Still not sold on Robert Zemeckis’s Beowulf? Try this. How’re you feeling about it now?
The one thing the film’s myriad online trailers cannot do is show off its brilliantly rendered 3-D environs – though you can definitely see how Zemeckis has tailored his compositions to take maximum advantage of the medium. Devin, Russ and I were blown away by the presentation at Comic Con in July; despite our "uncanny valley" caveats, there was no denying the film’s immersiveness. The question now is whether Zemeckis can keep the viewer spellbound for a full two hours; this trailer goes a long way toward convincing me that this won’t be another Polar Express.
At the very least, I’m relieved that Paramount has finally (albeit two months too late) decided to flaunt Beowulf‘s very adult content. In fact, there are glimpses of brutality in this red-band trailer that weren’t shown to the press at Comic Con (e.g. Beowulf plunging his fist into Grendel’s ear canal); these moments should put to rest any doubts about the movie risking an R-rating. This is rough stuff, folks.
Though I think Paramount blew it by not running a red-band trailer concurrently with the all-ages one back in July, they should be able to get all but the most cynical of fanboys (at least partially) back on board with this preview. I hope.
(People on the AICN talk back are now complaining that the link doesn’t work. Keep trying. Or try the flash version. It took me a couple of attempts to get it to work.)