Beowulf. The name itself implies something larger than life, something that runs up, slaps you in the face, insults your mother, and then walks off casually. The way in which this movie was filmed reflects this attitude of excessive manliness and testosterone-fueled action. I’m not going to say that motion tracked CGI is the best way to portray a larger than life film, but I believe it works quite well for Beowulf.
If I were to pick one scene to be re-done, I would choose the scenes of Grendel attacking the mead house. Grendel himself is portrayed as being too far on the monster side than human. The movie Beowulf and Grendel, I thought, portrayed the conflict more on the human side. I think this brings a scarier element to the film. A very mythical, monster-like Grendel kind of brings humor into the scene. It’s very unbelievable. A human Grendel, to me, would seem far more sinister.
When Grendel attacks the mead house, a blue fire is shown burning in the fire pit. It was never explained in the film why a blue fire came from the mead house’s fire pit as he attacked. I would take out the blue fire, and portray the attack through a series of flashes. It would look as though lightning is striking in the house. This brings in the elements of unknown and surprise.
That is Grendel coming out of the blue flame. He emerges that way. He does it several times in the film. I do agree that it is hokey though.
ReplyDelete