Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

You'll either love it hate it. We loved it. It goes much further than 300, and that's saying a lot. Yes, Angelina Jolie takes everything off and some will, no doubt, find that sufficient reason to buy a ticket, but there are other reasons for seeing Beowulf. For fans of comics, the film is a revelation as this is how fantasy can be reinvented for the digital age. For lovers of mythology, the film is perfect as this is how pre-history can be recreated for a post-historical age.

Purists looking for some kind of "authentic" recreation of the manuscript will be sorely disappointed, but no one is stopping other film directors from trying their hands at that kind of thing. The beauty of Beowulf is that the legend allows almost everyone to have a go at interpreting it. Apropos, it might be worth reading Seamus Heaney's thoughts on the poem before going to watch the film. He took a new tack, just like Robert Zemeckis has now. By the way, if you get a chance to see it 3D, don't pass it up. Sitting in a cinema surrounded by people wearing silly glasses is a laugh and some of the special effects are truly breathtaking.

By the way again, The Daily Telegraph loved it. And The New York Times hated it. The Guardian loved it. And NPR hated it. The trans-Atlantic divide is clearly a po-faced one. How about, like, chillin' over there? Not everything must be seen through PC-tinted specs. Try the 3D ones instead.