Topic: The New Beowulf movie. (Read 19072 times)

Boro_Bandito · « **on:** 28 Oct 2007, 20:53 »

Has anyone else seen trailers for this? I've been seeing them pop up from time to time for the past month and largely discounted them for being another bad translation of a classic story into a live action movie until I realized upon closer observation that it's not live action. From the commercials it looked like it to me but today while watching a marathon of Heroes on G4 the commercial popped up and I saw something strange in the facial expressions, took a closer look and it just has to be 3D animation. I'm gonna go find the site but that is some pretty damn good animating skillz.

Edit: according to the official website, its digitally enhanced live action, where I think basically the entire movie is motion capture animation.

website it www.beowulfmovie.com , has got some trailers for you to see.

leave for no raisin · « **Reply #1 on:** 28 Oct 2007, 21:10 »

You know, I don't really want to see it for any reason other that Neil Gaiman co-wrote the screenplay. I've had to read Beowulf waaaaay too many times.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #2 on:** 28 Oct 2007, 21:11 »

I for one did not know that it would be animated

looks cool

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #3 on:** 28 Oct 2007, 21:13 »

I've read Beowulf so many times its not even funny, every English class from 9th to 12th grade for some reason or another required reading it, because when I switched from 9th to 10th the High school system was different, then they changed policies the next year, then when I was in 12th grade I graduated from a high school in Maryland in which the senior English class required it. I have a sneaking suspicion that had I not taken the AP exam and got college credit for English 102: Basic Composition I would have been forced to read it again.

Liz · « **Reply #4 on:** 28 Oct 2007, 21:16 »

I've never actually read it before. It was one of the required materials at my high school, but we had such a shuffle of teachers going on when I was there that the syllabus for each class changed each year. I've always wanted to read it, though, so maybe I'll go for that this year...

Also the movie does look interesting. I was kinda hoping it would be live-action, but oh well.

leave for no raisin · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Oct 2007, 21:18 »

I had to read it three (THREE!) times during college. FUCK GRENDEL AND HIS STUPID ARM.

Liz · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Oct 2007, 21:20 »

I have not taken English in college yet, nor do I plan on it. Hooray for reading what you want!

Jimmy the Squid · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 Oct 2007, 21:55 »

I haven't read it but I know my mythology well enough to have a basic idea of what the story will be. Having seen posters for this movie put up at my local cinema over the last few weeks and also having watched the trailers I can safely say that I am going to see this film. I just wish they had someone that wasn't Angelina Jolie in it. I can't fucking stand that woman.

jimbunny · « **Reply #8 on:** 28 Oct 2007, 22:00 »

Did y'all read the Seamus Heaney translation? Am I the only one who thought it was cool?

Personally, I thought the whole animation thing looked like crap from the trailer - too plastic. I might see it, though, because of Neil Gaiman. It looks more like a reinterpretation than a faithful retelling.

imapiratearg · « **Reply #9 on:** 28 Oct 2007, 22:12 »

That translation is sitting in my back pack right now. We just finished it. Now my class is reading a book from Grendel's point of view. It's very existential, apparently.

jimbunny · « **Reply #10 on:** 28 Oct 2007, 23:43 »

Blargh. Grendel. By what'shisface.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #11 on:** 28 Oct 2007, 23:53 »

As far as I know, it's live-action with digital enhancement added in post-production, a la 300.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #12 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 08:06 »

But if you look at it its so much more animated than 300 was, that was mostly live action for the Spartan soldiers, with a fuckload of greenscreen, this is even more heaped on top.

Hey, John Gardner is one of my favorite authors, and yeah, I have the Seamus Heaney translation as well as the previous one from like the 70s.

I really don't mind her all that much, and being as this is like a R-rated flick, you get to see Angelina Jolie naked. I won't have felt this creepy and wrong since the movie Hackers!

carrotosaurus · « **Reply #13 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 11:25 »

I'm not so sure I want to see it... all that CGI makes my stomach queasy.

