Beowulf

If Elizabeth: The Golden Age is a case of over-simplification, and over-glamourisation, Beowulf is a picture in contrast. Loosely based on the epic English poem of an out-and-out mythical hero, Beowulf gives it meat, making it a story of pride and its fall, of power and guilt.

Having successfully experimented with CG effects in The Polar Express, Zemeckis takes this technology to another level in Beowulf. The real actors 8212; and it8217;s quite a line-up 8212; are interspersed with their computer-generated images to make them real as well as to transport the film to places where it would be impossible to go otherwise.

However, technology or the final fight with the dragon is just part of the thrill of Beowulf. The film8217;s strength is the depth of its characters and the complexity of its plot. What8217;s ironic is that it takes a film that is somewhat animation to give us one of the most multi-dimensional heroes on screen.

And guess who that hero is played by? Fifty-something, overweight Ray Winstone who, in any other film, would be the hero8217;s best buddy dispensed with in the first battle. Computer-enhanced to okay six-pack abs and looking lean and young, here he swings about in the buff for almost 10 minutes. A 40-something, recently refurbished actor can eat his heart out.

Of course there is the other thing 8212; Angelina Jolie does appear almost nude out of the water.