Beowulf Second Trailer
Red-Band Spot for Robert Zemeckis Motion-Capture Movie
Check out the second red-band (not for the kiddies) trailer for Beowulf. Robert Zemeckis film stars voice of Ray Winstone, Angelina Jolie and hits theatres November 16th
It’s another day, and there’s another Beowulf red-band (for restricted audiences only) trailer out in Cyberland.
As you well know, Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump) has been pushing motion-capture technology for several years as a vehicle for making family-oriented movies. Zemeckis animated Tom Hanks and company in 2004’s Polar Express to great success, and produced Steve Buscemi and crew in 2006’s Monster House, to not-so-great success. But this time, Zemeckis is using motion-capture in a more adult setting, adapting the classic 9th Century poem for the silver screen.
Does the motion-capture work? Leaving aside the question of whether mo-cap is animation, this flick seems pretty photo-realistic. Robert Zemeckis could have easily gone live-action with CGI (a la Michael Bay with Transformers) or gone the green-screen route (Zack Snyder with Sin City or 300). Some have argued that Beowulf would work better if Zemeckis had used one of these techniques, instead of going mo-cap.
On the other hand, Zemeckis is definitely establishing his own visual style by going motion-capture, which is most likely the point. By now, everyone can spot a Zack Snyder or Michael Bay film a mile away, and Zemeckis is hoping to establish a similarly distinctive aesthetic with Beowulf and his next project for Disney, A Christmas Carol.
So what’s new with this Beowulf trailer? Some of these images (Beowulf standing in the prow of his Viking ship, a dragon putting the bite on some hapless schmuck) are familiar from previous trailers, but this trailer tells us a little more of what's going on.
For instance, we hear Beowulf's voice-over saying to King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins), "I hear you have a monster here. They say your lands are cursed."
We also see a bit more of what Grendel does when he decides to crash the celebrations at King Hrothgar's party palace of Heorot: witness the guy hurtling through the air and landing on a chandelier spike. That's gotta hurt.
In case you hadn't guessed yet, this flick is definitely not date movie fodder, unless your significant other thinks Reservoir Dogs is a romantic comedy.
Also witness Grendel’s Mother’s (aka Angelina Jolie) and her screams of woe when she realizes what happened to her little boy. Speaking of Jolie, trailer watchers also get to enjoy seeing a wet, naked Angelina Jolie, including a long, slow pan across Ms. Jolie’s sweater puppies (JoBlo shout-out!).
Yeah, I’m seeing this flick as your basic, load up on the popcorn and check out the ultra-violence onscreen kind of movie. As you might expect, one doesn’t see a lot of those in Animated Films.
However, I have to snicker (if I haven't done enough snickering at this movie already) at the producers' attempts to pump Beowulf (both the man and the movie) into a 300-style epic. Yeah, everyone and their dog saw this coming after 300 made so much cash at the box office but one half-expects Beowulf (voice of Ray Winstone) to roar, 'THIS! IS! SPARTA!" before he turns Grendel into steak tartare.
You can check out the R-rated goodness by clicking the link (hit Trailer #2 on the official site) or here for ye olde YouTube action.
Will Beowulf be the 300 of the Fall 2007 season, or will it whimper somewhere in a corner before getting slaughtered by Enchanted? Find out when Beowulf opens on November 16th.
