Movie: Beowulf

[amedia]

Last night we rented & watched Beowulf.

Okay, first off, I had no idea it was going to be *animated*. That video-game almost-realistic look gives me the creeps. It was really cool looking at the deleted scenes, though, because they hadn't finished animating them and you could see what stages they were at.


The big fight scene between Nekkid!Beowulf and Grendel was sorta fun. LOTS of Beowulf-booty! OTOH, they didn't want to show his willy, so they went to (presumably unintentionally) hilarious lengths to cover it up with conveniently-but-awkwardly-placed swords, shields, random elbows, whatever. It reminded me of how they used to make sure part of Wilson's face was covered in Home Improvement (and there was something similar IIRC in one of the Austin Powers movies). The thing is, I thought the humor of it really detracted from the action-adventure-suspense-excitement aura of the scene.

I haven't read Beowulf - the closest I've come is watching The 13th Warrior - but TODS has not only read it, he's taught it. (In modern English.) So it was pretty funny to see his reaction when Beowulf accepts the offer of Grendel's mother - it was a total OMGWTFBBQ???!!! moment! At that point, apparently, the movie takes a left turn into fantasyland and is no longer an adaptation of Beowulf, but a movie about some people who happen to have the same names as the people in the original story.

I was hoping I would just enjoy the movie as a text-in-itself rather than as an adaptation, but you know, it didn't work very well for me even on that level. Once Beowulf fell to the temptation offered by Grendel's mother, he wasn't an archetypal hero any more, but he was such a flat video-game character that he wasn't an interesting flawed hero either. He was just a funny-looking CGI guy who did something incredibly wrong and stupid.

And I really felt for Queen Wealthow, who seems to have spent her entire adult life rejecting Grendel's mother's sloppy seconds. (Every time she marries a guy, it turns out he's just slept with the demoness!) In a way, that's where the kingly succession is - instead of the king's son becoming king, whoever kills the king's illegitimate son/monster becomes king. It looked like the cycle was going to repeat again with Wiglaf. I was just waiting for him to wade out there and say, "Too bad, lady, I'm gay!"

(Or even, "Sorry, I'm actually A GOOD PERSON who will not ENDANGER MY KINGDOM AND LET LOTS OF PEOPLE DIE JUST TO GET SOME DEMON-POONTANG!")

I was also irritated by the subtitles. Every time someone spoke Middle Old English, the captions went off. Because, apparently, the audience doesn't need them because we all understand it fluently?????? (TODS & I don't know Old English - actually, we don't know Middle English, either.) TODS pointed out that they probably figured that most viewers wouldn't be any better off with them than without them, since so few people can *read* Old English, but we agreed it was a stupid decision.

Comments

[blackletter]

"Sorry, I'm actually A GOOD PERSON who will not ENDANGER MY KINGDOM AND LET LOTS OF PEOPLE DIE JUST TO GET SOME DEMON-POONTANG!"

*snorfle*

[amedia.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked! :-)

[kyleen66.livejournal.com]

Middle English? Beowulf is an Old English piece that I don't know enough German to be able to wade through. Although I do have a really nice hard cover with actual pictures of the manuscript on one side and the text on the other.

I have NO Trouble with Middle English- that's more our good friend Chaucer's era (and I really ought to read some again... I love that stuff.). But I can imagine that a regular general audience would.

I stayed clear of the Beowulf adaption when I saw Angela was playing Grendel's mother. I knew nothing good would come of that.

[amedia.livejournal.com]

Beowulf is an Old English piece

Big WHOOPS! (hastens to correct)

Although I do have a really nice hard cover with actual pictures of the manuscript on one side and the text on the other.

Ooh, cool! And you know Middle English. I always knew you rocked; this just provides further confirmation! :-)

I stayed clear of the Beowulf adaption when I saw Angela was playing Grendel's mother. I knew nothing good would come of that.

Actually, having her play a woman who *appears* beautiful and is actually a hideous monster... seemed appropriate. (meow!) I don't know if they messed up how Grendel's mother fit into the story *because* it was Angelina Jolie (you know, like they felt they needed to expand her role b/c she's such a big attention-grabber), or whether the handling of that character was just a nexus of awfulness.

Beowulf

[shawan-7.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite stories of Higher Education comes out of Beowulf.

Decades ago, I took a course in Chaucer through NYU but set in London. Our professor was the Graduate Professor in Old and Middle English, a distinguished white-haired man in his 60s, tall and courtly, and deep tenor voice.

As a 17 year old I was amazed and a bit infatuated. (Later I found I had no prediliction for languages but back then I didn't know that.)

He took us on a field trip to the British Museum and, as we stood in front of the Beowulf manuscript, he began to read it.

In Old English. With a rolling accent.

Everyone in the room stopped dead and watched. THe whole room was breathless. It was so... wow.

Obviously I've never forgotten the moment even if I can't remember what he really looked like or his name.

I didn't see Beowulf - maybe I'll Netflix it like I did with 300. Don't bother with THe Other Boleyn Girl - waste of time.

Re: Beowulf

[amedia.livejournal.com]

He took us on a field trip to the British Museum and, as we stood in front of the Beowulf manuscript, he began to read it.

In Old English. With a rolling accent.


Wow. Just... wow! What an awesome experience, and how well you tell it!