beowulf and grendel
not a bad movie, all told. has some nice gerard butler, some really fabulous scenery - damp, muddy, windy, occasionally green, terrifically unforgiving in a really gorgeous kind of way - stellan skarsgard's terrifyingly orange hair, actual parts for actual women (as opposed to the poem), some rewriting of the story but overall not a bad retelling. the dialogue is an interesting mix of contemporary words and phrasing, some more archaic/formal phrasing, and every so often someone reciting what sounds a lot like a translation of beowulf, with the alliteration and meter and all. which i liked. i only got two issues.
a. not enough mourning for hondscioh. (that would be tony curran, who as usual [1] DIES. >.< ) he's the only one of beowulf's men who bites it, and it looks a lot like he's beowulf's second-in-command, and yes you do get to see a teeny bit of his funeral, but come on, there's no mourning? the only hint you get that beowulf (or anyone else) might be upset is one line - "i miss my friend more" - in the middle of a conversation? *sigh* i wanna see some sorrow, dammit! even if geats probably weren't given to that kind of thing! (someone does comment at the funeral that the valkyries will have their hands full, or some such thing. heh.)
b. doesn't beowulf die in the poem? they kill grendel, then they have to kill grendel's mom, then beowulf dies of his wounds. he doesn't get to sail away from hrothgar's hall with (most of) his men, as he does in the movie. i guess you can't kill off the hero, but still. i like the movie adaptation to end more or less the same as the book/poem/whathaveyou, ok? which means that yes, beowulf kind of has to die. even if he is played by gerard butler and it's not a dark little indie film.
also, not an issue and absolutely not the fault of the ptb, but it's not as slashy as i was expecting. i think you could put in some subtext (or even text :> ) without much trouble, and there is a sheep joke ("find hondscioh a wife - my sheep have had enough"), but i didn't really see it on screen. this might be because i kept comparing it to the 13th warrior which is also sort of based on beowulf, and that's slashy as hell. ahmed/herger, anyone? y'know?
(there are no guys in kilts, i just like this icon. :> )
i'm actually going to get out of the house before 4:30 today. yay. :D of course i have to get dressed first....
[1] seriously, folks, when i finally get around to making a wishlist, one of the things on it will be "a movie or tv show in which tony curran actually survives (and which isn't the 13th warrior or league of extraordinary gentlemen)." i swear it must be in all his contracts or something that his character has to die. i do not hold out much hope for him in the good german. which i want to see anyway, because it's got cate blanchett and george clooney, who are both full of awesome. he might survive red road but that doesn't have a us distribution and so doesn't count.
a. not enough mourning for hondscioh. (that would be tony curran, who as usual [1] DIES. >.< ) he's the only one of beowulf's men who bites it, and it looks a lot like he's beowulf's second-in-command, and yes you do get to see a teeny bit of his funeral, but come on, there's no mourning? the only hint you get that beowulf (or anyone else) might be upset is one line - "i miss my friend more" - in the middle of a conversation? *sigh* i wanna see some sorrow, dammit! even if geats probably weren't given to that kind of thing! (someone does comment at the funeral that the valkyries will have their hands full, or some such thing. heh.)
b. doesn't beowulf die in the poem? they kill grendel, then they have to kill grendel's mom, then beowulf dies of his wounds. he doesn't get to sail away from hrothgar's hall with (most of) his men, as he does in the movie. i guess you can't kill off the hero, but still. i like the movie adaptation to end more or less the same as the book/poem/whathaveyou, ok? which means that yes, beowulf kind of has to die. even if he is played by gerard butler and it's not a dark little indie film.
also, not an issue and absolutely not the fault of the ptb, but it's not as slashy as i was expecting. i think you could put in some subtext (or even text :> ) without much trouble, and there is a sheep joke ("find hondscioh a wife - my sheep have had enough"), but i didn't really see it on screen. this might be because i kept comparing it to the 13th warrior which is also sort of based on beowulf, and that's slashy as hell. ahmed/herger, anyone? y'know?
(there are no guys in kilts, i just like this icon. :> )
i'm actually going to get out of the house before 4:30 today. yay. :D of course i have to get dressed first....
[1] seriously, folks, when i finally get around to making a wishlist, one of the things on it will be "a movie or tv show in which tony curran actually survives (and which isn't the 13th warrior or league of extraordinary gentlemen)." i swear it must be in all his contracts or something that his character has to die. i do not hold out much hope for him in the good german. which i want to see anyway, because it's got cate blanchett and george clooney, who are both full of awesome. he might survive red road but that doesn't have a us distribution and so doesn't count.