Beowulf

Beeeeeyyyyyeeeeerrrrwwwwweeerrrrrrllllfffffffff!

06 December 2008

OK, so it's not a faithful adaptation, the CGI animation's a little weird, and some of the dialogue will have Seamus Heaney foaming at the mouth alongside every other classics scholar. But it's hard to fault a film that knows exactly what it wants to be, and succeeds on pretty much every level. Beowulf is unashamedly entertaining, pure and simple - a fact which might come as a surprise to even the biggest fans of old Anglo-Saxon literature. Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary's script encompasses monsters, dragons, oedipal complexes, and plenty of 'swiving', and is all the better for it. Ray Winstone must have been mightily pleased with his new digital physique too. Altogether now - "I am Beyurwulf, and I am 'ere to kill yaw monstah...".

• Reply
• Flag