This tells the bloody tale of warrior beowulfs battle with grendel a murderous troll. The battle-scarred hero beowulf leads a troop of warriors to help king hrothgar whose kingdom is destroyed by grendel. However beowulfs attempts to fight the troll are thwarted when grendel refuses to engage in battle. Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 09/26/2006 Starring: Gerard Butler Ingvar Sigurdsson Run time: 103 minutes Rating: R
The 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
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
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... more info
Very deep and very authentic but...:
my only problem with this film which is otherwise really quite good and complex on a number of levels is the odd bit with the supernatural sea hag creature. Otherwise it's the classic idea that trolls were actually neaderthals which is also the theme in eaters of the dead by michael crichton and the movie The 13th warrior based on the book. Beowulf's close friend is actually one of the same actors from the 13th warrior interestingly enough. The sea hag bit really ruined an otherwise great movie.
Terrible movie:
I don't know where to start. For one, just very bad acting on everybody's part. Second, its dull and boring. Third, its not worth the money to buy this on blu-ray.
Wow:
Even women would like this movie even with it's raw setting. Gerard Butler is wonderful in this movie.
