Customer Reviews

Beowulf & Grendel [DVD] [2005] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I purchased this Blu-ray DVD to beef-up my collection and it had pretty good reviews. I'm a fan of pseudo-historical epics, but Beowulf doesn't do it for me. Some entertaining bits, but generally a bit slow, with some average acting. Don't watch it late a night... unless you need some extra sleep!

Slow. It describes this film perfectly in one short word. It lacks in action, it lacks in pace and has little to do with the part of the story it is based on. The only redeeming features are the performances and the emotive direction the film is taken in. If slow, on the verge of being boring but having a good story is your thing, then this is the film for you. If you want something that will keep you involved or are looking for a film of the Old English story, then this should be avoided. Despite other reviews that will tell you this is very close to the Beowulf story, it is not, for they and the director have missed the point of Beowulf. The poem is about the problems of Anglo-Saxon society at that time, vengeance and weregild and kinslaying, with Grendel representing these evils. Beowulf is the hero set to smash those evils, though he is destroyed by them in the end (in another monstrous form). None of this comes across in this film, though in fairness, I've yet to see it come across in any other either. Still, if it's Beowulf of the poem you want, get the CGI version and avoid this!

Quite frankly I'm baffled by the negative reviews here. Sure Beowulf and Grendel takes a few liberties with the original poem's storyline, but what movie based on an ancient text doesn't? Would the same reviewers slam "300" because it wasn't a 100% accurate retelling of the battle of Thermopylae?

For my money, in terms of look and feel, Beowulf and Grendel conjures forth a highly potent and grittily authentic look into the Dark Ages mindset. I loved the way the "Troll" and his kin are depicted as powerful, thick-set and hirsute humans. Quite conceivably, legends of trolls and their like sprang from a racial memory of contact with Neanderthals or other archaic human types - who just may have survived in isolated caves long after their 'official' disappearance. The language gets pretty fruity at times, with more Fs (and one C!) than a gangsta rappers' conference, but these are Vikings for crying out loud! Would they really mince around with euphemisms? Gerard Butler is excellently cast as our hero and brings the perfect level of derring-do, coupled with nobility and compassion to the role. Stellan Skarsgard (he of the most evocative Viking features!) similarly plays a blinder as the tormented, alcoholic and melancholy king Hrothgar. Selma the witch (or seer) is debatably a superfluous addition, but I certainly warmed to her and enjoyed the extra elements she brought to the story. There are some extremely brutal scenes and some very subtle touches too - I particularly liked the way the bard's tale gradually wove Christian themes into the telling.

Blu-Ray presentation is impeccable - the Icelandic landscapes look utterly gorgeous as does the cosy interior of the great Mead Hall. Having spent a marvellous holiday in Iceland a few years ago, it was great to see the waterfalls, glaciers, moss-covered lava fields, black beaches and those wonderfully sturdy little horses again!

There's also a terrific score, faintly reminiscent of Ommadawn-era Mike Oldfield.

What is there not to like?

Highly recommended and vastly more enjoyable than the animated Ray Winstone version.

The story is now nearly two thousand years old. We are used to the written version that was solidified centuries later. This story in the original tradition places a different slant on the tale while holding close to the original. If told verbatim this would be a twenty minute movie so some of the information was filled in from inference. The ending has been changed to pose a new question and allow for a possible sequel.

The Dane King Hrothgar (Stellan Skarsgård) crosses paths with a troll (instead of some Harry Potter or Shreck type creature this is more of a Neanderthal) who had the audacity to steal a fish. That is a killing offence. Unfortunately after the troll is dispatched Hrothgar realizes he left a trollet behind. Through an act of kindness or for some other reason he lets the little Grendel (Hringur Ingvarsson) survive. Now grown up Grendel (Ingvar E. Sigurdsson. Actually two actors) as required by tradition takes revenge on Danes.

With out knowing the facts the Geet hero Beowulf (Gerard Butler,) (twelve years later, even though they are a day's sail away) hears about King Hrothgar plight and takes his men to the rescue. There he meets a distraught King, a mad monk, a witchy woman and an illusive and cunning Grendel.

One thing that gives the film worth is that Grendel may be strong but mortal and Beowulf is not as strong as 30 men; this makes the tale more like something that could have really happened and turned into a myth.

You will enjoy the real scenery and the refreshing absence of all that mind warping CGI.

