Review of Beowulf (1976) by Jenna G — 29 Jan 2011

A modern take on history's best-known (and much loathed by literature students) 1,000-year-old Scandinavian epic poem, this minor effort from Robert Zemekis assumes no one would bother watching unless the entire thing were computer-rendered, including the actors.

Sometimes it works and the digital characters (made to resemble their real-life counterparts, with the exception of paunchy Ray Winstone in the title role) are eerily life-like. Other times they're less convincing.

All semblance of reality is completely chucked out the window during action scenes, with heroic sequences so over the top, the 'oh come on' quotient goes off the scale. Once again, Angelina Jolie affects her purring Natasha Fatale accent, and Crispin Glover is truly strange as Grendel.