Lines · « **Reply #14 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 14:06 »

Yeah, the first few times I saw it, I thought it was going to be a live action movie with some CGI, but the last preview I saw looks all CGI. All of the actors had a slightly odd computerized look about them, so I don't think it is CGI ala 300, but more like A Scanner Darkly (different style though), where they shot it live and then put stuff over the live action. I'm not sure if I like that or not.

I am excited for it though, because I like the story of Beowulf (both the epic poem and the graphic novel of it I read) and Neil Gaiman, who is awesome, is involved.

LordNagash · « **Reply #15 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 14:38 »

Looks decent, I'll probably watch it at some point.

Cartilage Head · « **Reply #16 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 14:55 »

Looks like shit. I will probably see it, but I expect it to thoroughly destroy and rape the legend of Beowulf.

thepugs · « **Reply #17 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 17:03 »

While I'll see it regardless of plot, I think I'm among the folks that think this falls into Uncanny Valley.

Just looks sorta strange to me.

EDIT: grammar mistake.

negative creep · « **Reply #18 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 17:09 »

I haven't read Beowulf. Is it any good? Would you recommend it?

Lines · « **Reply #19 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 17:11 »

I do. Classics are good for the brain. (And I liked it, personally.)

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #20 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 17:18 »

it looks like a highly graphical computer game.

I might still see it though, I read it once, a long time ago.

"TONIGHT WILL BE DIFFERENT!"
"I AM BEOWULF!"

vs.

"TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!"
"THIS IS SPARTA!"

That could be the same movie.

negative creep · « **Reply #21 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 18:01 »

So i've watched the trailer now. It looks like a fucking video game, but not in a good way. What is the point of this?

Gridgm · « **Reply #22 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 23:07 »

Quote from: leave for no raisin on 28 Oct 2007, 21:10

You know, I don't really want to see it for any reason other that Neil Gaiman co-wrote the screenplay.

2nd

there was also a comic released based on the script as a precursor...it looks ok

BobJoeJim · « **Reply #23 on:** 29 Oct 2007, 23:58 »

When I first saw the preview a while ago, I did some research on it and came to the conclusion it was going to suck (for reasons other than the graphics). I don't remember specifics of what bothered me, but basically it looked like it was going to be a really crappy "interpretation" of Beowulf and that just didn't appeal to me. I just did a couple quick searches though and can't figure out where I got that opinion from.

As for the justification for the CG, the IMDB FAQ includes this:

"Why is the entire movie CG, not live-action or live action+CG?:

Computer-generated images allowed the director, Robert Zemeckis, far more freedom than live-action filming would permit. Zemeckis has already made an all-CG movie, The Polar Express (2004), and knows its benefits. For this film, they include:

- camera moves that would not otherwise be possible;
- greater control over the art direction;
- greater ability to convincingly age the main character, who must grow fifty years over the course of the story;
- keeping costs down;
- images that look especially good in 3-D processes, such as IMAX or Real D."

Form your own opinions.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #24 on:** 30 Oct 2007, 08:12 »

I remember that movie, it tried to go for photo realistic CG as well.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #25 on:** 30 Oct 2007, 11:32 »

Beowulf is pretty bad ass. I actually really enjoyed the book which, in turn, makes me look forward to the movie less. I doubt I'll see it since I highly doubt anyones ability to turn that piece of literature into a good movie. It's going to be a schlocky CG action fest and you know it. This isn't 300 here. That was based on a graphic novel and a rather over the top one at that. Crazy CG worked there. It won't work in the conversion of a timeless classic.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #26 on:** 30 Oct 2007, 21:14 »

Eh, the idea of Beowulf is timeless, not the actual story in my opinion, because that thing is boring as hell. Maybe it'd be a little easier on me if I could understand the Old English portion of it and get the rhymes and the rhythm of it, but as it stands I had to fight to read it each time.

