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     The origin of "Beowulf" dates back centuries. It was originally an Old English heroic and epic poem written by an anonymous author. It is of Anglo-Saxon descent . The poem follows the hero, Beowulf, as he battles three antagonists: the monster Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a dragon. The poem is known throughout the world, especially in England, and is even taught in numerous literature classes. Renowned director Robert Zemeckis ("Back to the Future"/ "Forrest Gump"/"Castaway"), utilizing the incredible animation style of his 2004 Christmas film "The Polar Express", decided to update the aforementioned poem. This leads to the dynamic "motion capture animation" adventure, 2007's "Beowulf".

     This version of the story was written by screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery. Zemeckis does the directing and is joined by a superb cast. This includes Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright-Penn, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Brendan Gleeson and Angelina Jolie. The story follows the outline of the poem and adds some modern day thinking to the overall plot. The audience is first introduced to King Hrothgar (Hopkins), his queen Wealthow (Penn) and their court. They are in Denmark around 507 A. D. The king is giving a drunken speech about how well off their kingdom is as he dedicates his new mead hall. The singing and boasting from the partying in the mead hall soon reaches the ears of the half-human, half-demon Grendel. Sitting in a nearby cave, the noise from the party is painful to the forsaken creature. In a rage, he bestows down upon the mead hall and destroys many of Hrothgar's subjects and warriors. After having his life spared, the king decides to close up the mead hall until a brave warrior can kill and get rid of Grendel once and for all. That brings Beowulf and his warrior friends to Hrothgar's kingdom. Beowulf is a renowned warrior who is celebrated for numerous heroic deeds [and to avoid any further spoilers I will sum up the remaining plot and move on to further discussion about the film].

     Beowulf declares that he will be the one who will rid the kingdom of the disgusting monster. This leads to the three great confrontations from the original poem as Beowulf faces off with Grendel (Glover), Grendel's water demon mother (Jolie), and a vicious dragon. During the time these three battles take place the story follows Beowulf as a young man all the way to becoming an aging king. Throughout this time Beowulf faces many difficult decisions with the choices he makes and their effect on himself and those around him becoming the underlying focus of the film.

     This is normally the part of my review where I discuss the technical aspects of the film I'm reviewing. For most films I generally break down the highs and lows from the technical side of things. As I am going to do the same thing here, I must say that this entire rant is to explain just how much of a technical masterpiece that I believe this film is. The motion capture animation technology that is on display here is truly extraordinary. The characters look so much like their real life counter parts that it's down right uncanny. As I'm sure Bloodtype co-creator Runk would attest, most of us would seriously consider fucking the Angelina Jolie character. How that would work, I couldn't tell you. All I know, is that most of us would try. Anyway, from the characters to the environments all the way down to the small details like cups and weapons, the look of this film is like nothing that has ever been seen on film before. The action sequences are also one of a kind and need to be seen to be fully appreciated. The scene where Beowulf is hanging from the dragon as it flies over the countryside could only be captured in this way because of the style in which it was created. Which brings up another point that I loved about this film and that was the graphic violence. I viewed the "Director's Cut" DVD and from what I understand it included more violence than the theatrical release. The bottom line, though, is that the film is truly adult even though it is animated and that made for a kick ass viewing experience. The golden breasts of Grendel's mother are another sight to behold.

     I will first say that this film probably isn't for everyone. The combination of it being a fantasy and animated may turn certain viewers off. To be frank, though, fuck that! Simply put, this movie kicks ass and has gone into my top five films of 2007. I do emphasize that this was right up my alley. I am easily swayed by fantasy and I have no problem with animated films. That said, this movie should probably be enjoyed by men from the ages of 18 to 40, at the least. I say all this because I don't want to over hype the movie. The bottom line, though, is that I ate up every second of this groundbreaking masterpiece.

Rating - ***1/2

Jared Bajoras