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Post by littleraven on Jul 28, 2007 8:50:33 GMT -1
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Post by Tegernacus on Jul 28, 2007 8:57:29 GMT -1
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2007 8:33:32 GMT -1
Love it, can't wait!  |
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Post by redraven on Nov 17, 2007 19:58:37 GMT -1
Been to seen this afternoon. It's like watching a playstation game for 2 hours. Speaking personally, I found it disappointing, the computer animation made the action scenes even more extreme than LOR, it was full of cliches and I found the story disjointed.
The fact that I don't play computer games may have had a bearing on my opinions, but I like at least a little realism in a film, there was none what so ever in this movie. Maybe I missed the point, (wouldn't be exactly unusual for me ;D) but it left me unimpressed I'm afraid!
RR
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Post by redraven on Nov 18, 2007 9:18:47 GMT -1
Danes with Welsh accents and a Scandinavian with a South London accent didn't help either (Mr Grumpy retires to the corner, muttering (G))
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Post by arth_frown on Nov 18, 2007 11:20:42 GMT -1
I can't wait to see the film and it's got Angelina Jolie in it.
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Post by Heron on Nov 18, 2007 16:56:31 GMT -1
I went to see the film too, with few expectations beyond the advertised plethora of special effects. I was also intrigued at the digitised image of Angeline Jolie in the trailer as she didn't seem to correspond to anything I remembered from the poem. Of course they've changed the story, understandably leaving out most of the digressions that take up half the poem (though managing to work in the odd thing, like a suggestion that the drinking horn given to Beowulf by Hrothgar came from the hoard of the dragon Fafnir, a story that forms the digression when Beowulf is implicitly compared to the hero Sigurd). As for the main story, they have conflated events in two separate places - Beowulf fights the dragon as an older man not as king of the Danes, on whose behalf he kills Grendel and his mother, but as king of his own people, the Geats in Sweden. But the real twist to the story - one worthy of Shakespeare's re-casting of original material - is the notion taken from a brief reference in the poem to the effect that it wasn't known who Grendel's father was, though it is assumed that he was "a fiend begotten by evil spirits". I won't spoil the story for those who might go to see the film, save to say that this aspect of its plot has no basis at all in the poem.
But the main issue for me is the presentation of the heroic ideal. This can be found not only in poems like Beowulf and the Norse sagas but also in the Old Welsh poem Y Gododdin and other earlier material like the Greek stories attributed to Homer. The film opens with Hrothgar drunk in his mead hall, insulting his queen and generally behaving badly. Such behaviour is totally alien to the respectful way Hrothgar is presented by the poet.The heroic code might have required men to behave ruthlessly in battle, but they should be courteous and mild mannered in the mead hall. Take, for instance, the description of Isaag in Y Gododdin. It was said that, in battle, 'seiniesyd ei gleddyf ym mhen mamau" ('his sword rang in the heads of mothers' when he slew their sons). But otherwise he was noted 'for modestty and liberality and the gracious drinking of mead'. Another warrior was 'shy before girls'.Although this ideal of visciousness matched by gentleness and absolute loyalty to the lord or chieftain is pretty much an absolute value in the formal poetry, the prose stories (admittedly these are often later) present it more problematically.The norse sagas set this in the context of its implications for people trying to live this way, and Y Mabonogi are more subtle still and the battles are often magical rather than physical. It has been noted that Manawydan refuses to follow the heroic ideal and challenge Caswallawn for his rightful inheritance when he reurns from Ireland.
As for us, though much of the material left to us from earlier times comes with this heroic ethos attached, perhaps
what we need to take from it is something else. Manawydan displays his 'heroism' in his magical skills in dealing with Otherworld adversaries. As one of 'the three ungrasping chieftains' he shows no interest in personal fame (essential for heroic warriors) and when he is going to be attacked by rival tradsemen in England he withdraws rather than confront them. Is this a model that better suits our sensibilities and values? Films like Beowulf can remind us that Nature contains creatures that confront our humanness. But in responding to this and developing a religious practice for our times, perhaps the ethos of heroes and warrior elites is less relevant than the lives
and practices of the common people, and their wise men and women, though these may be largely invisible to us in the
record of earlier times.
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Post by Craig on Nov 20, 2007 10:59:44 GMT -1
Thanks for that Heron.
How does it compare stylistically to 'The 300'? Assuming of course that you have seen this as well...?
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Post by ceinach on Dec 6, 2007 20:53:05 GMT -1
Craig not sure you can compare if watched in 3D - I thought the 3D was amazing and grendle was far too scary for my 6 year old who had to be scurried out balling her eyes out - naughty mummy - but Arth enjoyed Jolie moments apparently - we are going to see it again next week without the Children so I can see the whole movie, and from the taster I saw I am looking forward to it - personally I thought it reflected the poem quite well but I only saw about 15 mins of it...
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Post by arth_frown on Dec 7, 2007 16:46:08 GMT -1
mmmmm! Jolie
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Post by dreamguardian on Jan 7, 2009 16:31:13 GMT -1
Thanks for that Heron. How does it compare stylistically to 'The 300'? Assuming of course that you have seen this as well...? IMHO 3oo's far superior. I loved that film |
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Post by littleraven on Jan 7, 2009 21:46:15 GMT -1
I still havn't seen it, but I did see 'Beowulf and grendel' which had real actors and I actually really enjoyed. Some of the historical details were bang on.
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Post by arth_frown on Jan 11, 2009 16:34:19 GMT -1
I still havn't seen it, but I did see 'Beowulf and grendel' which had real actors and I actually really enjoyed. Some of the historical details were bang on. It worth it even just to watch a golden AJ |
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Post by megli on Jan 11, 2009 17:08:10 GMT -1
with - I loved this - six inch stillies built into her feet!!
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Post by yggwaldir on Jan 24, 2009 13:23:45 GMT -1
It's a fun movie (Jolie  ), but I wish they had used different names, as the story has almost nothing to do with the original (dare I say: real) beowulf, which I enjoyed reading. |
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), but I wish they had used different names, as the story has almost nothing to do with the original (dare I say: real) beowulf, which I enjoyed reading.