The director's cut runs about 30 minutes longer than the theatrical release, which is a good thing. Why did they, then, try and make said CG models look like their actor counterparts when we all know what a real Hopkins and John Malkovich look like? The usual filmmaking tricks have been introduced to slim it down and jazz it up for todays Rings / 300 obsessed crowd, though everything you need to know to follow things clearly has been left intact. This article will list 5 director's cuts that are better than the theatrical cuts and five that are worse. A Heros Journey: The Making Of Beowulf (running 23:55) starts things off on the welcome, non-promotional fluff approach, being more candid on-set footage than talking heads and clips. Beowulf and Wiglaf then travel to the demon's cave, where Beowulf enters alone and encounters the demon, who takes the form of a beautiful, gold-covered naked woman. VerticalScope Inc., 111 Peter Street, Suite 600, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 2H1, Canada. But its not just the violence the animation is awkward throughout. Lacking that, the nod goes to the excellent pacing of the original release. Additional previews for Iron Man, the Rolling Stones concert flick Shine A Light and The Kite Runner are also included. i loved what Final Fantasy did with similar technology so hopefully this will impress me just as much. Understandably, the filmmakers dont want his CGI manhood flying around, so hes always shot with something helpfully blocking his groin. Succinct and without losing any interest, this is a good piece that explores an often overlooked angle of the moviemaking process on these types of films. Beowulf returns to Herot, the castle, and becomes king. Considering the disc is fairly packed with other content, the compression works overtime to deliver a stunning, reference quality image, even if it does intentionally flirt with being too dark at times. But when he enters the mother's lair, he finds something very different than he expected. The HD DVD contains eleven short features and six deleted scenes.[40]. Come join the discussion about home audio/video, TVs, projectors, screens, receivers, speakers, projects, DIYs, product reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more! NY 10036. Long-time Zemeckis collaborator Alan Silvestris score pounds its way through the speakers with immense power, though its often nearly as cut-and-paste as the visuals, sounding at times more along the lines of Hans Zimmers Gladiator and its sampled like, especially in the action sequences. Why did Zemeckis directorial skills seem to completely vacate him, showing no restraint as he swings and swerves his non-existent CG camera around in a fashion usually reserved for inexperienced direct-to-video helmers? An unwitting look into the way these films are made is exposed in a series of six Deleted Scenes, running just over 10 minutes in all. It is hard to disagree with Scott, who seems to have a good track record with releasing very good director's cuts. [10] The mead hall battle scene near the beginning of the film, among others, required numerous props that served as additional markers; these markers allowed for a more accurate manifestation of a battlefield setting as the battle progressed. The figures, on the whole, look vacant, and do not seem to want to make any kind of eye contact between themselves. Comes with 3 "3-D" cards. While the third act initially slows the films pace to a crawl, the tiredness of an older Beowulf and an exciting duel with a dragon make it the best bit, despite the occasional lack of internal logic (why doesnt the dragons fire burn his heart?) Goes a bit into the differences between directors and theatrical cut. The men celebrate in Heorot to lure Grendel out while Beowulf strips naked and relaxes so that when the beast attacks, they can have a fair and equal fight. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. As usual with these things, the supporting members do the best work: Gleeson, as Beowulfs best bud Wiglaf, is perhaps the best of the humans after the astonishing Jolie not much of a stretch as shes generally considered something of a special effect herself and whos character doesnt have to cope with the rubbery costumes all the others have been lumbered with. Now Available: Tech Talk Podcast with Scott Wilkinson, Episode 19 Click here for details. The facial closeups really are amazingthe most lifelike I have seen yet. He also stated that "Zemeckis prioritizes spectacle over human engagement, in his reliance on a medium that allows for enormous range and fluidity in its visual effects yet reduces his characters to 3-D automatons. An Extended Cut is usually any version of the film which is longer than the