. [13] Zemeckis used Alan Ritchson for the physical model, facial image and movement for the title character of Beowulf. The film received moderately positive reviews from critics, who complimented the CGI visual-effects, performance-capture, and voice acting, whilst criticizing aspects of the interpretation of the poem. [15][24][25] According to Nickolas Haydock, the film reflects the "American obsession with sex as the root of all evils," to the extent to compare Beowulf's and Hrothgar's portrayals to Bill Clinton and the history of sexual misconduct that caused his political decline. But outraged and the murder, Grendel's mother now seeks revenge and once again, it is upon Beowulf to put an end to the destruction and horrors. The hero must face his weakness and be heroic once again. Adapted from the seminal and iconicLord of the Rings novels by J.R.R. Unfortunately, Beowulf, here released in a Directors Cut that adds scant minutes to the running time but reinstates violent and gory shots that were deemed necessary to cut out of the PG-13 rated theatrical edition, is a giant leap back, not even a step forward at least in terms of what the audience gets as a final looking result. Avary stated he wanted to make a small-scale, gritty film with a budget of US$1520 million, similar to Jabberwocky or Excalibur. Plus I like many of Zemeckis other films, I like the poem, and theres a lot of potential for a good adaptation. Edward Scissorhands is a retelling of Frankenstein, but with a slight twist. The director's cut means that the director chose what cut is on the screen. That actually looks like a substantial improvement over the DVD. In thanks for freeing his kingdom from the monster, Hrothgar gives Beowulf his golden drinking horn, which commemorates Hrothgar's victory over the mighty dragon Fafnir. Why did the battle scenes feel like you were watching someone else playing a (bad) video game? Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Accurate Paperwork Support. Again, the characters walk with a lifeless nature I counted roughly only four blinks between characters during the entire movie. In designing the dragon, production designer Doug Chiang wanted to create something unique in film. The 2007 film Ghost Rider lent Beowulf the fluid engine that was used to model the movements of protagonist Johnny Blaze. Grendel's mother slowly rises to the water's surface and seductively beckons Wiglaf towards her. Im not a parent and Im not pro-censorship (far from it), but this feels more like a 15 to me. What of the film itself? 5/5 video and audio with raves about both. As he is portrayed here, even when mad with rage, all his pathetic CG model could muster up was a bit of a slightly annoyed frown. I would say the best way to watch this, if you haven't seen it, is with all the lights out to see every little detail, sound up loud and do not have high expectations of a serious movie as there is plenty of scenes that you will just go "NO WAY!" We know it doesn't take much to call something a "director's cut," and Zemeckis wasn't the one playing up the differences between the versions as much as writers Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary. With the cast in their elaborate mo-cap suits, we see that, nearly three decades ago, Trons Academy Award-nominated costumed really werent so far off the mark, though the often-referred to Jolie and her skin-tight mo-cap suit never materialises, though surely cant be anything we havent seen in the likes of Tomb Raider. The theatrical cut of the movie was released to poor reviews, with many seeing the film as just another historical epic. If only the supposedly more realistic puppets here could give half as much, he could be on to something. Whats really saddening, however, is seeing the emotion and facial ticks in the performers faces, totally wiped out on their digital counterparts when seen against the various picture in picture comparisons. The moments themselves dont appear to have been cut for any other reason than to deliver a feature under two hours, though there is no placing in context by way of any commentary or text pages to explain either way. The stories being filmed are just as flimsy. While Paramount isnt exactly taking full advantage of all of HD DVDs capabilities (at least not as its been announced so far), they are loading both editions up with featurettes, deleted scenes, and more. There are even times when things arent far above the graphics from a high-end computer game. Why did they, then, try and make said CG models look like their actor counterparts when we all know what a real Hopkins and John Malkovich look like? Beowulf is a braggart and a self-promoter, but not one without self-reflection or eventually, humility, and his journey is to discover the price he pays for his ambition. Grendel's mother appears as a gold light in the surf, and drags Hrothgar's corpse into the sea as the crowd kneels to the newly-crowned King Beowulf, fulfilling their bargain. The characters are voiced by the original actors who starred in the film. Surely choices like this render the aim of an animated film pointless? In the original cut, when Subaru asks for Emilia's name, she pauses and looks off into the distance before answering "Satella" in a somber manner. 