[TheOrator]

Okay, so maybe the Topic Description is inaccurate. Beowulf the epic poem is by far my favorite book, but it has been my experience Hollywood can screw up even the best (I'm looking at you, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). I read one article that mentioned it passingly, saying the screenwriters stayed true to the original work even when Producer Jerry Bruckheimer was pushing even minor changes. Hopefully this means it won't be ass but instead the most awesome thing ever.

Anyone know anything about it?

[Spoon Poetic]

You mean that recent movie adaptation the Sci-Fi channel did, or something I don't know about? Because my mom and I laughed through about an hour of the Sci-Fi thing. Has Deanna Troi chick in it.

[TheOrator]

You mean that recent movie adaptation the Sci-Fi channel did, or something I don't know about? Because my mom and I laughed through about an hour of the Sci-Fi thing. Has Deanna Troi chick in it.

Is the new movie really that hush-hush?

It's this new CGI version.

It looks beautiful.

I've seen a couple of ads for it.

Website here.

[Spoon Poetic]

Ah. Hadn't heard of that.

...The CGI is pretty, like you said, but... What's the point? All the gore and shiny mud covered naked women and pretty CGI; I think they should have gone a little further and made it into what might have been a great video game. As a movie, though, meh.

[TheOrator]

I think the point is Beowulf is a great book that could make a great movie. It certainly didn't need to be made into a movie, but very few books demand films to go along with them. I'm gonna try to go opening day.

EDIT: Sentence removed!

This post has been edited by TheOrator: 30 October 2007 - 10:43 PM

[Spoon Poetic]

That's not really what I mean. Sure, Beowulf could make a great movie. But why all CGI and shiny people and so much gratuitous gore? I saw more blood and gore in one preview than is in the whole book. My point was if they're so into the pretty CGI and the gore (but seemingly not so much into the plot), then it would have made a better video game than a movie.

[TheOrator]

I saw more blood and gore in one preview than is in the whole book.

I'd have to disagree with you there.

My point was if they're so into the pretty CGI and the gore (but seemingly not so much into the plot), then it would have made a better video game than a movie.

CGI would be cheaper, for one. Beowulf would require the kind of epic camera work and make-up Lord of the Rings had. So naturally making it all on the computer is much cheaper.

And I'm not sure if they're not into the plot. I'll admit they invented this Ursula chick (at least from my memory, and I read it in September), but I could recognize each scene depicted as a scene from the book, pretty much. I don't what Grendel's mother is doing coming on to Beowulf, though.

[Spoon Poetic]

I'll admit they invented this Ursula chick (at least from my memory, and I read it in September), but I could recognize each scene depicted as a scene from the book, pretty much. I don't what Grendel's mother is doing coming on to Beowulf, though.

Exactly. There were a couple of other things I noticed, too. "...the dialogue, the emphasized hubris of Beowulf and Hrothgar, the perceived hedonism in Heorot, the span of time before Beowulf fights the dragon, Grendel's motive for attacking Heorot, and the relationship between Grendel's mother and Beowulf deviate from the original poem." From Wikipedia. We'll see, though.

And I don't remember a lot of the gory things that happened in those previews. Like, yeah, the book has a lot of gore - I guess what I meant is that I saw gory scenes that I don't remember from the book; like they made stuff up so they could have even more gory stuff that just the fights between Beowulf and Grendel/his mom, stuff like that.

I hope they at least get Grendel and his mom right. That Sci-Fi thing I was talking about made them into like, alien monster things with wings that had no resemblence to humans whatsoever (and they were supposed to be half human). Grendel's mom didn't even have boobs.

[Spoon Poetic]

Edit: Stupid Mac made me double post an exact copy of my previous post.

This post has been edited by Spoon Poetic: 31 October 2007 - 10:44 AM

[looktothesky]

I can't wait for this movie either, the previews looked excellent.

[TheOrator]

Exactly. There were a couple of other things I noticed, too. "...the dialogue, the emphasized hubris of Beowulf and Hrothgar, the perceived hedonism in Heorot, the span of time before Beowulf fights the dragon, Grendel's motive for attacking Heorot, and the relationship between Grendel's mother and Beowulf deviate from the original poem." From Wikipedia. We'll see, though.

Well, I don't blame them for changing the span before the dragon, that was a pretty bloody long time..

And a dialogue change was kind of expected.

All the other changes make me want to cringe, though.

I understand what you mean about the gory scenes now, but I don't specifically know which scenes you are referring to.

[civilian_number_two]

Beowulf isn't interesting enough for a contemporary movie, which is why everyone changes it loads before filming it. The recent "Beowulf and Grendel" was especially uneven. Great heroes and quasi-villains, sorta weak Grendel. Also too much 21s-century character motivation, along with a witch played by a Canadian gal (Sarah Polley, who is on my "fantasy date" list) who didn't bother to attend one dialogue coaching session. It's hard to watch. I'm sure the new one will be better in some ways and worse in others.

[TheOrator]

Beowulf isn't interesting enough for a contemporary movie, which is why everyone changes it loads before filming it.

Take it back, Civ.

Beowulf is the most exciting and epic (in addition from the obvious way, of course) story I've ever read.

[civilian_number_two]

Well, you should read more. =)

But seriously, what do we have here? A creature kills some guys, then another guy comes along and kills that creature by ripping its arm off. Then he kills its mother, then he kills a dragon. There is hardly any travel, little character interaction, and no romance. Thre just isn't enough meat for a contemporary movie. Unless you're going to give the villain a backstory (John Gardner's brilliant "Grendel"), or add some named characters and get into their backstories and personal motivations, you've just got some speeches and a few fights.

[TheOrator]

Well, you should read more. =)

There isn't really a non-defensive way to refute this implication, so I'll just leave it in the air for now.

But seriously, what do we have here? A creature kills some guys, then another guy comes along and kills that creature by ripping its arm off. Then he kills its mother, then he kills a dragon. There is hardly any travel, little character interaction, and no romance. Thre just isn't enough meat for a contemporary movie. Unless you're going to give the villain a backstory (John Gardner's brilliant "Grendel"), or add some named characters and get into their backstories and personal motivations, you've just got some speeches and a few fights.

First off, I'd like to think we can manage to make ONE GOD DAMN movie without any romance in it.

Secondly, Beowulf isn't a very long book and so it shouldn't translate into a very long movie--ninety minutes tops. It'll probably end up being nigh on two hours because of this Ursula chick and them screwing with Grendel's mum. You don't need a lot of meat as long as you don't pad it with a lot of filler.