD?
I’m sorry, but there’s one thing that I never understood about this film. Why bother spending so much money to make the animation look real, when they could have just USED REAL ACTORS AND FILMED IT LIVE ACTION!!!! The animation was distracting at times for me, and they still haven’t perfected how to digitally render eyes in films like this. All the eyes are creepy and dead.
This is probably the worst movie I saw last year… so no DVD for me!
Well I thought that Doug made an excellent point in his original review that for a movie which involves a lot of human characters interacting with unreal environments and creatures, and doing things that humans can’t do, it was great that the same guy who said “I WILL KILL YOUR MONSTAAAAAAAAAAAA” was the same guy who actually does later on in the film. Rather than watching Tobey Maquire & James Franco turn into CGI ragdolls in Spidey 3.
I mean you could never do that scene where he swims for five days and fights a sea monster (sorry, MONSTAAAAAAAAAAAAA) along the way in live action convincingly.
Plus, the real Crispin Glover is just too intense for younger viewers. He needed to be toned down a little;)
I watched it last night thinking I would love it and I really disliked it. The motion capture was annoying and the story was undewhelming.
I liked the movie,but the history looked some how incomplete,i mean after he becames king we didnt saw any of the so promised glory and fortune the Grendels mother(damn DIGITAL ANGELINA WAS HOT) promised to him.
But overall the i liked a lot,most of all the beautiful cgi.
We need more great warriors movies,that for shure,more sword fights,more blood and serious tone,and more MONSTAAAAAAAAA too!
Doug you were 100% right about this movie. I loved every second of it. I only wished we saw a little more of Angelina. I would give it a 9.5/10. Unfortunately it didnt make alot of profit at the theater so I dont know how many times they are going to try something new like this.
i appreciate the fact that watching this movie makes me feel like i’m getting an education in ancient literature (i was never forced to read Beowulf as a kid)
I just posted this comment at StalePopcorn, but I felt the stats needed to get posted here, too.
“I still do not understand why the filmmakers would spend all the money to mo-cap the thing when they could shoot it live action, 300-style, for HALF the price, make the film look TWICE as good, and turn more of a profit when the final grosses are added up. According to Box Office Mojo, this thing had a RIDICULOUS $150 million budget. Worldwide, it has done $195 million, which is a great number for most flicks, but considering the cost of marketing and whatnot, I doubt that this film turned much of a profit, if any. DVD sales might not do much to soften the blow to the studio’s bank account. Now keep in mind that 300 had a $65 million budget, and we all know what happened with that flick. This is Sparta, indeed. If Beowulf had been shot live action with that budget, it would have been one of the biggest hits of the year. I just don’t get what the hell they were thinking when they decided to do this mo-capped.”
(Spoiler)
How does slashing your arm off make any kind of difference? its not gonna get you any closer the dragons heart, actually its just gonna make the hole in the dragons chest higher and the heart even more unreachable!
simple physics!
apart from that the movie was awesome. Sure the 3d characters all had steven seagal s the expressional range but hey, at least the color scheme didnt give me a heradache like that 300 movie(also great)
Its truly sad that most of the comments here have nothing to do with the rich and amazing story of Beowulf itself. While there where things in the movie to be desired (like the visually appalling job done upon the hands, and the eyes did seem to be a little creepy), the historical assumptions and accuracy of the look towards the time period where impeccable. Beowulf (alongside the Nibelung Saga) is one of the greatest European / Scandinavian stories ever written that truly captures the mindset of the people of that age and the fearless determination expected of those who choose a warriors life.
I give this movie a 9/10, for sheer absolute historical brilliance.
(I’d like to also point out the wonderful fact that Beowulf’s name has not totally been discovered as to what its meaning is. When the Grendal’s Mother makes statements about his name “Are you the one they call Beowulf? The Bee-Wolf…? The Bear?” she is making assumptions to the meaning of his name. Its pure brilliance on the part of the writers who included this!)
~Chibbi
One of my favorite films of 2007. The film has perfect acting, incredible visuals, a compelling story, a decent ending, and in the end I just felt more macho!
I gave the film a 9.5/10