Gary Dretzka
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Doug Pratt
Ray Pride
Patricia Vidal

Beowulf

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Beowulf is not complicated.

Beowulf is not challenging.

But Beowulf is solid, stirring, exciting, unexpectedly thoughtful, and beautiful.

I find myself oddly uninterested in spinning words about this film. It is an experience that is completely self-explanatory… and you MUST experience in 3D, preferably in IMAX 3-D, assuring a big ol’ screen.

It takes about 20 minutes to really relax into the visual look of the film. But unlike some of the other films, which have had that dead eye thing, Zemeckis turns the negative on its head, making his actors – all of whom look like their digital counterparts, except for the star, Ray Winstone, and Grendel, played by Crispin Glover – more interesting for having been made electronic. Anthony Hopkins, for instance, is rotund, with large male breasts and the threat of nudity. The near-perfect Ms. Jolie is made hyperperfect here. Robin Wright-Penn is given a more Nordic face with thicker, softer facial angles.

The thing is, by the time you get to the big action beats, they may thrill, but the core of this film is simple, quality filmmaking. It is the obvious difference between Beowulf and of the films made in similar formats… Zemeckis is one of our very best filmmakers and always finds a way to tell a story in a way that connects with the audience.

Why is Zemeckis also the most underappreciated filmmaker of his era? I don't really know. It could be because his signature is not having a clear signature. He is the modern mega-movie's director's director. He does it all, from any angle, pushing technology, switching genres like used tissue, and working at an extremely high level, time after time.

In any case, in a year of films about men in search of inner comfort, Beowulf is truly the story of a man who thinks he is more than a man learning that he really is just a man. The road, however, is remarkable. It is nothing like the first act rigor of There Will Be Blood or the dry relentlessness of No Country For Old Men or the quiet angst of Michael Clayton. It is pop. But as pop goes, it's damned good pop.

I was surprised how much I liked Beowulf. I was thrilled by the ride. The weak point was, amazingly, Grendel. He was just too undefined a character. How big was he? What power did he have? What were his vulnerabilities? Zemeckis puts on a great show of the Naked Beowulf and his men fighting this monster. But it was hard to get a handle on how to root because we didn’t ever know where it was going… perhaps a positive to some. Truth is, the story is always a little ahead of us. What challenges will Beowulf face? Those of us who know the story have an idea. But it’s always a little different. (There are quite a few variations that have been offered on the story, adjusted by generation, by the way.)

It’s not the great film of 2007, but it is 300 times better than 300. I hope that's not damning with faint praise.

-David Poland