Short Review: A hero of classic literature is remade as postmodern man. In other words, he can’t stand up in a fight, wets his pants every time he’s asked to make a judgment call and couldn't find his own backside in a fog when it comes to moral issues.


I’ll start with the good points and then, like the film, descend into my own petty agenda until I arrive at an unsatisfying, muttering end.

This is an absolutely beautiful looking film. Director Sturla Gunnarsson knows how to take advantage of his surroundings. Combined with the real feel of the actors and their costumes, this film has a visual reality that is stunning and undeniable.

In addition to the wonderful look of the film, there are some very good performances as well. Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson gives a daring performance as the monstrous troll Grendel. He is, in effect, primal man and Sigurðsson acts like a complete fool in order to get his performance right. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. You run around in front of a couple dozen strangers in your underwear grunting and sniffing and see how you cope. Sigurðsson deserves credit for his honest and notable work. The remainder of the cast, including Stellan Skarsgård as King Hrothgar and Gerald Butler as Beowulf, does good work (with one exception – I’ll get to her later.)

And now on to the downside…

This film is adapted from the epic poem which has been plaguing undergrad students for generations. The important word in the last sentence is “adapted”. What the word “adapted” is another way of saying the film acknowledges its roots and then spins off into postmodern whimpering.

Beowulf tells the story of a great hero who arrives on the shores of King Hrothgar’s land and does battle with the evil demon Grendel. Beowulf vanquishes Grendal and Grendal’s swamp hag mother. Following that Beowulf returns home to rule his lands only to be forced into a one on one with a dragon. There’s plenty of blood and impossibly difficult language.

Beowulf and Grendel tells the story of an justifiably angry troll who kills King Hrothgar’s men out of revenge. Beowulf, now a Billy Ray Cyrus clone dressed in chain mail, can’t come to grips with the moral struggle of his age. Is it acceptable to kill evil or is it better to co-exist with it? Beowulf offers some hollow efforts to get Grendel to leave the land but the pesky troll just won’t go. There’s also a subplot involving a witch named Selma who distracts Beowulf from his purpose for being in the story in the first place. King Hrothgar is a guilt-ridden sop who cries in his beer over his moral anguish. He offers moral relativism as a cure for our ills. Essentially, this film lays out the exact problems with modern day Europe. Moral ambivalence has swamped the initiative not only to kill evil but to even recognize it when it is knocking down the front door. It’s connection with modern Europe’s moral sickness isn’t a condemnation however, it’s a symptom of the disease.

The piece refuses Beowulf the straight heroic path, but prefers him to languish in the ditch wallowing in navel gazing relativism. This is a terrible shame since the film could have been great. As the film starts it retains the source material’s feel and story. As the production expounds upon its true effort, it rolls into a morass of nonsense. I will give the piece credit however, it is possible to overlook this downward slide and enjoy the much of the production. This means one isn’t allowed to think independently however. In other words it is suitable for those currently enrolled in an undergraduate programs.

To get through the film you will have to swallow a multitude of accents and a prominently poor performance by Sarah Polley as Selma. She is dreadful and she’s dressed up like Pat Benatar in her “Love is A Battlefield” getup. If you can struggle through all of the negatives, the positives of the film may intrigue you. Just make certain to turn off your brain and kick over your moral compass and you’ll make out fine.


Related Reviews:
Stellan Skarsgård films
Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist (2005)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Film School Rejects
Cinematical

Labels: Beowulf, film, Gerald Butler, movie review, Sarah Polley, Stellan Skarsgård

It's National Treasure in the Vatican. Or is National Treasure, Angels and Demons taking place in Washington DC? Either way...

For those who were all whipped up over the blasphemy of The Da Vinci Code, you have little to complain about with this production. With this prequel, Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is brought into the Vatican to investigate to thwart a possible terrorist attack involving the Illuminati.

Like The Da Vinci Code, director Ron Howard, who normally is a very strong film maker (watch the completely under-rated Cinderella Man to see his best work) but he is hindered by his source material. This is a strained film that can't quite make itself work in an organic fashion. I never lost the feeling I was watching a movie, that I was being manipulated and pushed from scene to scene.

Unlike The Da Vinci Code, this production is watchable and not unbearably boring. The conspiracy at the heart of the narrative at least makes some sense in the context of the story and even the absurd conclusion works if one doesn't think about it.

Hanks has little to do and pretty much replicates his previous performance. He is a master actor, one of the great communicators known in Western Civilization, but here he is left ignoring his talents and simply playing out typical Hollywood scenes of peril. It is like watching a young Michael Jordan playing a game of horse.

If this is the kind of film that sparks your interest, you may like it. For the Catholic readers, there is still plenty here that will annoy you, but most likely it won't offend (at least not deeply). This isn't an attack on your faith, it just uses your religion for a while and then goes away.

