People often keep saying it's impossible for movies to do something original or have an original story to it and simply accept that movies keep 'borrowing' stuff from other movies and television shows. Personally I never agreed with any of this. There still is plenty of original stuff you could do with movies and there are plenty of untold stories yet to tell. "Flight" is yet another example of an original movie story- and storytelling.

Having said that; I won't call this movie the movie of the year as well. After all it's not perfect but it sure is one fine and perfectly watchable movie.

Besides featuring an original concept and main story it also features an interesting main character, that's a far from heroic and perfect one. He's heavily flawed as an human being, as are most people in real life. It gives the movie a sense of realism to it as well and I liked that the Denzel Washington kept doing unexpected and the 'wrong' things all throughout the movie. It kept the movie interesting, original and surprising and besides helped to make the ending an even better satisfying and strong one. And even while he does some despicable things throughout the movie, it's never like you are condemning him for it as well, or stop caring for the character or the outcome of the story. You can thank the script and director Robert Zemeckis for that but of course also Denzel Washington, who yet again can add a great performance to his résumé.

Still the story has some issues to it as well. It doesn't always feels focused enough and at times throws too many distractions at you, that in the end don't add an awful lot to the movie or its story. Some characters could had even so easily been left out but still I understand why the movie did all of this. It was supposed to keep things going and to make it about more than just it's main plot line but some better writing, that would had connected things a bit more tight and interestingly, was required for it to let it fully work out all.

This really was the one main thing that prevented me from loving this movie. Of course that doesn't mean the movie is a failure or not worth watching. It remains a good movie to watch all throughout, despite of its lesser moments and the choices it makes at times.

The movie is a human drama, without any of the false and forced sentiments and with plenty of interesting developments to it, that never feel far fetched. It besides is not an heavy movie to watch at all and it times even has a light tone to it. This all feels consistent with Robert Zemeckis' earlier and similar works, such as "Cast Away" for example. This movie also marks the return of Zemeckis to real life filmmaking again, after his, not all too successful, continues attempts at making motion capture movies. I think we can also all agree on it that this is were Zemeckis belongs and needs to continue doing, though he's currently already working on a new motion capture movie. Oh well, as long as he keeps doing movies like "Flight" as well, every now and then, it's fine with me!

Definitely one fine and original fresh movie to watch!

7/10

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An airline pilot saves a flight from crashing, but an investigation into the malfunctions reveals something troubling. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis

Starring: Denzel Washington, James Badge Dale, John Goodman and others

Current release date: November 2, 2012

(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

(Review originally written at 19 April 2006)

For a Christmas movie- and a children movie in particular, this movie is really lacking in entertainment and likability.

It's very simple to say why this movie is not entertaining enough. It's too artificial. Sure, the computer effects are beautiful looking and it's a really big achievement but it makes the movie also very artificial looking and therefor the movie has absolutely no magic feeling in it at all. Because of that very same reason, the characters are too shallow and the story itself is not involving or entertaining enough. I really don't understand why this movie had to be made entirely with the computer. The movie totally lacks human emotions because of this and the whole 'magical' feeling feels forced and fake.

To be frank, I just don't see how this movie is much good as a children's movie. There is nothing to enjoy in this movie for the kids. There aren't really many jokes present and the characters that are in the movie are not really likable or easy to relate with for the kids. They even have no names. The story also has little entertainment value because it's not consistent enough and the events in the movie are just only highly unlikely and are not made to look believable at all. And in general, the movie is more creepy and dark looking than cheerful and happy. What an odd choice for a children Christmas movie. The movie relies too much on its 'magic' feeling...a feeling that is not present in the movie at all. Therefor "The Polar Express" is nothing more than a beautiful looking failure.

The story is extremely simple and is told way too weak in the movie. Basically the story is one unlikely and even odd event after the other without them making an obvious connection. I'm also still puzzling what the message of this movie exactly was. I'm pretty sure of it that it's; Believe in Christmas. But it is never explained in the movie why. Other Christmas movies with these kind of messages also have a morale and explain why it's so beautiful to believe in Christmas and how it makes the world a better place. Not in this movie. The message of the movie is basically muddled in the effects and visual look of the movie. It also helps to make the movie a very forgettable one.

And really, did Tom Hanks had to play basically every male character in the movie? I really like Tom Hanks as an actor but to be honest he is not good enough as a voice actor, in terms of putting diversity and character into the different characters through his voice. Every character he plays sounds the same and maybe because of that the movie also gets too distracting and for some confusing to watch.

All of the characters in particular also aren't much special. Most of them are totally obsolete and some of the characters are also highly peculiar portrayed in the movie. For instance all of the elves aren't nice at all in the movie and they didn't exactly made a friendly impression on me. They were even a bit villainous. The way Santa Claus is presented in the movie is also totally wrong. In the movie they made him look like a sort of tribe leader that is treated as a king and is worshiped by all as if he is some sort of God. He is not a friendly, cuddly, cheerful guy at all in this movie.

The musical score by Alan Silvestri also got highly annoying after a while. Basically it's the same 'magical' main theme being played over and over again.

The motion capture techniques work out pretty good in the movie and also the animations themselves are really good looking most of the time. There also is some good action, so obviously the movie still has some good things to enjoy. It's of course far from the worst movie ever but also far from the most entertaining one. More was to be expected from a director like Robert Zemeckis, who before this gave us entertaining movies like "Romancing the Stone", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and the Back to the Future trilogy.

OK maybe it's because I'm European that I don't like this movie. I mean, the whole magical feeling around Christmas and the whole Christmas spirit is not really a that big thing here. So perhaps if you're American you can still appreciate some of the elements handled in the movie, although I stick to my opinion that it's still lacking in entertainment- and a real good point.

A failure of a movie that is from a technical point of view is interesting and good looking.

5/10

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