Beowulf

I rented that CGI flick Beowulf. Frankly, the first thing that turned me off about it was that it was CGI. CGI blood never looks as nice as the physical theatrical variety. That aside, I think Beowulf was a rather interesting retelling of the old epic.

For one thing, I really pitied Grendel this time round. I always wondered about what it would be like to tell the tale from the perspective of Grendel and his mother. Nobody really cares about the lives of monsters, only the fact that humans were killed by them. Then again, it's always the humans killing the monsters in the end. Seems to be roughly the same thing, if you ignore the they-started-it-first argument. This time, Grendel was a rather pitiful creature, and seemed frightened rather than purely vicious.

Overall, I think the main thing that sold me on the movie would have to be the epic battle sequences. I especially liked the demon thing Beowulf did: Damaging himself so he could slay the monster. It is not a typical human approach to a problem. I can't really say that the movie is original, since the story has been retold like a zillion times. However, I do appreciate the retelling of the story. It highlights the weakness of men, and I think it was a fair interpretation of the key themes. That means it earns 7/10