9 Worst Motion Captured Performances
4. Ray Winstone - Beowulf
Robert Zemeckis was clearly excited by the possibilities afforded by the motion capture process, since he employed the technology for three movies; The Polar Express, A Christmas Carol and Beowulf. It allowed him greater creative control over the look of the sets and characters, though he never quite figured out how to make the eyes look convincing.
Beowulf should have been the best of the lot, a full bloodied retelling of the classic tale with a quality cast and a script by Neil Gaiman. Unfortunately, the whole movie is too overblown and shrill to be fun, with the tone being set by Ray Winstone’s scenery-gobbling performance.
He’s portraying a larger than life warrior with an ego to match, which translates to him bellowing his lines. His voice doesn’t match the Brad Pitt lookalike body he’s been given, and for a movie that was supposed to humanise Beowulf, the performance is achingly one note.
It arguably would have worked better if it was shot live action, and Winstone hit the gym for it; at least the voice would be coming from him instead of an eerie CGI mannequin.