- Joined
- Jul 6, 2005
- Messages
- 450
Figured it's time I bring folks the latest *cough* news. So I'll start the show with Pan's Labyrinth which was very different from what I had expected. The main character, Ofelia, is the daughter of a woman newly married (as far as I could gather) to, and bearing the child of, a brutal officer stationed at a front line of sorts against rebels. So the story about this general, Ofelia's mother and another character, Mercedes, are intertwined with a fantasy story that springs from Ofelia's huge interest in books. It's all very well acted, and there's hardly a pause in the thumping drama and thrilling adventure. Visually, the fantasy part of the story is very grotesque, slimy and generally unwelcoming. The undertones, however, are very childish and cute. All in all a well made film with a strong story. Not really my field of interest, though. Horror, drama and fantasy blended together is, in my humble opinion, an unfit mixture.
Moving on, I've been urged for a while to watch Hellboy and Hellboy II. As they're both Guillermo del Toro films, just like Pan's Labyrinth, I had mixed expectations. The first film largely disgusted me, the visuals were very much akin to those of Pan's Labyrinth and I did not enjoy the plot all that much either. Ron Perlman is fancy as a superhero-antihero-mutant flick, though, and the whole atmosphere of the film is very lighthearted compared to Pan's Labyrinth. I found the sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army much more interesting. There's a pretty elaborate fantasy world going on, making the world less real, thus Hellboy and Abe more plausible. The elves, although quite simply humans with straight, long, blond hair just like the stereotype - actually, on second thought I'm not sure if they were referred to as elves -, had a fancy role as the ruling species of a different dimension, one could say, where fantasy creatures were the animals (though more often than not capable of speech). This dimension, of course, opposed to the real dimension where humans rule. Disregard the title, though, as the Golden Army gets little exposure in the film, and although they serve as the drive they are not what should peak your interest. From an artist's standpoint, the film is very inspiring. Otherwise, it's not really that much to it. I'd say Hellboy is a head above your average superhero flick, though, because it's not trying to be real at all, quite the contrary.
Lastly, I saw Beowulf & Grendel the other day - the one with Gerard Butler as Beowulf. Of course, Denmark is still a mountainous fantasy landscape similar to the Shire, but instead of being cosy with little men, there are pre-viking warriors hungry for beer, women and violence. Then, coupled with fantasy, we have large, barbaric men - I can't say it ever clarified whether Grendel (or rather the father) was of a unique species or just a man cast out of society. There's also a witch who can see your death, oddly enough she's the only pretty woman in sight. Finally there's a hand emerging from the sea to scare the occasional boatman or fisher. It is revealed later on that there's more than an arm. Anyway, the story is presented in a much more plausible manner than it was in the Beowulf 3D film that I saw some years ago. The acting is adequate and it's fairly well made altogether. Naturally, Gerard Butler doesn't exactly sound Scandinavian nor look like one, but that's hardly the point here. Nothing is particularly Scandinavian about this thing in the first place. I felt it got rather boring at times, and I had a hard time understanding Beowulf's intentions. Generally a quite sad story with a not convincingly happy ending.
Beowulf with Gerard Butler is an Icelandic film. Filmed in Iceland(that is why its Mountain-y(?). but i Agree its a lot better than 3d Beowulf.
