Beowulf (Unrated Director's Cut)

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Product Description ------------------- Director Robert Zemeckis mines the epic Old English poem for his latest action adventure to feature performance capture animation. The medieval tale was adapted for the screen by Neil Gan and Roger Avery, and no doubt it bears little resemblance to the text you studied in high school. So the story goes, King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) and his people are being terrorized by the horrific monster Grendel (Crispin Glover). Hrothgar puts out a call to any brave man who can come and slay the monster. Enter Beowulf (Ray Winstone) and his brave band of soldiers. Beowulf is a mighty warrior, and he quickly dispatches Grendel, but in doing so he enrages Grendel's mother-played here by an extremely sexy and serpentine Angelina Jolie. Beowulf journeys out to lay waste to Grendel's mother as well, but soon finds his resolve tested by great temptation. Director Robert Zemeckis Star Ray Winstone, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Robin Wright, Special Features: Anamorphic Widescreen Audio: 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital - English, French, Spanish Subtitles - English, French, Spanish Additional Release Material: Additional Scenes - 1. Wealthow Shows Beowulf the Sundial 2. Beowulf Boasts to the People of Herot 3. Celebration and Seduction 4. Wulfgar Greets Beowulf at the Stockade 5. Beowulf's Day Unferth Finds the Horn 6. Cain on the Barrows Featurettes - 1. a HERO'S JOURNEY: THE MAKING OF BEOWULF 2. BEASTS OF BURDEN 3. THE ORIGINS OF BEOWULF 4. CREATING THE ULTIMATE BEOWULF 5. THE ART OF BEOWULF Easter Eggs - 1. Coffee Break with John Malkovich Trailers - 1. Theatrical Trailer Runtime: 114 minutes Year of Release: 2007. Set Contains: ------------- The process of creating Beowulf was more interesting than the movie itself--though many of the movie's fans will be disappointed that the "making-of" featurette does not include Angelina Jolie in her skin tight motion-capture suit. We do, however, get to see Ray Winstone (who admits he has a less than heroic physique), live horses bedecked with plastic dots, a "Robo-Grendel," wire props painted fluorescent pink and orange, and a poor production assistant whose job is scooping up horse poop. Other featurettes discuss the monster design (including giving a sea monster a single eye because, apparently, cyclopean creatures have mythological street cred); how excited the filmmakers were to combine Winstone's gruff voice with a preously burly bod; and a brief bit discussing the original epic poem, how much director Robert Zemeckis hated it, and the various liberties the screenwriters took with it. But for anyone interested in computer animation, the most interesting extra feature may be the deleted scenes. Because they were cut long before the animation was finished, they show the process at a variety of different stages--at some points the faces don't even move, making Beowulf look like a Thunderbirds-style puppet movie. --Bret Fetzer