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| | Label: WEA/Warner
Salesrank: 68283
Released: August 7, 2006 |
| Our Price: $6.99 |
| Used Price: $3.94 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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
Beowulf & Grendel Reviews:
Quite enjoyable, definitely interesting 
2009-12-24 - There is little about this movie that I didn't like, that being Sarah Polley's Canadian (not American) accent. What was that about?! Whenever I heard her speak, I cringed. Other than this small tragedy, I absolutely loved the beautiful shots of Iceland in all of its glory, as well as the designs which reminded me of design concepts from the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. Overall, this is a fantastic movie, and if you love vikings and Norse mythology you should definitely give this a go.
Outstanding
2009-12-10 - Outstanding movie! One of the closest uses of historical costuming in a movie (not perfect by any means, but much better than most any other 'historical' movie attempt).
Outstanding!
2009-10-22 - Great Movie! This rendition is 10 times the Hollywood Robert Zemeckis Beowulf, which I found to be Hollywood superhero-conquers, video game fake (my apologies to Ray Winsome, who I love). Even Gerard Butler commented about this quality, in his accompanying interview. Beowulf and Grendel is closely in touch with humanity, human history and shared ancestry. Myth and ancestry are tales passed down, about real people, and their trials and experiences - experiences we can touch and connect with - something we can take home. Beowulf and Grendel is an outstanding film! I'm on my way to purchasing it.
The Best Beowulf & Grendel!!!
2009-10-16 - REGARDLESS of what everybody else says;this is the best Beowulf & Grendel movie ever made!! No piece of Gothic SciFi crap but a true life Circumstances that plauge our world tiday. A mistunderstanding between 2 men ALMOST ALWAYS leads comes to blows!!!
An interesting look 
2009-10-06 - this movie was by no means perfect but I found it highly enjoyable. I think it was well cast and it was a unique take on this classic tale. As the title indicates, Grendel is more central in this version. He is more than a one dimesional monster. He is a chracter with thoughts, and feelings, and motivations for his actions. I like this idea. I also particualary enjoyed some of the religiouse commentary that was added. I thought it was a great way to adress the fact that while Beowulf is has a Heathen Norse setting, the text that we have was obviously written down by a Christian (or possibly several), who put his religious slant on all the characters and events.
I'd recommend this for fans of the the story and also for Heathen looking for a good show with a few laughs.
