Beowulf 3D

By Adam Thomas

Friday November 16, 2007

NERDS REJOICE, AUDIENCES BEWARE
Just last week this seemed impossible, but Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf is pretty awesome down to every last computer enhanced frame. But beware, ONLY go see it in its fully realised 3-D version. Virtually designed for that format, it’s got all the spear throwing, ax-tossing straight at the screen that anyone could hope for and all the body ripping, battle crashing action you could want in this revamping of the ancient yarn. Having improved on the cold, emotionless, digitally enhanced style he explored in Polar Express, director Zemeckis has gone the distance to create a world so richly filled with depth and detail that it’s hard not to be a little impressed.

The “film” — an almost perverse moniker for a format that contains few traits of conventional cinema — is probably the best 3-D movie ever. And enlisting veteran writers like Neil Gaiman (Mirrormask) and Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction) to rework the classic story about a warrior who arrives to save a kingdom from a bloodthirsty beast pays off too. Using what Zemeckis calls advanced motion enhancement, the film features real actors like Ray Winstone, Crispin Glover and Angelina Jolie as virtual reference points, and culminates in a wild and action packed climax with Beowulf doing battle with a dragon, which is cool. And while there is still something just a little creepy and hollow in the rendering of real people, the method seems more suited to this mythological tale than it did in the director’s previous effort about a magical train going to Christmas land.

The freedom of environment and of perspective is the real wonder though, as you shift seamlessly from spear to skull; it’s this aspect that truly benefits from the 3-D formatting. It may seem like a strange endorsement to only focus on the 3-D version when most audiences will probably only see this movie in flat format, but that’s the way it goes. If you’re gonna spend the time, money and effort, convince your friend with the car to go to the IMAX, put on the glasses and enjoy. Otherwise… watch at your own peril.