Beowulf IMAX 3D

Last Saturday, I spent the afternoon wandering around Paragon in Siam. I decided to watch Beowulf. My cousin recomended the IMAX version and so I bought my 250 baht ticket for the 18:10 show. The 300 baht tickets had the same chairs and amount of leg room, but further from the screen. I enjoy watching historical movies set in times long past. Beowulf is a well known tale of the 6th century poem about the hero who defeats a huge troll, one-eyed sea monster and a dragon. In this rendition, Beowulf is a brave and arrogant king who is fearless. His weakness is his desire for fame and fortune for which he makes a pack with Grendel’s mother to ensure.

It was a good movie although the 3D effects were what really made it a great movie. Beowulf is the first movie that I’ve watched in IMAX 3D and it was probably a very good choice. The film is perfectly suited to it because it is an action animation movie. Zemeckis’ epic retelling of Beowulf displays the progress of performance capture since he first debuted the technology in Polar Express. Although the characters’ skin had an unusually shiny appearance, the improvement in the human characteristics since Polar Express is amazing.

 Ray Winstone plays Beowulf and with the help of computer imaging which changes him into the larger-than-life hero. The monsters are also modelled after the actors and actress that voice them. Angelina Jolie portrays the repitlian seductress and Crispin Glover plays the monsterous Grendel. The visual effects even track the muscle pulls in the eyes and eyelids. That means that there is more emotion in the eyes that actually comes from the actors and actresses.

The best part of watching Beowulfwas watching the 3D effects, especially in the landscape and action sequences. One particular scene that was lovely to watch is when the hawk snatches up the rat from the roof top and the screen shows the winter scenery below changing util Grendel’s lair. The last action scene that ends with Beowulf ripping the heart out of the dragon keeps your heart racing until the end.

If you have the chance watch this movie in IMAX 3D.  Siam Paragon in Bangkok is the only movie theater to offer IMAX in Thailand. It is the largest screen in the country and boasts an amazing sound system as well. The movie screen is filled with so many holes you can actually see the speakers behind the screen. You also get to wear the goofy 3D glasses that help to bring the two seperate  2D images on the screen into one 3D image. It’s worth the money!