On seeing the new Beowulf movie in 3-D (Spoiler-free, honest!)

[thatcrazycajun]

Wow. Just...holy mother of murgatroyd WOW.

As a consolation reward to myself for having been a good boy and not spent hundreds of dollars (and what remains of my health) trying to attend Darkover this weekend, or to visit family over Thanksgiving, and (mostly) observing Buy Nothing Day on Friday, I splurged on the higher-than-normal admission ($12.50) to go see Beowulf, Paramount's new all-CGI adaptation of the ancient epic poem, in digital 3-D. (The latest issue of Wired has an excellent article on the movie and the renaissance in 3-D moviemaking it's spurred, which their website reproduces here. I suspect the $25K installation cost per screen for the new 3-D process is the reason the theater charges more for this version than the 2-D version it's also showing on another screen...but why do I have the feeling the price for 3-D film tickets won't come down even after that upfront cost is amortized?) Besides, despite it being chilly and rainy, I had frickin' had enough of being pretty much housebound for three days solid. Also, I acted in a parodic play of the legend waaay back in grade school, so the story still resonates with me.

The film takes some liberties with the source material, as per usual when Hollywood tries bringing Great Lit-er-a-twah (as my old crony Roberta Rogow would put it) to the big screen; I can't say much more without spoiling it for those who haven't seen it yet. But I do think my Songbird, now planning a trip home for the holidays, will enjoy seeing it with me, and I find it worth seeing a second time. (But I gotta remember not to drink so much soda half an hour before it starts next time; my bladder insisted on detracting from my enjoyment of the film's last third somewhat.) It's almost worth it just to see Angelina Jolie's animated character, Grendel's demonic mom, rise up out of the water naked...with a prehensile tail and built-in high heels, yet! (And don't you dare try and tell me that's a spoiler; screenshots of her have been all over the Web for weeks at least by now.) Thankfully, the heel-spurs are the silliest thing about the movie I could see; of course, I'm not a specialist in history or literature, so those who are might spot other risible moments for all I know. Also featured as voice artists are Ray Winstone (whose last sword-armed role was as a knight in King Arthur) in the title role, Anthony Hopkins as the old Danish king beset by the monster Grendel, and Crispin Hellion Glover (yes, that really is his legal middle name!) as the monster itself.

I'm still debating whether to go see Enchanted, The Water Horse and/or Bee Movie before SB gets here or wait; it will be at least three weeks before she arrives (Dec. 20th). But if you want an opinion on whether Beowulf lives up to the hype (as a very wise person said to me once, opinions are like assholes: everybody's got one), my answer is a resounding "Hell, yeah!" And if you can at all afford it, go ahead and splash out on the 3-D version; they really have managed to pull off a real-deal 3-D effect without the headaches and/or dizziness afterward...plus, they even give you 3-D trailers for other upcoming movies before the feature. And as Wired's article points out, as the cost comes down and these movies do better at the box office, expect to see more and more of them...to the point where, one day, 3-D may actually be the norm rather than the exception in movie formats—at least until someone comes out with a practical holo-theater.

Comments

[crowatdusk.livejournal.com]

Is watching a movie in digital 3D an experience at all similar to an IMAX viewing? I can't tolerate watching film at the IMAX - it has some kind of odd effect on me and I don't know if it's physical or in my psyche;I become nauseated in a way that feels like being seasick. My sister and her 2 sons were with me and she and the one boy were affected the same way. I also get sick when I view film I've shot on a screen larger than the display on the camcorder. I think that has to do with not using a tripod. It's the motion. (I get seasick on boats big enough to walk on too - except for one time on a whale watch boat) What is the dizziness from and how are they able to make it so you don't feel that way? Makes me think it's something to do with the brain??

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Only some few theaters are showing Beowulf in IMAX 3-D; the rest that are showing the 3-D version do it on a normal-sized screen. The physical after-effects are, from what I understand, not so much a result of the old process itself as of its poor execution: two prints had to be projected through special shutters onto the screen simultaneously, and if either the prints or the projection shutters were out of sync (which they all too often were), the audience's eyes and heads suffered. Wired's article does a better job than I can of explaining the difference with the new process, but suffice to say it doesn't require the same mechanics as the old one.