This movie was an awful, "postmodern" twisting of a culturally significant and classic story. It removes everything that makes Beowulf important and interesting as a piece of Old English literature - the insights into Nordic/Germanic tribal life, the folk myths, the way Christianity was wed with European paganism, the tragedy of aging and mortality, and the ancient ideals of heroism and kingly virtues. These are all replaced with an angst ridden Beowulf who isn't motivated by much of anything and loses the taste for the fight, instead feeling sorry for the monster who he realises has just been "discriminated against" by the Danes. The Danes are depicted as ignorant oafs by and large, and the king Hrothgar is a drunk, feeble, weeping fool.

Christianity is represented by a traveling Irish monk who is insane (why are Irish people always depicted as insane i.e. Stephen from the equally dire film Braveheart?) and converting people left, right and centre with very little spiritualism involved...just a dunk in the river and lots of mad ranting. Everyone converts for reasons like believing it will make them stronger or help them fight.

It gets worse. Some woman who cannot act and who is apparently an ancient hippy is protecting Grendel because he crept into her hut and raped her, so now there is a half-troll child that is hers running around...and the woman of course now feels nothing but positive things for her rapist.

The only thing I liked about this movie was the scenery/sets and the costumes, which were the best I've ever seen for the period depicted. Otherwise, it does a great disservice to the original Anglo-Saxon poem. It understands nothing about what makes the literary Beowulf important or interesting.

Unless you're incredibly bored or a teenage girl who fancies Gerard Butler, I'd suggest giving this politically correct distortion of the tale a miss. Experience the beauty of the REAL THING and listen to Seamus Heaney's translation or Benjamin Bagby's lyre-accompanied rendition of Beowulf instead!

As far as viking movies go this is a pleasing film. There is an adequate amount of action as well as story line to make it a good film. As for the people in the film referred to as Trolls, you can relate to them and empathise with the abuse they have been put through. Gerard Butlers acting is very good and plays a convincing hero whom starts to question the validity of killing the 'Trolls' They are not trolls however it is just superstition that gets them this label. This film does have the right ingredients as being considered a good film.

The story is now nearly two thousand years old. We are used to the written version that was solidified centuries later. This story in the original tradition places a different slant on the tale while holding close to the original. If told verbatim this would be a twenty minute movie so some of the information was filled in from inference. The ending has been changed to pose a new question and allow for a possible sequel.

The Dane King Hrothgar (Stellan Skarsgård) crosses paths with a troll (instead of some Harry Potter or Shreck type creature this is more of a Neanderthal) who had the audacity to steal a fish. That is a killing offence. Unfortunately after the troll is dispatched Hrothgar realizes he left a trollet behind. Through an act of kindness or for some other reason he lets the little Grendel (Hringur Ingvarsson) survive. Now grown up Grendel (Ingvar E. Sigurdsson. Actually two actors) as required by tradition takes revenge on Danes.

With out knowing the facts the Geet hero Beowulf (Gerard Butler,) (twelve years later, even though they are a day's sail away) hears about King Hrothgar plight and takes his men to the rescue. There he meets a distraught King, a mad monk, a witchy woman and an illusive and cunning Grendel.

One thing that gives the film worth is that Grendel may be strong but mortal and Beowulf is not as strong as 30 men; this makes the tale more like something that could have really happened and turned into a myth.

You will enjoy the real scenery and the refreshing absence of all that mind warping CGI.

Fight your way through the long first quarter of an hour or so, and then sit back and enjoy the rather gentle ride... neither action nor bloodfest, but a well-acted Norse tale, Beowulf and Grendel allows every character to be plausible and present. One for (patient) couples.

The only good thing about this DVD is that it stopped working after 90 minutes. No wonder it went straight to DVD, though they shouldn't have even bothered with that. Just a total mess of film. Poor acting, dreadful script, cheap props .... you get the picture.

This is an unjustly maligned movie. After garnering early good reviews, it bombed in America (where it was criticised for being dirty in both appearance and language) and seems to now languish in ignominy. Which is a pity because while not perfect it is well paced, boasts a witty and intelligent script convincing performances, and (the one point even nay Sayers concede) magnificent scenery. If you find Tolkein tedious, but nonetheless have sense of the poetry of Northern European landscape, are not affronted by the suggestion that life (and speech) at its margins in Dark Ages was nasty short and brutish, and don't think reinterpretation constitutes some form of 'political correctness gone mad'-then you could do worse than watch this.