BreakThru Films are currently preparing their own version of the Cúchulainn legend, one of Ireland's most popular mythological tales drawn from the Ulster Cycle. We look back at a few of the most famous and infamous attempts to bring a legend to the screen...
1. Beowulf (2007)
 |
Ray Winstone as the Old English hero
|
With a script co-written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery and the direction of legendary Robert Zemeckis, this mega-budget motion capture blockbuster proved to be an unexpected hit that was far smarter than early previews had suggested. Based upon the famous Old English legend of the Danish hero who wrestles with the hideous monster Grendal and his even more hideous hag of a mother, the film managed to skirt the dead-eye Uncanny Valley problems which had haunted Zemeckis's
Polar Express to provide a gleefully silly but also visually impressive tribute to one of the English language's first recorded texts.
2. Excalibur
John Boorman directs an Arthurian classic which melds together a number of classic tales with a fast-paced and violent tale of magic and chivalry. A story which had been mined for comic effect by films such as
Monty Python and the Holy Grail was here treat with deadly seriousness, and the result was one of the most spectacular and timeless fantasy films of the 1980's.
 |
| Nigel Terry retrieves the legendary sword... |
The film was shot in Ireland, and though it achieved a modest critical and box-office reception, it gave a much-needed injection of interest for the Irish film industry. The beautiful location work and the lush green scenery proved to be extremely attractive to filmmakers keen to recapture the mystical atmosphere of lost ages.
3. Clash of the Titans (1981)
Before the pitiful 3D rem
ake came the classic original, featuring some of genius Ray Harryhausen's finest stop-motion work. The legend of Perseus, the first of the great Greek heroes, provided the inspiration for the film, which sees him battle giant scorpions, defeat Medusa the Gorgon and rescue Andromeda from the Kraken.
 |
| Medusa with her hair of stop-motion animated snakes |
A sequel was promised, but by the time Clash of the Titans was finally released the world had moved on from the combination of swords and sandals epic and Harryhausen's animation style; the popularity of films such as Star Wars had whetted their appetite for more 'sophisticated' special effects. Today, however, his work is rightly lauded as truly revolutionary, with the effects he created for Clash ranking among some of his very best.
4. Gladiator
Based on segments of the late-Roman collection of biographies the Augustan History, Ridley Scott's
Gladiator turned the history of Commodus into a bloody epic in which one man struggles to regain his freedom against a backdrop of inequality and inexcusable cruelty.
 |
| Oliver Reed resurrected for Gladiator |
Russell Crowe shines as General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is reduced from proud general to abused gladiator, and fights to overthrow the tyranny which has betrayed and felled him. With a mixture of spectacular grand guignol combat sequences and the revolutionary use of computer generated effects to sketch in not just the rampaging tigers unleashed in the ring but also to patch in the face of Oliver Reed, who died part way through production and was replaced in his final scenes with a CG simulacrum!
- BreakThru Films
