Well, what to say about a movie that's trying to be more than it in fact truly is. I liked it good enough for what it was but the movie obviously tried to be more. It thought it was "Heat", while the movie in fact only was just above the level of an average police TV-series episode.

Perhaps no wonder this movie felt like an extended TV-series episode, since it actually got based on a TV-series, from the '70's, by the same name.

Thing with its story is that it presents itself as something clever and original, while in fact it's neither of the two. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely solid enough all but there wasn't really anything that stood out about the movie and the style didn't always seem to fit its premise. A straightforward approach would had simplified things but it at the same time would had perhaps made this movie a more convincing and enjoyable one as well, with less distractions in it.

The movie could had done without some of its characters and plot lines, which you already know in advance of where it's going at anyways. the story gets a bit muddled at times and it even seems like it was trying to do too much for an under 2 hours short movie. In that regard this movie also might had definitely worked out better as a mini-series.

But all this criticism aside; it remains a perfectly watchable genre movie. It has good atmosphere to it and you have to remember this is a British production, so it's quite different from a more polished Hollywood production, so to speak.

You could call this a raw and gritty movie with its story but even more so with its characters. In essence the goods guys are sort of scoundrels as well, despite the fact they work for the police. The break the law to get suspects and evidence but also for their own personal benefit. I guess this also was what made the TV-series popular at the time and also still makes this movie distinct itself somewhat from other similar genre movies. You are sort of rooting for bad guys, which is not an easy thing to achieve, for any sort of movie.

But you can thank the cast for making it work out. Ray Winstone is a great main character, with the right sort of look as well. He looks tough and mean but you still know he can be a loyal and great guy to hang around with, as long as you stay on his good side.

There also is plenty of action to enjoy. Nothing too big but still quite spectacular at times. There are some long shootouts car chases and good old fashioned fist fights to enjoy in this, so you could hardly call this movie a boring one.

It all adds up this movie being a slightly better than average one, though the fact that it's a sort of low-key and low-budget production shall probably mean not that many people will ever see it.

7/10

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It's an obvious trend to take a well known fairy tale and take a modern twist on it, or is being a very free interpretation of it all. I'm not particularly a big fan of this, not in the least also because it very rarely results in a good movie Besides, it just too often comes across as a cheap way to cash in on an already established name and franchise. However I feel that this movie worked out surprisingly well!

No, it's far from a great movie but it at all times remains a perfectly watchable one, that besides is being pretty entertaining and spectacular in parts.

It's definitely being a very loose take on the Snow White story but they did a pretty good job with coming up with something good and original for its story, that worked out well. You can just simply see this movie as an action adventure, that just happens to feature the Snow White character and some of the other familiar characters, from the brothers Grimm's fairy tale.

Now, the story works out well but it still has some issues to it. First of all, it is true that the movie its first half was being way better too watch than its second. The second half of the movie felt somewhat disjointed and got messy in parts when the movie suddenly started to throw in way too much stuff, while still at the same time managing to make the second half also much slower and less interesting to watch than its first.

Perhaps the first half of the movie also worked out better because it focused more in the evil queen, played by Charlize Theron. And man, is she evil! Charlize Theron really did a great job with her role! The second half is almost entirely focused upon Snow White, played by Kristen Stewart, who is just less interesting as a character. So in a way this movie feels like two completely different movies, that were focusing on two different characters and both of the halves never came together well and naturally enough.

It's a really good looking movie, with a mostly dark atmosphere to it. The movie makes a great use of its special effects, costumes and makeup, which also makes this quite a visual treat.

But because that the movie is not always in balance with its story, most of the other stuff in it feels somewhat disjointed as well. There is not really one style to the movie and the one moment its is being like a typical fairy tale, with a fairy tale look to it, while at the other it's being a dark and bleach movie. Same goes for the comedy. It's just sporadically present and overall the movie its tone perhaps feels a bit too serious at times.

But really, as a whole the movie is being a pretty maintaining experience, that never bores and is being a good and interesting enough different take on the Snow White story!

7/10

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(Review originally written at 1 August 2009)

An Australian western. How weird does that sound? Still the atmosphere and nature of Australia seems to fit the genre perfectly. It's a dirty, raw and bleak movie all in one.