In the end, I can't recommend this film because I am sensitive to the continued attack on the Catholic faith. I am not a Catholic, but I am a Christian. Any production that reduces one of us reduces all of us. Even if we set aside the casual use of the Catholic faith for cheap thrills, the dismissive use of the Illuminati still gives me pause. I know a counselor who has personally deprogrammed former members of the real Illuminati and this film underplays the organizations real life dangers. The way this film portrays the evil organization is no different than if they showed Nazis as being really committed socialists. This is serious stuff Howard is messing with and his lack of care with this element is troubling to say the least.




Related Reviews:
Tom Hanks movies
Big (1988)
The Terminal (2005)


Other Critic’s Reviews:
Need Coffee
ReelViews

Labels: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ewan McGregor, film, movie review, Stellan Skarsgård, Tom Hanks

Screenwriters: David Koepp (Spider-man) and Akiva Goldsman (The Da Vinci Code)
Director: Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon)
Actors: Tom Hanks (The Green Mile), Ayelet Zurer (Vantage Point), Ewan McGregor (Miss Potter) and Stellan Skarsgård (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End)

Labels: Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor, film, movie trailer, Stellan Skarsgård, Tom Hanks

Maybe they should also advertise that you'll have plenty of choices of seats at the theater as a selling point.

The team that brought you the gibbering mess that was The Da Vinci Code is back to bore you some more. The problem with this trailer is that many non-Catholics aren't going to understand the relevance of the smoke and probably couldn't place the location, let alone define the Illuminati. Effectively, the trailer simply says, hey it's dark and we're going to show something creepy.

Its possible this is the Dan Brown adaptation that will translate to the screen. Personally, I doubt it, but I've been wrong before. I'm willing to bet this will be The Da Vinci Code with a little more pepper in its step but not a great work. Take a look, watch the teaser below and let me know what you think.





Screenwriter: Akiva Goldsman (I am Legend)
Director: Ron Howard (Cinderella Man)
Actors: Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan), Ayelet Zurer (Vantage Point), Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting) and Stellan Skarsgård (Beowulf & Grendel)

Labels: Ewan McGregor, movie trailer, Ron Howard, Stellan Skarsgård, Tom Hanks

Short Review: Apparently, Satan’s latest ploy is to bore us into complacency.


Thanks to some rather stupid executive decision making, there were two separate films made to be the prequel to the horror classic The Exorcist. This version was the first to be completed. The story is this: director Paul Schrader handed this rendition of the story to the heads of Morgan Creek. Upon seeing a mature, risky film, the brain trust over at Morgan Creek decided that it was not commercial enough for their needs. After all, this film was thoughtful and made for adults. These geniuses decided to forgo the re-shooting of key scenes, re-editing of others and decided to throw everything out. In a further move of pristine intelligence and marketing brilliance, the suits at Morgan Creek canned Schrader and hired Hollywood’s used car salesman Renny “I never met a film I couldn’t ruin” Harlan. They brought Harlin on to remake the whole darn thing. Dropping Schrader for Harlin is like dropping Lawrence Oliver for Carrot Top. Sure, they can both put on a show but…

While not a marvel, this movie is still rather solid. Unlike the Harlin version, which is more cartoon than movie, this film takes itself and its subject matter seriously. In addition, unlike Harlin’s version, this film is watchable.

Stellan Skarsgård plays the young Father Merrin with a troubled, haunted intensity that captivates the screen. Skarsgård is very strong in this role, (he should be since he had to play it twice.) His Father Merrin is a fully realized character that speaks to the spiritual conflict Schrader attempts to explore with this story. The rest of the cast is passable but nothing special. They all orbit around Skarsgård's brooding performance.

Regardless of Skarsgård's work, this film doesn't capture the essence of the original piece. I believe the story itself is to blame for the film ultimately not succeeding. The evil in this film doesn’t emanate from a tangible source. It is more of a haunting than a possession story. Father Mirren is not confronted by the nemesis in physical form until the final third of the film. This means Mirren spends most of the movie sulking about as we wait for the inevitable possession scene to take place. This is where The Exorcist wins. Regan, the possessed girl in the original film, is a physical manifestation of evil. We had something to sink our collective movie watching teeth into. The use of a suggestive possession in this film is interesting and should have been explored in a novel, not on screen. This is a movie, we like to see things move.

The issues of the missing nemesis aside, this film delves into sin in a way that few other films have ever tried. There are two scenes in the film that are quite striking. We are shown Father Mirren during World War II where he is forced into his own brand of Sophie’s Choice. The residual guilt he feels from this terrible time in his life (I won’t go into details as to not ruin the movie) is the breeding ground from which Satan plies his wares against the Father in later life. There are some wonderful discussions and glimpses into sin and how one reacts to sin can lead one to the embrace of darkness. This film deserves great credit for doing something Hollywood steadfastly has refused to do, to take evil seriously.

Overall, this is a far superior film to the other prequel, which was released last year to an appropriate dead silence. Schrader’s version is a film made by a serious filmmaker trying to do what he was paid to do, entertain and inform on the human condition. This film fails on the first charge and succeeds on the second.


Related Reviews:
The Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Arrow in the Head
Roger Ebert

Labels: film, movie review, Paul Schrader, Renny Harlin, Stellan Skarsgård

Short Review: The scariest thing about this horror movie is that it was released.