24/7 Support; On Time Delivery. Please refresh the page and try again. Despite his age, Beowulf goes to great lengths to stop the dragon. RELATED:Full Metal Jacket: 5 Reasons It's The Best War Movie (And 5 It's Apocalypse Now). Your choice will be averaged with the other votes to calculate the AV Readers' Score. Jan 31, 2023 10:53 The Little Drummer Girl Ep. This may have been asked already, but what resolution is the CG -- the one used for the master. What man doesn't get involved with Angelina Jolie?' Two years later, the Zemeckis produced Monster House took a different approach to the same technique. There seem to be a couple of conflicting reports on how different the two cuts are. To the films credit, it sticks fairly faithfully to the major plot points of original, ancient poem (or at least the version I read of it way back when), but hacks out anything we didnt need to know to keep things less labyrinthine than they otherwise might be. On the anniversary of Beowulf's victory against Grendel, Unferth returns the golden drinking horn, which his slave had found on the moors. Beowulf then realizes that the curse has now been passed on to him after his affair with the demon. The DVD The cast is a good one all perhaps being able to be grabbed for cheap because the shoot involved no extensive location shooting but theyre not the right people to be performing these roles physically. A Heros Journey: The Making Of Beowulf (running 23:55) starts things off on the welcome, non-promotional fluff approach, being more candid on-set footage than talking heads and clips. Naipaul's 20th century novels. Considering the disc is fairly packed with other content, the compression works overtime to deliver a stunning, reference quality image, even if it does intentionally flirt with being too dark at times. Grendel and the dragon act as extensions of her will, "mindless embodiments of feminine aggressiveness" who represent their fathers' emasculation and loss of patriarchal power. Technical Support. Inspired by the epic Old English poem of the same name, director Robert Zemeckis's digitally rendered film follows the Scandinavian hero Beowulf (Ray Winstone) as he fights to protect the Danes from a ferocious beast named Grendel (Crispin Glover). Some of the changes made by the film as noted by scholars include: This is not the first time that the theme of a relationship between Beowulf and Grendel's mother was explored by Gaiman. About the only special touch is a front sticker that shouts out its Unrated status with footage too intense for theaters. It was those kinds of questions that allowed us to explore deeper into the myth, and in a way that I don't think bastardizes the original myth; I think it actually is a deeper examination of it. 1 Episode 1. HD DVD looks better.but I have to say I don't see a "massive" difference. Wiglaf finds the golden horn in the sand and sees Grendel's mother give Beowulf a final kiss as his burning ship sinks into the sea. Anthony Hopkins is entertaining (and sounding more Welsh than ever), and I enjoyed Alan Silvestris score. Share Improve this answer Follow Inspired by the epic Old English poem of the same name, director Robert Zemeckis's digitally rendered film follows the Scandinavian hero Beowulf (Ray Winstone) as he fights to protect the Danes from a ferocious beast named Grendel (Crispin Glover). MPI's version has good color and sound and was taken from original negatives owned by the film's producer, Michael Wayne (John's son). Despite the fact that movies are crafted by the director, not every movie has a 'director's cut' release. However, "Beowulf" is one of those instances of a movie that was certainly entertaining from open to close, and I liked the performances. Differences: Aside from the technical rejig described above, the 'Redux' version adds 49 extra minutes to the 153-minute original (that adds up to 202 minutes, math fans). Hero of the tale Beowulf is a mighty warrior, known far and wide, but doubted by Unferth, the protector of King Hrothgar, until he emerges victorious in battle with Grendel, a viciously scarred and frightening monster who abhors the Kings frequent festivities. [10] As a result, the film's development team designed a priority scale and incorporated it into their processors so graphic artists would be able to work with the scenes when they arrived.