Science Fiction World

Beowulf, directed by Robert Zemeckis, will hack a bloody swathe through our cinemas this November. The latest in a long and otherwise uninspiring string of adaptations of the epic Anglo Saxon poem, Zemeckis’s version does have several things going for it, most notably the incredible talent of Neil Gaiman as co-writer with Roger Avary.

Fantasy as a genre, from the high fantasy of Tolkien to the heroic fantasy of Robert E. Howard, owes a huge debt to Beowulf, the earliest written Anglo Saxon poem.

The epic concerns the exploits of Beowulf, a warrior from Geat (and the super hero of his day) who answers the call for help from Hrothgar, the Danish King, whose kingdom is being terrorised by Grendel, a monster from Hell. To cut a long story short, Beowulf defeats Grendel and then Grendel’s even more fearsome mother. The hero’s final adventure, as an aged king, pits him against a dragon, roused by the theft of a cup from its treasury...

Don’t expect a faithful translation of the epic poem to film from Zemeckis however. The publicity machine warns that Zemeckis is giving us a “unique vision of the Beowulf saga”, a reference, it would appear, to both the filming technique and the story line. “Starring” Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Brendan Gleeson and Angelina Jolie the film was made using digitally enhanced live action (essentially animation over live action). Apparently the movie is intended to be seen in 3D.

The screen play was written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, and combines episodes from the poem with completely new material that seeks to uncover the motivation for Grendel’s behaviour (hopefully a lot better than the politically correct and utterly dire Beowulf and Grendel, which sought to explain Grendel’s behaviour as that of a victim of persecution). The writing duo’s position is that Beowulf is an unreliable narrator and that when he explains how - alone and unwatched - he defeated Grendel’s mother, it is the truth that suffers. With a very seductive Angelina Jolie in the role of Grendel’s mother, jumping to conclusions about what Beowulf is concealing is no great stretch of the imagination!

Beowulf will be released on 16 November 2007 in the US and UK and 29 November in Australia (other release dates).

Gerard’s expectation: the fact that Neil Gaiman is involved with this project makes me hopeful that even if this version is not a faithful rendition of the epic on film, it will be entertaining and intelligent.