But just in general the true classic hero that defeats monsters of all kinds and becomes a king then slays a dragon as his last dying act is awesome, which is why I'm going to see the movie and enjoy it, because its not so much the butchering of a classic, but making it easier on the eyes and brain for my visceral gut enjoyment.

I could still be angry at all of my english teachers though.

carrotosaurus · « **Reply #27 on:** 31 Oct 2007, 07:49 »

I saw a preview for it last night, and the animation looks pretty decent for the action, but the mouth movements are jerky and limited and the character faces are total statues. It looks like PSX cutscene animation. Also, the story is probably going to suck balls. Although, it's kind of hard to screw up a story like that...

jimbunny · « **Reply #28 on:** 31 Oct 2007, 21:41 »

Angelina Jolie is playing Grendel's mom?

I'm pretty sure I feel two ways about this...actually, no - just one now. Fuck the story. And plus, have we forgotten that Neil Gaiman co-wrote the screenplay?

Maybe the animation will be watchable.

Inlander · « **Reply #29 on:** 01 Nov 2007, 00:55 »

Oh my god, it's like everyone's been dipped in plastic.

STOP SHITTING ON MY VISUAL CORTEX!!

carrotosaurus · « **Reply #30 on:** 01 Nov 2007, 07:45 »

BEOWULF STARRING ANGELINA JOLIE REALDOLLS

Cartilage Head · « **Reply #31 on:** 03 Nov 2007, 14:51 »

This is going to be so horrible. They made Grendel a fucking zombie. Grendel is not a goddamn zombie.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #32 on:** 03 Nov 2007, 17:12 »

Eh, so be it.

I generally take movies and books as separate entities, though this technically isn't a book to screen translation, Beowulf was originally an oral tradition epic poem, that was sing with the aid of instruments in Mead Halls.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #33 on:** 04 Nov 2007, 09:21 »

Wow, I just watched the trailer and I gotta say my initial, intensely negative impressions....have been bolstered ten fold. This looks absolutely dreadful, from the way Grendel and his mother are depicted to Beowulf's little screaming soliloquy at the trailer's end. Acting, animation, script...all of it seems even worse than I feared. This is going to be a laughably atrocious film from start to finish.

imapiratearg · « **Reply #34 on:** 04 Nov 2007, 21:09 »

Quote from: TheFuriousWombat on 04 Nov 2007, 09:21

Wow, I just watched the trailer and I gotta say my initial, intensely negative impressions....have been bolstered ten fold. This looks absolutely dreadful, from the way Grendel and his mother are depicted to Beowulf's little screaming soliloquy at the trailer's end. Acting, animation, script...all of it seems even worse than I feared. This is going to be a laughably atrocious film from start to finish.

My sentiments exactly. I saw this zombie-thing on screen and I thought: "Is that Grendel? I think it is. Man, I just died a little inside."

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #35 on:** 04 Nov 2007, 21:11 »

you don't need to quote the person above you

anyone else feel, "This is Sparta" with the ending of the trailer?

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #36 on:** 04 Nov 2007, 22:53 »

I thought he was going to break out in '300' lines. At at least a couple points, the way the line was spoken and the general idea of it was the exact same.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #37 on:** 16 Nov 2007, 23:22 »

So, my friends dragged me out to see it (I hadn't seen any of them in several weeks), and they charged an extra 3$ for the 3D glasses. The 3D part was cool and all, but I felt like it could've been expanded on. The rest of the movie save Sir Tony Hopkins was pretty much a pile of shit. I really tried to like it, and I just could not get into it.

And despite Grendel being a zombie, I think they did a decent job with it.

Johnny C · « **Reply #38 on:** 16 Nov 2007, 23:44 »

I saw a take on it in The Globe & Mail which suggests it's actually a satirical work, and given that it's penned by Neil Gaiman that wouldn't surprise me. Hence Beowulf's screaming and the odd behaviours and depictions.

