Beowulf 3D

*** May Contain Spoilers ***

I actually watched Beowulf a good month ago. I saw the 3D version of the movie at IMAX with a group of friends. I've never been to IMAX before so that was the primary drive to watch the movie there. I had heard from others that the IMAX experience is really cool. And since this movie came in a 3D version, it seemed like the perfect occasion to go to IMAX.

We pre bought our tickets to the film, in case there were no tickets left. We needn't have worried as there were still quite a lot of seats left despite the movie only being out for a week. This turned out to be a sign of how good the film is. News about films spread really quickly now with mobile phones and sms.

The premise of the film looked good. It was one of those "epic" movies of heroism and good and evil. I had high expectations as the trailer looked really good. I thought it would be something like the movie "300" that had been realeased a bit early in the year. I thoroughly enjoyed that film and its epic nature. The computer animation type style of "300" really worked with use of it to choreograph some really brutal fight scenes.

In Beowulf, the computer generated fight scenes were good technically. The 3D effects of the fight scenes was unbelievable. You could see and almost "feel" things whizzing past you and around you. That part of the film was done to perfection. However, it was not supported by the storyline.

Although the fight scenes were technically good, they lacked any passion as the whole movie's storyline was just lame. I kept waiting for it to get dramatic but it never happened. The movie started off with potential as a town that was being terrorised by a monster was looking for a champion and hero to save them. Cue the entrance of Beowulf, a strong warrior who was going to save the town. That's when all potential in the film ended.

The film tried to play it dramatic and funny at the same time, but failed to achieve either. The silly childness jokes and Austin Powers camera angles to hide Beowulf's manhood during the fight scenes was childish and totally not in keeping with the seriousness that the scenes demanded. Then when the film did get serious, it was just this slow unravel of man versus Beast.

The only slight surprise was that there was more to the Beast than meets the eye. The Beast in this case was played by the very seductive Angelina Jolie. But in its true essence, the Beast was man himself, and his constant greed to retain power. The movie drags along with Beowulf basically in the control of the Beast. He is in power but is yet powerless. His life drags along, same as the story. The side story with Beowulf and his wife doesn't do anything either.

In terms of the acting, that was pretty abismal too. Ray Winston as Beowulf was a parody of himself. His awful accent and delivery of dialogue was so unintentionally hilarious. Angelina Jolie played her part adequately but was given such a one dimensional character that she couldn't do much with it.

This movie is definitely not worth paying money to see at the cinemas. The 3D part of it is unbelievable, and if you really want to experience that, then its worth going to see. Although, you would probably be better off seeing some documentary at IMAX instead.

Rating: *1/2 + ** for 3D part.