To be fair, this film had one hard time getting made. The project began with John Frankenheimer as director. He died in 2002. Then Paul Schrader (yes, they actually handed it over to the screenwriter of The Last Temptation of Christ) took over and was canned. Finally, the producers, having shown their great judgment decided to one-up themselves and bring on Renny "I’m a Hack, Everyone In The Industry Knows I’m A Hack" Harlin to remake the film. With all of that, there is no way this film is any good – it isn’t.

Here’s the deal, the reason the first movie is so successful is because it made the story plausible. This film is so disjointed and unrealized it can barely stand on its own. Then again, Renny Harlin, the used car salesman of Hollywood, is known for making spectacular disasters such as Nightmare On Elm Street IV and Die Hard II. Like the demon of the Exorcist films, Renny intrudes into unwitting films and contorts them into unseemly abominations. The difference is that it’s the audiences that are left with the spinning heads and green vomit.

This movie is not all bad. It has some well-choreographed sequences and the first act is pretty solid. The movie hits a wall with its juvenile concepts of demonic possession. The possessed person in this film is a parody of the original. It truly is almost laughable. All of the weak points that make this film not work return to the concept of believability.

The word is that Paul Schrader had made a complete film before being dumped from the project. Then Renny made this pathetic effort. This other version, the Schrader version, of the film is apparently going to be released to fulfill some contractual obligation. We can all look forward to that release since we know he couldn’t do a worse job.


Related Reviews:
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)


Other Critic's Reviews:
PopMatters
Film Threat

Labels: exorcism, film, movie review, Paul Schrader, Renny Harlin, Stellan Skarsgård

Short Review: A hero of classic literature is remade as postmodern man. In other words, he can’t stand up in a fight, wets his pants every time he’s asked to make a judgment call and couldn't find his own backside in a fog when it comes to moral issues.


I’ll start with the good points and then, like the film, descend into my own petty agenda until I arrive at an unsatisfying, muttering end.

This is an absolutely beautiful looking film. Director Sturla Gunnarsson knows how to take advantage of his surroundings. Combined with the real feel of the actors and their costumes, this film has a visual reality that is stunning and undeniable.

In addition to the wonderful look of the film, there are some very good performances as well. Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson gives a daring performance as the monstrous troll Grendel. He is, in effect, primal man and Sigurðsson acts like a complete fool in order to get his performance right. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. You run around in front of a couple dozen strangers in your underwear grunting and sniffing and see how you cope. Sigurðsson deserves credit for his honest and notable work. The remainder of the cast, including Stellan Skarsgård as King Hrothgar and Gerald Butler as Beowulf, does good work (with one exception – I’ll get to her later.)

And now on to the downside…

This film is adapted from the epic poem which has been plaguing undergrad students for generations. The important word in the last sentence is “adapted”. What the word “adapted” is another way of saying the film acknowledges its roots and then spins off into postmodern whimpering.

Beowulf tells the story of a great hero who arrives on the shores of King Hrothgar’s land and does battle with the evil demon Grendel. Beowulf vanquishes Grendal and Grendal’s swamp hag mother. Following that Beowulf returns home to rule his lands only to be forced into a one on one with a dragon. There’s plenty of blood and impossibly difficult language.

Beowulf and Grendel tells the story of an justifiably angry troll who kills King Hrothgar’s men out of revenge. Beowulf, now a Billy Ray Cyrus clone dressed in chain mail, can’t come to grips with the moral struggle of his age. Is it acceptable to kill evil or is it better to co-exist with it? Beowulf offers some hollow efforts to get Grendel to leave the land but the pesky troll just won’t go. There’s also a subplot involving a witch named Selma who distracts Beowulf from his purpose for being in the story in the first place. King Hrothgar is a guilt-ridden sop who cries in his beer over his moral anguish. He offers moral relativism as a cure for our ills. Essentially, this film lays out the exact problems with modern day Europe. Moral ambivalence has swamped the initiative not only to kill evil but to even recognize it when it is knocking down the front door. It’s connection with modern Europe’s moral sickness isn’t a condemnation however, it’s a symptom of the disease.

The piece refuses Beowulf the straight heroic path, but prefers him to languish in the ditch wallowing in navel gazing relativism. This is a terrible shame since the film could have been great. As the film starts it retains the source material’s feel and story. As the production expounds upon its true effort, it rolls into a morass of nonsense. I will give the piece credit however, it is possible to overlook this downward slide and enjoy the much of the production. This means one isn’t allowed to think independently however. In other words it is suitable for those currently enrolled in an undergraduate programs.

To get through the film you will have to swallow a multitude of accents and a prominently poor performance by Sarah Polley as Selma. She is dreadful and she’s dressed up like Pat Benatar in her “Love is A Battlefield” getup. If you can struggle through all of the negatives, the positives of the film may intrigue you. Just make certain to turn off your brain and kick over your moral compass and you’ll make out fine.


Related Reviews:
Stellan Skarsgård films
Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist (2005)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Film School Rejects
Cinematical

Labels: Beowulf, film, Gerald Butler, movie review, Sarah Polley, Stellan Skarsgård