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CS Weekly Archive> DVD > 2/29/08
Medieval Meta-Fiction
by jason Davis
Beowulf (Director's Cut)
Neil Gaiman & Roger Avary
 
 
Storytelling is at the heart of Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary’s take on the epic poem, which finds the eponymous hero (performed by Ray Winstone) as much a creator of narratives as a vanquisher of monsters. Arriving in the kingdom of Hrothgar (p. Anthony Hopkins) to slay the monster Grendel (p. Crispin Glover), Beowulf’s character is revealed as much by the stories he tells—and the details he leaves out—as by the deeds he performs. Gaiman and Avary tie three disparate tales together and use a narrative sleight of hand that sees the eponymous hero succeed to Hrothgar’s throne so that the dramatis personae of the earlier acts can continue into the final tale set many years later. Beowulf is further tied to Hrothgar through both men’s weakness for powerful women, an element that the screenwriters use to bind the disparate stories into a satisfying whole. Though both writers contribute thoughts to the supplemental features, the motion-capture process by which the film was made takes center stage. A handful of low-resolution deleted scenes offer little insight into the story.
 Beowulf (Director's Cut)
Paramount Home Entertainment
Unrated; 114 min.
$29.99
Buy it now
Jason Davis has been the DVD Manager for CS Weekly, a contributing editor for Creative Screenwriting Magazine, and has written for Cinescape.com, MSN.com, and created the TV series Studio 13, which ran on Lorne Michaels' Burly TV network. He lives in the small space left over by his ever-expanding library of books, movies, and music.
Beowulf (Director's Cut)
courtesy Paramount Home Entertainment
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