ninemsn

Robert Zemeckis has never known to go small. The director of big budget Hollywood flicks like “Forrest Gump” and “Back To The Future” is the master of putting on a grand show – and he makes no exception with his latest action epic “Beowulf”.

Like his last film, “The Polar Express” Zemeckis makes use of a filmmaking technique called “performance capture” that blurs the line between digital effects and traditional live action. By “capturing” the real-life performances of his stellar cast, including Ray Winstone as “Beowulf” and Angelina Jolie as a monstrous seductress, Zemeckis can translate the power and expression of his cast into a virtually limitless digital landscape.

Though the all-star, charismatic cast, from Anthony Hopkins’ affable Hrothgar, to the graceful Robin Wright Penn as his queen bring real heart to their characters, the truly impressive featured roles must be the film’s monsters. In the initial years of digital filmmaking the monsters seemed almost too cartoonish to be scary. But “Beowulf’s” Grendel feels disturbingly real and is truly grotesque – and almost impossible to have created in real life, short of attempting to breed the creature out of a Dr Frankenstein’s laboratory.

The only real flaw with the film is the story itself. Unlike another recently released tale of heroism set in Ancient times, the bloodfest “300″ for example which was also offered as an IMAX experience, “Beowulf” lacks a similar sense of humour and vivacity. There is ultimately something a little hollow about the relationships of the film.

Nevertheless action lovers, particularly comic and graphic novel fans from around the world will love “Beowulf” – particularly when watched in the immersive experience of IMAX 3D (which the movie was conceived for). But for anyone looking for an accurate interpretation of the Old English poem, think again!

ninemsn’s MovieFix, December 2007.