Beowulf (2007)

From Summa Bergania

I didn't particularly care for the poem as a junior in High School. (In fact, one of my first emails ever was a rant against Beowulf to my friend Cory. My email wasn't preserved, but you can piece my opinion together from his reply.) That was 10 or 11 years ago and I don't remember too much from the poem... except that I thought it was hard to follow and didn't lift up a particularly worthy hero. This movie made so much more sense, and the myth that shines through isn't one that's supposed to venerate the hero, but show the nature of things. The hero is corrupted by becoming king, and he literally has to prostitute himself for the crown. Then when the temptress has no incentive to keep her end of the bargain, the seed of that act sets out to destroy his kingdom.

It's a simple story, and quite a profound understanding of the nature of power.

The motion-capture technology hasn't sold me 100%. It looked half-cartoon and half-real... which really distracted me in the slower dialog scenes. But the scenes with special effects were perfectly executed. The seduction, and the fights with Grendel, the sea monsters, and the dragon were jaw-dropping good.

• David: 4 Stars