Beowulf Movie Comparison

When I heard about a naked Angelina Jolie, I, as any 18 year old would, had my interest peaked. Regardless of your spot on a sexual orientation continuum, or your gender, you’re more than likely already wanting to see this movie too. But honestly, it’s probably not worth your time. The movie is comprised of awful CGI and Beowulf (Ray Winstone) continually yelling “I… AM… BEOWULF” at a deafening level. Now, the CGI quality may be a result of this movie being 11 years old, and other movies coming out since then that absolutely put this to shame, but it was honestly just extremely creepy. There was no denying the resemblance of the characters as the actors who played them. That wasn’t the issue. It was more so the slightly off appearance of every

The plot is quite simple. Beowulf, the great warrior of the Geats, goes to the kingdom of the Danes to help them slay the monster, Grendel (Crispin Glover), that has terrorized their lands. He talks with Hrothgar, the lord of their lands played by Anthony Hopkins, and then is challenged by John Malkovich as Unferth. Beowulf proves his strength by battling Grendel naked and gains the respect of the Danes. So far, nothing unexpected. The CGI is still slightly unnerving in all the characters, but Grendel is possibly the most extreme example of this. Grendel is just an oversized, underdeveloped, slightly deformed fetus with the most obnoxious shriek I’ve ever heard. He is absolutely disgusting and the CGI that slightly resembled claymation, did not help with his frail, yet somehow droopy body. It was not a quality decision by director Robert Zemeckis to have Grendel so awfully depicted. The most major difference in this act from the epic is that Grendel’s attack, in the movie, comes with more casualties than it does in the epic. In the epic, only one of Beowulf’s comrades die, but in the movie all except Wiglaf (Brendan Gleeson), perish in the

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT keep reading this if you have yet to see this movie, because there are some spoilers; however, I don’t really think they matter because I wouldn’t say that the film is worth your time. In the epic, Beowulf’s victory against Grendel is followed by ceremony and then a wild party followed by a night in which Grendel’s mom, Angelina Jolie, comes to the hall that her son was slain. She kills some warriors and steals Grendel’s arm back before she retreats as warriors awaken. Beowulf tracks her down and kills her in her cave the next day. But the movie has quite a different twist on the plot. First, Grendel’s mom never steals the arm back from Herot, the mead hall in which it was hung. Next, Beowulf challenges Angelina Jolie to a fight, yet is not capable of resisting her impressive body, completely covered in a scintillating gold plating. Nobody can blame Beowulf for his lust getting the best of him, but that has nothing to do with the story. Then Beowulf travels home, lies to the king about his feat, is told that he will be crowned the future king of the Danes (when he is supposed to be king of the Geats), and then Hrothgar kills himself. Now, I get that sex sells but what the hell was Zemeckis thinking? This plot twist doesn’t just alter my view of this movie, but plagues the entire piece with a smog of a new toxic circle that could curse all Danish Kings to