It's also a movie that's a bit too much aware of its own style. It often prefers its artistic and deeper meaning approaches over its true story. The movie at times definitely feels like its style over substance and it prevented me from truly finding this a great movie. Of course westerns are often about its style and atmosphere but this movie definitely over does this at times.

No, the movie was not as great as I had initially expected it to be. It had a more than great concept and enough elements in it to expect this to be a fresh and original movie. It's still fresh and original all but the whole package still slightly disappoints.

Having said that, "The Proposition" is simply still a good movie to watch. It doesn't have the best written story but the way it's being told still makes this a good genre movie. It's of course slow, doesn't always feature a lot of dialog and features some typical characters from the genre., that all makes this a good watch, especially when you're into 'modern' new westerns, such as movies like "Unforgiven", "Open Range" and "3:10 to Yuma".

The movie has a surprising cast, with mostly Australian actors that are also well known beyond the boundaries. Best known is of course Guy Pearce and John Hurt but it's really Ray Winstone who gives away the best and most impressive performance of the movie. To me he also was the main character and I'm not too sure if the movie would had worked out as well without him.

A good and original western from Australia.

7/10

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(Review originally written at 29 April 2008)

Motion capture movie making is of course still in its very early stages. It shows some potentials for the future of film-making but it's not really good enough at this moment to make a great and convincing movie with. Still the most convincing computer animated movie was "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" and that movie proved to be so costly that the studio went bankrupt soon after the movie its release. Who knows, maybe in 10 years from now it will be perfected and people will be able to make this type of movies faster and cheaper and above all also better. I'm actually looking forward to the day they start making movies with the likenesses of already deceased actors, complete with voice impersonating techniques. Wishful futuristic thinking or the future of film-making? Who knows, time will tell, although I'm sure that there always be need and demand for actors and 'normal' film-making, so all those crew and actors wont ever have to go back to school to learn a different profession.

"Beowulf" is already a big step up from Robert Zemeckis his previous motion capture movie attempt "The Polar Express" but still it also suffers from the same problems. It still remains hard to bring the right emotions to the screen on the character's faces and their skins look way too smooth and perfect to consider the look a full 100% realistic. And overall the movie really makes you think at times why did they have to make this movie completely computer animated? Couldn't they had done basically just as good with live action movie making techniques with live real actors in front of the camera?

Overall the look of the movie is good but at times it still feels as if you're watching a cut scene of a Playstation game. Especially during some of the action sequences. Of course the beauty of computer animated movies is that you can go just as far and over-the-top with its action as you want to, since there are no limitations to its possibilities. Notmally I'm not a big fan off silly over-the-top action in animated movies but in this case it didn't bothered me since it seemed to suit the story and the character of Beowulf right.

It also makes this movie more or less look like a 'children's' movie, which "Beowulf" definitely is not. While it looks seem to be made for the younger ones, the story is definitely one for adults. And also the movie features quite an amount of graphic violence.

But of course a movie is not all about its looks. The story of Beowulf seems like a pretty entertaining and strong story on its own. However this movie gives you the feeling that it isn't giving you halve of its story. At times the movie makes to big leaps into time, which makes you wonder what happened in between. It was as if they ran out of time or money or both halve way through the production of the movie, which forced them to cut a large portion of its story. It therefor isn't the most coherent movie to watch but this only becomes more of a problem in its last part. The most part of the movie and its story does entertain but it also knows to build some more depth and brings some layers into the story, that focuses on the nature of mankind. It doesn't all work out and not as effective as it could had but the right intentions for it are definitely there.

Some of the possibilities of motion capture movie making already shows in the look of its characters. Ray Winstone is a far from muscular or heroic looking actor but thanks to the wonders of technique he looks like the perfect super human with amazing strength. On the other hand some actors look the same way as they do in real life, such as Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Brendan Gleeson and Angelina Jolie, which again in a different way also shows the possibilities of computer animated movies.

Still I hope that Robert Zemeckis will also return to 'normal' film-making again. His last 'normal' movie "Cast Away" already dates back from 2000. Don't forget that this is the guy that once brought us the Back to the Future-trilogy, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "Forrest Gump", "Contact" and the earlier mentioned "Cast Away", among many other great movies. We need some more movies like that Robert! He already however is working on another motion capture movie at the moment, "A Christmas Carol", based of course on the famous Charles Dickens novel.

Nevertheless "Beowulf" remains a perfectly watchable entertaining movie for in between to watch.

7/10