Beowulf

Nov 16 2007 Evening Chronicle

USING sophisticated motion-capture technology, Robert Zemeckis’s computer-animated re-imagining of the oldest surviving poem in the English language boasts dazzling fight sequences, lusty serving wenches and mythic creatures.

Jaws drop at this digitally-enhanced live-action adventure, and that’s before the eponymous warrior sheds his clothes to fight the man-eating Grendel, or Angelina Jolie’s sylph-like form emerges naked and dripping wet to seduce the brawny hero.

Screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary adapt the Anglo-Saxon poem into a three-act adventure punctuated by terrific set pieces. Unfortunately, the story sags badly in the middle section and the tone errs towards the unintentionally camp or unnecessarily risque.

Rolling back the mists of time to Denmark AD507, the film settles in the realm of corrupt King Hrothgar (Hopkins), whose sins have condemned his people to brutality at the hands of savage beast Grendel (Glover).

A great warrior (Winstone) arrives by long boat on Danish shores. “I am Beowulf and I am here to kill your monster,” the stranger proudly tells the king.

Beowulf is violent and gory, with disturbing scenes of characters being torn limb from limb, fully warranting the 12A classification. Dolby 3D Digital prints of Beowulf will be screened at selected cinemas, and the results are jaw-dropping.

(12A, 114 mins) Drama/action. Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson, Crispin Glover, Alison Lohman, Angelina Jolie. Director: Robert Zemeckis.

NO SWEARING; NO SEX; VIOLENCE