Beowulf: Film Adaption

Beowulf is an epic poem that was written centuries ago and today it can be seen as a motion picture. Beowulf has influenced poetry since it was originally produced in  and has inspired many interpretations of the piece including the film Beowulf.

In 2007, Robert Zemeckis directed the film Beowulf, featuring Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie. It was released as a 3D film in the US and the UK. The movie was created with the idea of putting a new interpretation on the epic. They rewrote the script many times and in turn had a very interesting outcome. Zeneckis wanted to produce a movie with animated elements; this enabled incredible action scenes that would not be able to have the same effect if real people were used. He also used certain characteristics for the characters. For instance, all of the monsters have a golden hint to them because they are all related and Beowulf has Jesus like features because of the acceptability of God. Other visual effects were used as well to produce the movie.

The movie is based on the epic poem Beowulf but with different adaptions to the tale. For instance, They portrayed the character of Beowulf as a flawed man and an unreliable narrator. They decided that Unferth would be Christian whereas Hrothgar would be an alcoholic as well as a womanizer. They also tweak Beowulf's funeral, Grendal's mother, and how Beowulf is king of Denmark and not the Geatland.

Even with the changes, adaptions, twists, and tweaks the film still hit number 1 at the box office opening weekend and pulled in almost 200 million dollars world wide.

Overall, I think the movie was an interesting interpretation of Beowulf - but I was not satisfied. I think it was just personal preference as to why I was not a fan of the movie. I did enjoy some of the adaptions but overall I thought the film was pretty cheesy. I am not a huge fan of the poem either but I would still recommend reading it and watching its film adaption for educational purposes.