Thursday, November 29, 2007

"I AM

BEOWULF!" Incredible.
That's the only word for it.


I literally (and I mean like a wet dog) had to shake this movie off. In the car on the way home I expelled my excess energy with excited yells and disturbed wimpering.
I had shivers the entire ride.

When Muad'Dib asked if I enjoyed it, I couldn't honestly say yes, but I said - honestly - that I EXPERIENCED it. I have never jumped or squealed so much in a movie. It wasn't scary but it was intense and beautiful and moving and gorgeous and enthralling. (I think those are enough adjectives, don't you?)

Do NOT take children. I'm really glad we didn't, and they guy who took his four small children to see it, thinking it was just an animated feature, had a lot of explaining to do at numerous parts in the film. "Daddy, why are they hanging from the ceiling like that?" and "Why isn't she wearing anything?" (there was a remarkable amount of nakedness) and "Why would he do that?"

No one under 20 should see it unless they are prepared for realistic death and gory monster mayhem. Wildbound, don't even think about it. Yikes. Muad'Dib had to release my death grip on his hand near the end of the film, and I was nail-biting the rest of the time. There was once I nearly jumped out of my seat!

This is a positive post. If anyone asks me if they should see it, I want to yell "Yes!"from the rooftops because it was so INCREDIBLE,
But these warnings are warranted: trust me.
For years I had heard a friend of mine try and tell me the story of Beowulf, and convince me of it's inherent charms as one of the masterpieces in literature. Well, now it is a masterpeice of moviemaking. It simply MUST win an Academy Award for SOMETHING!

Oh Wow. If this is the capacity of moviemaking ahead of us then WOW! This story was brilliantly told, brilliantly acted, brilliantly animated . . . I'm gushing now, aren't I?

No matter what anyone else says, I stick by my review. I still have that man's voice ringing in my ears: "I Am Beowulf!" Check out the trailer on my side strip to see more. This is the gory version, so if you don't want the blood (or the phallic symbols), don't watch, but you have to at least listen. The music (in the film) is glorious and the rant at the end is pulse pounding fun!

Incredible!

9 comments:

Ahenobarbus Textor said...

Wow. What a glowing review. If I hadn't already seen it I'd have to go now.

I also enjoyed the film.

Muad'Dib said...

Theme: The world can be a nasty place. How do you handle it when you mess up in it?

I especially appreciated the Old English that the monsters spoke un-subtitled (it may have been Anglo-saxon or Middle English, I'm not sure. It's been too long since my History of the English language class, but I could recognize many of the germanic-sounding words so i think it must not be TOO ancient...) It really added to the flavor of the film.

Big shocks for me:
a)that my wife actually wanted to see it
b)that she had a good time

Sayyadina said...

*laughing*
You're so cute!

I can't believe I forgot to mention the old english!

I should think the biggest shocker was me screaming in the middle of the movie. But hey, to each his own.

WildBound said...

Hmm.

Ahenobarbus Textor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ahenobarbus Textor said...

It was OE: some of it was lifted straight from the poem.

Another thing I liked was how they incorporated a lot of the secondary scholarship about the poem right into the plotline. All in all, pretty well done.

You may (or may not - I can't remember if you are a Tolkien fan) be interested to know that Professor Tom Shippey (http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/ENG/faculty/shippey.html) liked it, too.

Ahenobarbus Textor said...

blast. sorry I deleted my first post - this was the second try to put a link in a comment. oh, well.

Wildman said...

Thou are passionate about many things, but none so fully as the theater.

Sayyadina said...

Well, it is the one place where I can see the fruits of my creative efforts in just a few weeks!