Beowulf? Or...

...what have they done to him?

I saw a preview of the new Beowulf movie the other day. Great cast notwithstanding, it would appear that they have taken one of my favorite classic Old English poems and turned it into a really bad fantasy B-movie a la Eragon (which, in my opinion, having actually been an F-movie book, was lucky to receive the B-movie treatment-- but I digress).

I'm totally cool with Angelina Jolie in the movie, even as some sort of freaky witch-person that doesn't show up in the poem at all. But I love Angelina in anything, even crap. (Angelina, there's a part for you in my movie adaptation of Book One! Call me!) However, none of the snippets from the preview actually resemble anything from the poem. This is an absolute shame, since there's quite enough A-movie goodness in the poem to stand on its own cinematic merit.

Nevertheless, I will still pay to go and see Beowulf. After all, I enjoyed the groovy, tie-dyed Troy (I've got a part for you, too, Eric Bana!) and LOVED the battle-porn and glistening muscle that was 300, even if the director did have to throw in a little female nudity and awkward writhing to bring in the male audiences. And Angelina was great in Alexander. I forgave the blatant historical inconsistencies of those movies (and there were many). So I will reserve my final judgment until after I've seen this latest artistic rendering of Beowulf's tale.

Oh, and no new writing. See? I haven't forgotten the purpose of my blog. Really.