Not as good a satire as Beowulf & Grendel, I take it.

Spinless · « **Reply #39 on:** 17 Nov 2007, 06:54 »

Hee, King Leonidas was played by Gerard Butler, who played Beowulf in Grendel and Beowulf in 2005, and the 2007 Beowulf movie seems to be heavily influenced by 300. This makes me chuckle.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #40 on:** 17 Nov 2007, 07:49 »

I could see where Neil Gaiman's writing was in there, but the other screenwrite (avery or something like that) was comparatively awful. There was a ten-minute running gag with Beowulf being naked and being conveniently "covered" by swords, friends, dead people, candles, etc. There was a whole lot of bad jokes about having sex with women and things of a medieval nature. I'm pretty sure I would've been much happier if Neil Gaiman was the sole screenwriter.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #41 on:** 17 Nov 2007, 09:01 »

Why god, why?? The more I see/hear of this movie the more I have to restrain myself from tearing the hair out of my head in frustration. The movie looks like someone took a bunch of action figures and then decided to fuck with an essential piece of mythology until it came out looking like laughable tech demo. Bastards.

imapiratearg · « **Reply #42 on:** 17 Nov 2007, 14:07 »

"Let's take a gorgeous piece of 1000 year-old literature, defecate on it, put it on film, and call it a movie! Oh wait, it has to star Angelina Jolie."

EDIT - (My bad.)

KharBevNor · « **Reply #43 on:** 17 Nov 2007, 15:46 »

Beowulf is 1000 years old.

Godlol · « **Reply #44 on:** 17 Nov 2007, 15:50 »

im not expecting to enjoy it, but my best friend obsesses over the book so will probably drag me to see it. i hate to dissapoint her so yeah.

theres a site somewhere, called sacred texts, that has the (a version?) book on it. i keep meaning to read it but i doubt id like it

KvP · « **Reply #45 on:** 17 Nov 2007, 19:23 »

Quote from: Dimmukane on 16 Nov 2007, 23:22

The rest of the movie save Sir Tony Hopkins was pretty much a pile of shit.

You certainly don't hear that statement very often.

BlueChicken · « **Reply #46 on:** 18 Nov 2007, 11:54 »

Quote from: imapiratearg on 28 Oct 2007, 22:12

That translation is sitting in my back pack right now. We just finished it. Now my class is reading a book from Grendel's point of view. It's very existential, apparently.

Well, Simone de Beauvoir was the ugliest philosopher to ever live...

monkandmovies13 · « **Reply #47 on:** 18 Nov 2007, 15:40 »

I just saw it today. I was disappointed. It was really shallow and cheesy, but I expected that, and went into it thinking that this one would just all be about visual flair, so I was looking forward to that. I saw it in 3D, so that was pretty cool. But they spent to long trying to make it a good deep movie! There was so much that was so cheesy about it. Not even fun action movie cheesy, just embarassing. I already knew that it would turn the classic story into a big messy action movie with lots of visual effects, so I wish that they had accepted that fate and put their all into making it as visually exciting as they could. The moments that WERE like that were really cool, but there were too many scenes that made me bored and annoyed. If you're going to ruin a good story, ruin it with something that's at least exciting. I'd rather watch a bad action movie than a cheesy soap opera-ish movie.

Cool part though was how at some points, Grendel was speaking middle English.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #48 on:** 18 Nov 2007, 17:18 »

Was he? That's wierd, because Beowulf isn't in Middle English.

monkandmovies13 · « **Reply #49 on:** 18 Nov 2007, 18:26 »

Old English!

Is the correct one. I'm pretty sure.

Did I make another mistake?

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: The New Beowulf movie. (Read 19072 times)

leave for no raisin

leave for no raisin

LordNagash

thepugs

BobJoeJim

Spinless

Godlol

BlueChicken

monkandmovies13

monkandmovies13