If you went to high school, you have probably read Beowulf. I remember reading and enjoying Beowulf, but Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf is not what I recall, and I’m fine with that. Zemeckis’ Beowulf was written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary and is a parable about how leaders start with one intention-to protect others, prove themselves, but eventually the leader’s lust for power (and lust) create the seeds of destruction, results in lies and inevitably decay their soul. The leader’s legacy is death, lies and the Cassandra effect-will future leaders heed their warnings or become ensnared by the same pitfalls? There is also the idea that this corruption leads to a natural estrangement between fathers and sons. The sons understandably want to call out this hypocrisy regardless of who it destroys, and while the father initially sees this act as monstrous eventually realizes that the father’s efforts to protect his legacy is really the erasure of his true legacy and his younger self.
For people who read it as condemnation of female sexuality, I would simply say that I disagree since other examples of natural female sexuality-some subtle and some not, usually appropriate based on circumstances- isn’t condemned or punished, but male sexuality is.
I’m not visually a fan of the motion capture process that Zemeckis used in The Polar Express and Beowulf. It is too uncanny valley for my taste, and it distracts me from the story. I just find myself mesmerized at how close it looks to the real thing and distracted from the overall spectacle. What is the point of hiring actors, not letting them use their bodies then making their characters’ image look exactly like them. Obviously this applies to most of the main characters except Ray Winstone who plays and looks nothing like the titular character. I’m glad that I saw Beowulf at home, and not in the theaters.
Zemeckis’ Beowulf is a fine reimagining of an oft told tale and a must see if you can get through the first third’s jokey demeanor and do not mind motion capture techniques distasteful.