theatrical cut (though in very rare cases, its shorter). Do they render at 2048x1080, or is it higher? The original version ofSuperman IIwas started by Richard Donner, but completed by Richard Lester, who opted to focus on a more comedic version of Superman. Even though the motion-capture ethos hadnt been entirely swept clean from the final feel of the animation, which still came over as being too real, akin to the rotoscoped look in traditional fare, Monster House was a real step forward, and when it was announced that Bob Z was taking the same approach to the epic old poem Beowulf and promised a greater sense of technique development, we couldnt wait to see what he came up with next. But many times it's not, and we only see what the director intended years later. While Id have been quite content to see much more of this kind of footage (a feature-length documentary is called for, essentially, to really get a grip on whats being attempted), the rest of the featurettes focus on individual elements. His defeat to her, as well as his bargain for prestige and glory, transmits that male power "not only comes from the feminine, but remains eternally subject to it. Looks like the audience was pretty savvy though: Beowulf came nowhere near to matching the Spartans surprise box-office take earlier in the same year. Anyone notice the regular DVD version is Unrated, and says "with more intense footage" vs. the HD DVD version being PG-13. [13] Zemeckis used Alan Ritchson for the physical model, facial image and movement for the title character of Beowulf. In addition, this essay will apply Baz Luhrmann's unique director style to the 2012 dystopian film, The Hunger Games (which is based off of Suzanne Collins's novel of the same name), in order to for the film to agree with the criteria of Luhrmann's Red Curtain Style. It goes someway to making up for the Beowulf-Grendel battle earlier on. Note that the edition reviewed here is the director's cut. MPI's version has good color and sound and was taken from original negatives owned by the film's producer, Michael Wayne (John's son). . [15][24][25], Later Beowulf claims to have vanquished the mother, having supposedly rendered her dead with his sword in her cave, but the falsity of this only translates as a wishful, pretended triumph of the male over the female. The creatures are largely less realistic CGI than youd see in a live action film. Party leiers is soos tiranne wat geen ander menings as hul eie duld nie. I wouldn't even put it in the top 10 difference in comparison pics I've seen in this forum. Hidef digest has a review up. The term uncanny valley quickly gathered buzz as the way to describe the soulless, empty eyed humans seen cavorting rather stiffly in the film, and any proclamations that motion-capture had taken a huge leap forward were quickly spun instead into how much money the movie was making in 3D Imax screens. The director's cut of this movie features several new scenes and storylines that explain character actions far more clearly than the original cut, showing that the director's cut ofKingdom of Heaven is a true cinematic masterpiece. Beowulfs main difficulty in being in any way believable is that, for the most part, it tries to make a CGI puppet version of Anthony Hopkins look like the real flesh and blood Anthony Hopkins. Zemeckis, with his Performance Capture, seems to want to be eliminating this process, attempting to grab more of the overall personality acting live on the stage. As with keyframe animation, some shots have just been blocked initially, without facial movement, offering a cruel comparison to the finished film and begging the question of if they forgot to add the required data to the faces in some of the finished scenes too. HD DVD looks better.but I have to say I don't see a "massive" difference. There is a lot of these animated movies released on HD that looked really, really good. His battle with Beowulf, in Hrothgars barn, is a tour de force of playing from him, but the sequence is let down by unintentional laughter: why must Beowulf seemingly fight every battle naked? Despite the fact that movies are crafted by the director, not every movie has a 'director's cut' release. And Grendel's mother. Comparison R-Rated Unrated. Differences between this and the theatrical version are quite minimal. Finally seduced, Beowulf is named the new King and lives a long life of pleasure until he displeases Grendels Mother and she vows to bring Beowulf down with all the might of her malevolent power, just as she had done with Hrothgar, and will do again, and again. [25] In particular, the portrayal of Grendel and his kin appeals to multiple forms of sexual unease, among them the castration anxiety, the monstrous feminine and