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Beowulf and Grendel (Widescreen)
 
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Beowulf and Grendel (Widescreen)

Format: DVD
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

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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

Description

Beowulf & Grendel is the harrowing fantasy adventure tale of a Norse warrior hero BEOWULF (Gerard Butler) pitted against the monstrous murderous troll, GRENDEL (Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson). Adapted from the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, "Beowulf", Beowulf & Grendel is a medieval story of soldier prince Beowulf a victorious soldier in his own right troubled by the hero-myth rising up around his exploits. His relationship with the mesmerizing witch, SELMA (Sarah Polley) creates deeper confusion. A story of blood, beer and sweat, Beowulf & Grendel strips away the mask of the hero-myth, leaving a raw and tangled tale that rings true through the centuries.

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Toronto Film Festival Star, Jun 4 2006
This review is from: Beowulf and Grendel (Widescreen) (DVD)
I saw this film at the Toronto Film Festival 2005. For a movie that realied completely on nature and make-up, it is amazingly scenic. No weird CGI creatures or backdrops, it's all real. The script is quite funny and the storyline and interpretation is very well thought out. This is the best Beowulf interpretation I've yet encountered. And the DVD promises to be PACKED with goodies!
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Quality Scenic Film With A Great Sense Of Humor, July 6 2006
By 
Mic Murdoch "LoveJazz" (SF Peninsula, California, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Beowulf and Grendel (Widescreen) (DVD)
I just saw this film in San Francisco. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from this troll myth but some gory violence and primitive script spoken with unintelligible accent.

So I was more than pleasantly surprised when the impacting music and the spectacular pristine scenery quickly took me into the world where a giant's young son experiences a major trauma of getting his dad killed in front him and grows up alone and isolated with retribution in mind. So this Grendel is actually portrayed much more as a human with an unfortunate fate than a murderous monster without any personal identity, and I liked that. Beowulf who steps up initially to exterminate the troll starts sensing and detecting that there's more to this huge person than what was told of him, particularly after one of the troll's visit to the king's beer house (in which all Grendel did was pee on the front door to tease the warriors inside -- this scene was really funny). A great sense of humor with a modern twist is felt all throughout this film and really lightened up this stark ice-clad Scandinavian setting, and save the film from being unnecessarily dark and serious.

All the actors were great. Skarsgard (Hrothgar) and Butler (Beowulf) in particular, fit right into their roles. Although Sarah Polley's accent did't really mesh with the rest and her portrayal of the character was a bit too modern at times, she played the part of the mysterious firey witch really well.

Gunnarson's interpretation of the tale, making Beowulf's compassion towards the troll and those around the troll an integral part of the epic, really sets this film way apart from the rest of the average monster movies, and makes this a classy entertainment film of its own. No, it's not your typical trashy monster movie. It's WAY better than that and IS worth your viewing time if you have good enough a taste for a quality film with substance and many subtleties.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Hot Scot in a cold climate!, Jun 24 2006
By 
This review is from: Beowulf and Grendel (Widescreen) (DVD)
This movie is excellent, the scenery is divine, the cast has been chosen to perfection(well apart from when Ms Polley's speaks, the accent doesn't mix with the rest of the cast's)
The movie has pretty much everything, drama, action, comedy,even a teeny sex scene with the Gorgeous Viking Beowulf- he really is a beo wulf= Live Wolf;(Can I keep him please!) Gerard Butler is charismatic(as always) as the Geat hero.

Grendel is fantastic I really felt for the troll, the movie isn't a hollywood action flic, because this movie has credibility, BUY IT! Do yourself a favour watch a great movie and if you like intelligent gorgeous hero's with a heart you'll fall madly for Beowulf!
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› Go to Amazon.com to see all 214 reviews  3.6 out of 5 stars 
 
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