Beowulf film

"Christopher Kreuzer" <spamgard.TakeThisOut@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:VDvej.128821$cJ3.16711@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> From another thread: "...talking of Anglo-Saxon or Danish culture being
> portrayed on film, has anyone see Beowulf yet?"
>
> Is the film any good?
> What would Tolkien have had to say about a film of Beowulf?
> And about this Beowulf film in particular?
> How many have there been?
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artistic_depictions_of_Beowulf
>
> Well, that was predictable (that Wikipedia would have a list of them).
>

I've heard it was very badly done, buy the illustrated Beowulf (ISBN-13:
978-1840116939) instead

Graeme
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On Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:29:09 GMT, "Christopher Kreuzer"
<spamgard.TakeThisOut@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

>From another thread: "...talking of Anglo-Saxon or Danish culture being
>portrayed on film, has anyone see Beowulf yet?"

I saw it some time ago.

>Is the film any good?

Only if you want to see how well MoCap animation is doing with humans.

Problems:
Choreography of the fight with Grendel is more concerned with the fact
that Beowulf is naked and the film is PG-13 than anything else:
endless happy coincidences where the view of a certain part of
Beowulf's anatomy is blocked by various objects.

Several group scenes, which I would expect to show the faces in sharp
focus, were focused rather on the set, leaving the faces blurry. In
general, several aspects can best be explained as reducing the effort
required to generate the images.

Some special effects were flawed, although not very many, and not very
badly. Certainly not as annoying as /Sunshine/.

>What would Tolkien have had to say about a film of Beowulf?

I have no idea; I don't commune with the dead.

>And about this Beowulf film in particular?

I don't know. It's very odd: in a sense, it follows the structure JRRT
outlined in "The Monster and the Critics": two epic battles, one when
the hero was young, and one when he was old, with nothing in between.
However, the filmmakers connected the two events in a way that
probably makes more sense in terms of storytelling, but which rather
changes the original story.

The battle with the dragon, since Beowulf is wearing clothes, is quite
exciting and choreographed as a battle, not as a peep show.
--
"He who should know the history of words
would know all history"
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gs wrote:
> "Christopher Kreuzer" <spamgard.TakeThisOut@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:VDvej.128821$cJ3.16711@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
>> From another thread: "...talking of Anglo-Saxon or Danish culture being
>> portrayed on film, has anyone see Beowulf yet?"
>>
>> Is the film any good?
>> What would Tolkien have had to say about a film of Beowulf?
>
> I've heard it was very badly done, buy the illustrated Beowulf (ISBN-13:
> 978-1840116939) instead

Badly done? No, not really. Much related to the Old English poem
Beowulf? Not much, especially after the fight with Grendel.

Tolkien would probably have said, "I liked the 3D effects, but I thought
we were going to see a movie about Beowulf!"

David
Stardate 8002.9

--
Practice the Klingon language on the tlhIngan Hol MUSH.
http://trimboli.name/klingon/mush.html
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In message <news:VDvej.128821$cJ3.16711@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk>
"Christopher Kreuzer" <spamgard RemoveThis @blueyonder.co.uk> spoke these
staves:
>
> From another thread: "...talking of Anglo-Saxon or Danish culture
> being portrayed on film, has anyone see Beowulf yet?"

I went to see it a few weeks ago with the kids, and I guess that I
should be grateful that it's been ages and ages since I read an
abbreviated version of Beowulf in Danish . . .

> Is the film any good?

To a large extent I think it'll be the same as with the LotR films --
quite good entertainment, but far too shallow to really satisfy. I
quite enjoyed it as entertainment, but it's not something that makes
much of an impression -- it doesn't really (IMO) invite you to think
about its meaning.

Perhaps because I'm affected by Tolkien's comments in OFS about
fairy-stories 'that it should be presented as "true"' I don't think
it works very well as a comment on storytelling (in Drout's blog,
'unreliable storytelling'): whatever the dragon represents, it must,
in the story, also represent a dragon, not a story about a dragon. If
the theme is really unreliable storytelling, then I'd say that it
disrespects its own medium (the fantastic tale).

But not being able to relate it to the original (or, in my case, a
modernized retelling of the poem), I don't think I can say anything
intelligent about the rest of your questions. I'd love to hear what
others have to say about your questions, though.

--
Troels Forchhammer
Valid e-mail is <troelsfo(a)gmail.com>
Please put [AFT], [RABT] or 'Tolkien' in subject.

Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true.
- Niels Bohr, to a young physicist
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"David Trimboli" <david.DeleteThis@trimboli.name> wrote in message
news:477aea2a$0$13845$607ed4bc@cv.net...
> Badly done? No, not really. Much related to the Old English poem Beowulf?
> Not much, especially after the fight with Grendel.

Of the seven people I know who have been to see it, none of them liked it,
horses for courses I suppose.

Graeme
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gs wrote:
> "David Trimboli" <david DeleteThis @trimboli.name> wrote in message
> news:477aea2a$0$13845$607ed4bc@cv.net...
>> Badly done? No, not really. Much related to the Old English poem Beowulf?
>> Not much, especially after the fight with Grendel.
>
> Of the seven people I know who have been to see it, none of them liked it,
> horses for courses I suppose.

It transforms the story somewhat, partly to /make/ a story out of the
three fairly disconnected episodes that make up the original. Neil
Gaiman is always interesting.
--
John W. Kennedy
"There are those who argue that everything breaks even in this old dump
of a world of ours. I suppose these ginks who argue that way hold that
because the rich man gets ice in the summer and the poor man gets it in
the winter things are breaking even for both. Maybe so, but I'll swear I
can't see it that way."
-- The last words of Bat Masterson
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Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
>
> From another thread: "...talking of Anglo-Saxon or Danish culture being
> portrayed on film, has anyone see Beowulf yet?"
>
> Is the film any good?
> What would Tolkien have had to say about a film of Beowulf?
> And about this Beowulf film in particular?
> How many have there been?
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artistic_depictions_of_Beowulf
>
> Well, that was predictable (that Wikipedia would have a list of them).
>
> Christopher

I haven't seen it yet.

Trailers look Arthurian.

Didn't Tolkien translate the epic?

I'd imagine he would have had a very pragmatic view of it - books for the
scholars, films for the kids, some of whom might be interested enough in
them to become scholars themselves.

M.
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