the challenging of traditional gender roles. beowulf director's cut differenceswaterrower footboard upgrade. A director's cut was also released as both a single-disc DVD and two-disc HD-DVD alongside the theatrical cut. en veral teen die begin van die 1980 s het polisielede wat ie-mand onwettig doodgemaak het, geweet dat hulle waarskynlik verhoor sou word. I hope A Christmas Carol reaches new heights for the process, and with Carrey he has as good a chance as any, but if Performance Capture has any future, it should be a technology reliant on specific artists acting out the movements, leaving the acting to the vocalists. Before he dies, Beowulf tries to tell Wiglaf the truth about his affair with Grendel's mother and acknowledge his son, but Wiglaf insists on keeping his legacy intact. But outraged and the murder, Grendel's mother now seeks revenge and once again, it is upon Beowulf to put an end to the destruction and horrors. Fresh off the back of the massively successfulGladiator, Ridley Scott began to work on another historical epic. The cassette box features a drawing of Wayne and O'Hara and claims to be "authorized by the estate of John Wayne." . The additional scenes allow for more character development and it truly makes for a more enjoyable experience. Beowulf is generally considered to be a pagan tale written down by Christian monks, which for Zemeckis and Avary represented the possibility that the original story had been tampered with in order to better fit Christian sensibilities. apartments under $800 in delaware / innsbrook golf course dress code / beowulf director's cut differences. Because of the expanded budget, Zemeckis told the screenwriters to rewrite their script, because "there is nothing that you could write that would cost me more than a million dollars per minute to film. "[15][18][25] However, authors have noted that he ultimately breaks the Oedipian triangle caused by his destructive son, as he manages to kill the dragon and seemingly thwart the cycle at the cost of his life. [24] After copulating with Grendel's mother, both Hrothgar and Beowulf find themselves unable to maintain fulfilling sexual relationships with Wealtheow or other women, becoming aged, bitter and even feminized in their impotency. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 2 disc DVD Special Edition - AMADEUS Director's Cut - Region 4 at the best online prices at eBay! The hero must face his weakness and be heroic once again. Afterwards, Beowulf returns to Heorot with Grendel's head and announces he has killed his mother the demon. Yes, its true that those films also relied on groundbreaking visual effects to enhance their stories, and this is another realm in which Bob Zemeckis shone: his ability to meld on-set footage with later generated elements was second to none, and each film I saw of his pushed the boundaries that much more forward. Its creation was overseen by Aliens director James Cameron. Director's Cut. In the original Beowulf, the monsters are outcasts because they're bad (just as Cain, their progenitor, was outcast because he killed his brother), but in the film Beowulf the monsters are bad because they're outcasts [] Contrary to the original Beowulf, the new film wants us to understand and humanize our monsters. Now Available: Tech Talk Podcast with Scott Wilkinson, Episode 19 Click here for details. This is noteworthy especially because it marks the only interview given by Zemeckis for the film. The monster, according to this charity paradigm, is just misunderstood rather than evil (similar to the version presented in John Gardner's novel Grendel). What a difference. He still had to resemble Crispin Glover though: the animators decided to adapt Glover's own parted hairstyle to Grendel, albeit with bald patches. The late actor portrayed the Man of Steel for four films, though the first two in the series are typically considered to be the best in the franchise. [15][26] The film still underline the irresistibility of female power, as even Wiglaf, who had been shown to be abstinent from lust in contrast to his partners, is hinted to be similarly seduced by Grendel's mother. When it comes to Beowulfs personalities, theres nothing actually wrong with the vocal performances, just how theyve been translated visually. What of the film itself? Technical Support. Your choice will be averaged with the other votes to calculate the AV Readers' Score. Once again, the technology, which really should have come on leaps and bounds since Final Fantasy ten years ago, fails us as an audience and Zemeckis and his hard working crew. Grendel has patches of gold skin, but because of his torment, he has shed much of his scales and exposed his internal workings. But the weak CGI, sometimes leaden