Beowulf
Cast :
Ray Winstone, Angelina Jolie
Direction :
Robert Zemeckis
Rating :
**1/2
It’s believed to be the oldest surviving story in the English language. Utilising the ‘performance-capture’ digital animation technique he pioneered in
The Polar Express
(2005), director Zemeckis envisions the 1,250-year-old epic Anglo-Saxon poem.
Interestingly, a 3-D version is also being released at the IMAX dome auditorium.
At the pivot of the fantasy, there’s the eponymous Viking warrior (Winstone) who must vanquish several adversaries – including a skeletal demon (Crispin Glover) and a malevolent, shudder-inducing woman (Jolie, drenched from head to high heels in gold paint).
A throwback to the mindless effects-laden adventures of the 1960s,
Beowulf
is more special effects than special. See only if you have a thing about Jolie coming out from water depths, vamping it up to the hilt.