Beowulf & Grendel [Blu-ray]
Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 11/06/2007 Run time: 103 minutes Rating: RThe otherworldly landscape of Iceland lends an appropriate touch of dark fantasy to this modern retelling of Beowulf, the oldest epic poem in the English language. Gerard Butler (The Phantom of the Opera) brings the right balance of physicality and world-weariness as the Swedish hero Beowulf, who travels to Denmark to fight the monstrous troll Grendel (Icelandic superstar Ignvar Sigurdsson), which has been plaguing the house of King Hrothgar (Stellan Skarsgård, buried under a mound of prosthetic hair). However, what transpires is not a battle between good and evil, but a convoluted mystery of sorts, with Beowulf playing the detective who discovers that his foe is more human than monster, and Hrothgar less wronged innocent than catalyst for his own downfall. Director Sturla Gunnarsson succeeds in pulling this legendary story from the dust of academics by contemporizing the dialogue (Andrew Rai Berzins has an excellent ear for hard-bitten palaver), and his visuals are nothing less than striking, but the film attempts to be both monster movie and melancholy drama, while never quite satisfying the requirements of either genre. Regardless, the quality cast (which includes Sarah Polley from Dawn of the Dead as a sharp-tongued witch with a connection to Grendel) and some well-handled action sequences should hold viewers’ attention even when the unnecessarily complex plot does not. –Paul Gaita
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Beowulf & Grendel Review
In this movie Beowulf leads his warriors across the sea to help his friend King Hrothgar, whose kingdom is being terrorized by a troll, whose name is Grendel. But Grendel won’t fight him. And it gets worse when he meets Selma, a witch. This tale kind of drags on, but it is beautifully filmed, and beautifully enacted; you have to be able to really WATCH it. It takes a while to get it. But once you do, it is really worth the watch.
2 Stars Not Made Well
This movie was very choppy, the lines sucked. The accents were existent in ALL dialects. The only things that were this movies saving graces were its sharp foul language, and the select scenes of Iceland. Otherwise the king’s realm was lacking. It looked like he had 20 people to govern over, and the only building existing was his mead hall on the hill. Yet they had beautiful clothing for the queen. Where was all this made?
Sarah Polley was horrible. No hint of an accent at all, and her lines were lacking enthusiasm as well as timing sometimes. Her uppity attitude didn’t seem to flow with the movie either.
Very interesting twist on how Grendel lost his arm, and even the beginning of the story. . . The reason why Grendel is so angry and blood thirsty. Also it had a lot more pagan flavor than I expected. It was refreshing actually, but not that deep.
Very unbelievable, yet I watched it because of Gerard Butler, and Tony Curran. But just because a few guys fro 300 and/or 13th Warrior were in this, obviously didn’t make it a good movie. Want a better Viking movie? 13th Warrior. At least the story flowed better, the accents were adequate, and the characters lines were fitting. I don’t recommend it.
3 Stars glorious scenery wasted…
If you’re into swords-and-sandals epics, then Beowulf & Grendel probably appeals to you as at least a consideration. It’s a modestly budgeted epic–more The 13th Warrior than the huge blockbuster-sized Beowulf [Blu-ray] we got from Hollywood this year. And sometimes there is something to a lesser effort that makes seeing it that much *more* rewarding.
Let’s pause a moment and mention Iceland. This film was shot in Iceland and every single frame is bursting with absolutely glorious scenery. The Icelandic Tourist Board is writhing on the floor like so many of Hrothgar’s drunken Danes with glee over this film.
Alas, they are probably the only folks. The initially promising moments in the film are good, as we see the troll’s dad being pursued by Danes and battling with them (but not much battling). But from there things begin to fall apart. A lot of sword wielding guys in bad long hair, then it’s time to stare at the beautiful Icelandic scenery, then let’s all go to sleep and get killed in a gloriously uncinematic fashion.
Also due for a mauling: the original Beowulf story and character. Beowulf comes off as full of himself and not at all the hero (he doesn’t wrestle Grendel–he’s running away from him; he’s mostly a passive observer). And the key role of Selma the witch is played by Sarah Polley with a broad American accent that utterly destroys the film. I mean annihilates it. It is so wrong.
Butler and Stellan Skarsgård do a good job with their roles, but there’s no real saving this thing. If you must own it, play it as a silent film and watch Iceland. But I’m still waiting for someone to do John Gardner’s Grendel or even the original epic the way it deserves.
3 Stars Beowulf & Grendel [Blu-ray
its not bad, but i thought it could be better tho, but it is woth seeing
4 Stars Not the CGI one!
Movie was pretty good. However, I thought this was the new one that was computer generated. It’s not! As such, it may be on BluRay, but it’s really not much better than an upconverted regular DVD.
Filed under: Blue Ray Movie Reviews