dialogue (I forgot to mention the 300-wannabe I am Beowulf and comedically repetitive Ive come to kill your monster), and uncertain level of violence all get in the way. I gave Amadeus a 7/10 but in my mind it feels like a very high 7, and I really want to give it an 8/10. The 2.35:1 ratio brings Beowulfs murky and shadowy world to life, and the film does deserve plaudits for its production designeverything apart from the characters looks pretty darned nice. In the cases that using cached data was not possible, the scenes were rendered using foreground occlusion, which involves the blurring of different overlays of a single scene in an attempt to generate a single scene film. They would rip you in the BD forums for that. So its a credit to the studios when they produce something that rise above the rest. At this point, Ive more faith in Jackson, who has proven his version of the technology works with Gollum and, possibly the greatest digital character achievement of the age, Kong, the giant ape in his wondrous King Kong from a couple of years ago. Zemeckis seems hell bent on perfecting this strand of mo-cap: next up is A Christmas Carol, with Jim Carrey playing everyone except Tiny Tim, it seems, though if anyone would be able to act with his voice and his body then its Carrey, a wild physical performer as long as hes not reigned in too tightly. The cameras recorded real-time footage of the performances, shots which Zemeckis reviewed. Why didnt the monster Grendel, Beowulfs ultimate foe, look better than Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings more than five years ago? Featuring the voices of Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Alison Lohman and Angelina Jolie, the film sees the rise and fall of a warrior, Beowulf, after he travels to Denmark to kill a monster. . Zemeckis is on hand prominently, and its never under question who is running this show. Here, though, instead of trying to make an animated Tom Hanks look like the real Tom Hanks, or even more bafflingly trying to make the actions of an adult-sized Tom Hanks fit the dimensions of a kid-size Tom Hanks, the focus was on assigning a motion-capture double to their character who was actually cast for being in the right ballpark to begin with. Get great deals on Beowulf (2007 film) Director's Cut DVDs & Blu-ray Discs. What does director Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), directed by Kenneth Branagh, have in common a mutual underlying story; but their differences are what makes their tales all the more special. Now, quite often magic can be brought to a project by someone approaching it from the opposite approach, but in this case Im reminded by Jonathan Frakes, who suggested that he never liked the original Thunderbirds show in the promotions for his feature film version and we all know how that turned out. With movies, sometimes there is a director's cut that surpasses the theatrical/initial cut. So much data was produced in the course of the creation of the film, the studio was forced to upgrade all of its processors to multicore versions, which run quicker and more efficiently. . For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. "[47] Corliss later named it the tenth-best film of 2007. [34] This was followed by a four-issue comic book adaptation by IDW Publishing released every week in October 2007. When Grendel's mother appears, Beowulf throws her the golden horn, but she refuses it and the dragon attacks Beowulf's castle, threatening Wealtheow and Ursula. He wades into the sea, while holding the golden drinking horn, before pausing halfway in the surf. The director's cut is rated R rated because of the inclusion of longer, grittier fight scenes. Beowulf, the Viking, answers the call and manages to tear the creature limb from limb. Plus I like many of Zemeckis other films, I like the poem, and theres a lot of potential for a good adaptation. I've only seen it in 3D so it'll be bad ass to see it like this on Tuesday. A 2535-foot stage was built, and it used 244 Vicon MX40 cameras. The music for Beowulf was composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri. I still find Zemeckis an extraordinarily interesting talent to watch, but more and more, rather than count down the days until his new picture opens, find myself dragging my heels toward the movie houses sometime during the first two weeks of playing. In a rare attempt at genuine faithfulness, Beowulf strips naked for the fight so as to be on equal terms with Grendel. I would say the best way to watch this, if you haven't seen it, is with all the lights out to see every little detail, sound up loud and do not have high expectations of a serious movie as there is plenty of scenes that you will just go "NO WAY!"