What did you all think of it?
My thoughts: it might be all right, but given what we see in the trailer, which is supposed to be representative of the better (if flashier) aspects of a film, I'm very apprehensive. To be frank, it looks awful, however much you may be fond of looking at Gerard Butler. (And I understand that a goodly number of the ladies do like looking at him.)
Geats with Scottish accents? Are "gits". Seriously, "thairtin gits". There's some poetic justice there. ;-)
"Valhalla"?! I just think making Geats into Vikings is a non-starter.
What is with all the corny tagline-spouting? And if that wasn't enough: "a son must avenge his father". Eh? Sympathetic Grendel? He's Grendel! He's a monster by definition! This is getting a tad bit too touchy-feely, IMO, even if you like reimagined classics.
As for the special effects, "period" costumes, and gratuitous rolling in the hay, I say: this looks to be a movie in the "grand" tradition of First Knight - I expect to find the trailer better than the film once I've watched it. This was not the case for The 13th Warrior (whose trailer I did not see first) and Rob Roy (whose trailer I did see first). Prove me wrong, why don'tcha.
Another aside about Mr. Butler: I liked his performance in The Phantom of the Opera and I hear he was good in Dracula. He was fantastic in Attila. The upcoming 300 looks interesting. So, it isn't Butler. I just don't care to see Beowulf (the epic poem) turned into an el cheapo edition of The 13th Warrior (which, as
figgylicious noted, was good because it didn't purport to be Beowulf).While we're on the subject, don't you think it would be funny if Nathan Algren's summary of the Battle of Thermopylae from The Last Samurai was used in a trailer for 300? ;-)
I'm sure we'll be treated to Carmina Burana and "Three hundred defenders... ONE MILLION INVADERS... a day that would live in history". Some things never change. :-P
Edit, 18:00 CST: In other news, last night
gondhir and I lost to taiji_jian in ST:TNG trivia. 11 to 19 to 21! What's the world coming to?--
Banazir