[10]. This superiority is also seen in the Rotten Tomatoes scores, with the Donner cut receiving 90% and the Lester version receiving 85%. Or you can actually check it out yourself, for while both cuts of Dark City are available on DVD and Blu-ray, the Blu . Go wild!" JavaScript is disabled. [11], Zemeckis insisted that the character Beowulf resemble depictions of Jesus, believing that a correlation could be made between Christ's face and a universally accepted appeal. . If I recall correctly it said the run time was the same, cuts were just more extreme or "diddn't hold back.". Or did he make a pact with the demon? Well, now you know. I'm wondering if this is just an excuse to insert a few extra frames of footage,. Its not all bad. RELATED:Top 10 Directors Who Work with the Same Actors. how many living descendants of queen victoria; Men principal. The cassette box features a drawing of Wayne and O'Hara and claims to be "authorized by the estate of John Wayne." . NEXT:10 Slow-Burn Movies Whose Endings Make It All Worthwhile, 5 Director's Cuts That Surpassed Their Theatrical Versions (& 5 That Were Actually Worse), Top 10 Directors Who Work with the Same Actors, Full Metal Jacket: 5 Reasons It's The Best War Movie (And 5 It's Apocalypse Now), 5 Belated Sequels We're Glad Got Made (& 5 We Wish Never Happened), Ridley Scotts 10 Best Movies, According To IMDb, 10 Slow-Burn Movies Whose Endings Make It All Worthwhile. I still find Zemeckis an extraordinarily interesting talent to watch, but more and more, rather than count down the days until his new picture opens, find myself dragging my heels toward the movie houses sometime during the first two weeks of playing. "[53], Scholars and authors criticized the changes done upon the poem's story. ricky phillips family; case in vendita gaeta vista mare beowulf director's cut differences [15] Whereas in the poem the heroic values of ancient warrior culture is reaffirmed, in the film it is shown to be in decline, even explicitly failing along with Beowulf. He doesn't have to worry about lighting. [10] The mead hall battle scene near the beginning of the film, among others, required numerous props that served as additional markers; these markers allowed for a more accurate manifestation of a battlefield setting as the battle progressed. The film underperformed at the box office, having earned only $196.4 million on a $150 million production budget (not including marketing costs). Could it simply be that audiences are becoming so used to such sub-par approaches, like albeit impressive video games, they theyre willing to overlook (or are unable to comprehend) such inadequacies? Despite a lack of commentary, this is a pretty comprehensive bonus package, topped off with a Theatrical Trailer (1:55) that jumps on the 300 bandwagon, attempting to draw in the same crowd. I picked my copy up at Hollywood Video today for $10.well worth that price. The dragon transforms into its golden humanoid form, before being washed out to sea. Fresh off the back of the massively successfulGladiator, Ridley Scott began to work on another historical epic. Impossible with live-action actors. Finally seduced, Beowulf is named the new King and lives a long life of pleasure until he displeases Grendels Mother and she vows to bring Beowulf down with all the might of her malevolent power, just as she had done with Hrothgar, and will do again, and again. [15][26] The film still underline the irresistibility of female power, as even Wiglaf, who had been shown to be abstinent from lust in contrast to his partners, is hinted to be similarly seduced by Grendel's mother. It all suggests that this kind of a moviemaking is more than a stunt. The 2.35:1 ratio brings Beowulfs murky and shadowy world to life, and the film does deserve plaudits for its production designeverything apart from the characters looks pretty darned nice. Looks like the audience was pretty savvy though: Beowulf came nowhere near to matching the Spartans surprise box-office take earlier in the same year. No doubt in its Imax-3D presentations Beowulf worked more magic, but honestly, whats the point of making a film for it only to work with a gimmick? He also stated that "Zemeckis prioritizes spectacle over human engagement, in his reliance on a medium that allows for enormous range and fluidity in its visual effects yet reduces his characters to 3-D automatons. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. Of course Beowulf does have a more impressive literary pedigree than, say, Bwana Devil. . Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Beowulf (DVD, 2008) Directors Cut Tested at the best online prices at eBay! Frederik Willem de Klerk was Staatspresident van Suid-Afrika . Now Available: Tech Talk Podcast with Scott Wilkinson, Episode 19. [46] Time magazine critic Richard Corliss described the film as one with "power and depth" and suggested that the "effects scenes look realer [sic], more integrated into the visual fabric, because they meet the traced-over live-action elements halfway.