February 26, 2008

As one of the last major releases for the failed HD-DVD format, Beowulf: Unrated Director’s Cut is a fitting ending to the dead format. Sure we will see more HD titles released before they finally trail off, but at least Beowulf made it onto the next-generation format I am sad and proud to own. I guess I wanted the best of both worlds when I purchased a Blu-ray and HD-DVD player. Maybe I should have learned from the Betamax versus VHS format war of yonder.

As many of you know, Beowulf is a classic story about a brave warrior, horrible monsters, and courage. Unlike the book, the movie is a tale based upon it. This is a good thing to know going into the movie because otherwise you will be scratching your head wondering why you don’t remember the story being like the poem you were forced to read in high school.

The core story remains, but the writers rewrote the original so that it would combine all of the acts together and in doing so, have made some assumptions in relation to Beowulf, the dragon, and Beowulf’s succession to Hrothgar. Trust me when I say that Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary have banded together to bring you a version of Beowulf you can enjoy more times than one. The book was good, but the movie is far more entertaining. It will keep you on the edge of your seat as the action sequences come fast and frequently, right from the get go.

If you have no knowledge of this story, it is about a kingdom that is suffering a monster (named Grendel) problem. The Danish King Horthgar wants to rid the monster from his land so he posts a huge reward for anyone who can kill it. Beowulf gets word of this and not long after, he and his trusty warriors show up to kill it. The fight scene between Beowulf and the monster is creatively done and well choreographed. Beowulf fights Grendel on equal terms, man to man, or rather, man to beast. It doesn’t matter that Grendel is at least three times the size of our hero; he fights the unclothed beast naked and without weapons. Beowulf wins the battle but Grendel escapes only to die in his mother’s (Angelina Jolie) demonic arms. Naturally this angers her and she gets revenge in a horrifying way. Now it is up to Beowulf again to slay yet another beast, only he discovers the shimmering naked gold body that is Grendel’s mother. Our hero returns back to the kingdom and claims he has killed the beast, when he has really just inherited the old king’s curse.

Filmmaking: 9
Robert Zemeckis does a great job directing this film. The amazingly imaginative camera angles are a testament to his creative ability as a director. If Monster House or The Polar Express did not impress you, this film will. He really knows how to work with talented people and he always pushes the special effects.

Graphics: 8
While I found the graphics stunning at times, they were not the best I have ever seen, even in HD. I personally prefer a movie with live actors as opposed to a completely CGI film. Sure, that is my opinion, but I honestly believe some of the characters and scenes could have been done better if more time and/or money were spent. Yes, I realize that the film was done on a $150 million dollar budget, but I still think complete CGI films have a way to go before it is truly hard to tell if it is CGI or not. In Beowulf’s case we can overlook some of the annoyingly unrealistic characters because of the story which you get lost in it like a book. But let’s say the story was not good enough to draw us in and keep us there. Then, everyone would be complaining about how unrealistic some of the character models were. Because when one thing isn’t good it is easy to complain about the rest of it.

I thought the most stunning character in the movie was the monster Grendel. He looks hideous and amazing at the same time. His whole body looks like it is covered in a fatty layer of subcutaneous tissue (which is the third layer of human skin). When a monster is this repulsive to look at, you know it is a great monster.

The movie looks spectacular in 1080p. Although I thought the up-converted standard DVD version held its own very well. If you are able to up-convert the film to 1080p then you will be content with the video quality. On the other hand, this unrated HD-DVD version should tide you over until the inevitable release on Blu-ray later this year.

Sound: 8
You really have to love uncompressed audio and Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound. This film sounds amazing on nearly every level. From the fantastic voice acting, right down to wind blowing. The sound department really went out of their way to create unique sound effects that would fit all of the monsters perfectly. And the score by Alan Silvestri works well in deriving emotions from each scene. I only wish some of the orchestrated cuts would have been more dramatic at times, especially the final scene.

It must be really hard for an actor to perform without knowing what the finished scenes are going to look like, despite walls of artist renderings and scaled reference models. You really have to use your imagination and put yourself into a fake scenario with very little to go on, which makes the voice acting even more impressive. Obviously the director had something to do with this, but as a whole the sound is great.

Value: 10
Unlike the limited standard DVD version of Beowulf, the HD-DVD version has an amazing amount of extra features that spans two discs. Once you get done watching the film, you can go back and watch it again with picture in picture behind the scenes information and a bunch of cool web enabled features. On disc 2 you can watch deleted scenes, the making of Beowulf, designing characters, creating the ultimate Beowulf, the art of Beowulf, and a conversation with Robert Zemeckis all in high definition. Overall, there is definitely more than an hour’s worth of bonus features in HD. You just can't beat the double disc value here.

Overall: 8.8
This movie is a lot of fun, and anyone who likes the “God of War” video game series would be wise to watch this movie once. They both have at least three things in common: lust, monsters, and kicking ass. I highly recommend this movie to those who enjoyed the book and/or people who enjoy fantasy movies. Even if you are turned off by the fact that this movie is done completely in CGI, I can assure you that the amazing action scenes and story will draw you in. I only wish I would have seen this film in IMAX 3D.