Beowulf

Expectedly, there are large-scale, edge-of-the seat clashes and some classic savage scenes. There are other interesting touches and some quirky emotions. It's a philosophical play on what it means to be a warrior.

Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf is so rousingly entertaining that you'll feel guilty for not reading the epic poem all the way through when you were in ninth grade.

No doubt C.B. DeMille, another director with a knack for turning Hollywood stars into robots, would have been entranced.

Those who remember the 3000 line epic from 8th grade English will be pleasantly surprised to learn they've scrapped the original plot altogether.

The characters up on screen seem like living, breathing people.

Avary and Gaiman lay on the sexual innuendo and adultery, fleshing out the character of Beowulf into a believably unreliable narrator.

It's a superb action flick that will have you wide-eyed in awe at its effects; just don't go expecting any kind of literary discussion.

Beowulf is a well conceived and technically excellent rendition of the ancient legend, but it doesn't follow its ideas through all the way, and some strange choices on the part of Zemeckis ultimately make it a little less than the sum of its parts.