Hero wanted to stab scary monster in the eye with sharp pointy thing (Beowulf and Grendel (DVD))

Member Name: bike-dude

Product:	Beowulf and Grendel (DVD)
Date:	16/07/08 (202 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Better than the animated film and very well made. Great entertainment

Disadvantages: No Angelina Jolie some may say.

BEOWULF & GRENDEL- A Review By Addy
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"SPLENDIDLY
ENTERTAINING"
Mark Harris - straight.com

Beowulf and Grendel is not a film made on the back of the animated Ray Winston and Angelina Jolie movie but has been available for the best part of three years now. Beowulf and Grendel is based upon an Anglo Saxon poem and this film is a film easily on par with other sword orientated films such as Kingdom of Heaven starring Orlando Bloom or Troy with the ever popular Brad Pitt. This feature for me has an added incentive inasmuch as that it stars Gerard Butler playing the heroic warrior Beowulf.

Directed by: Sturla Gunnarsson
Written by: Andrew Rai Berzins
Release date: Sept. 14, 2005
Running time: 102 min.
Language: English

The film tells a story of a Viking chieftain in Iceland and his village is terrorised by what they refer to as a Troll. It is not a Troll at all but a human that is born with defects, but being the superstitious bunch they are they outcast this poor individual and call him a Troll, nice people! The name of this attacker of the village is Grendel. Grendel through his ailments and deformity is very strong and quite big so as a result can kick some ass. The Viking chieftain is becoming increasingly aggravated and stressed since his warriors are being killed off one by one, although there are one or two occasions where Grendel goes into a building and kills several in the one attack. Not only that but Grendel literally dismembers these people, this seems very personal.

"VISUALLY ARRESTING"
Todd McCarthy - Variety

Yet ironically the Viking chief called Hrothgar is deliberately being spared. This is because when Grendel was a boy he saw his father killed by the chief and his men. So now Grendel is full grown and is tormenting Hrothgar before Grendel extracts his revenge. Hrothgar is going out of his mind with his frustration and decides to send for aid. In comes Beowulf {Butler from 300, Timeline}. Beowulf is a great hero, and all round tough guy. Beowulf and his men set sail to come and deal with Grendel. Eventually, after losing many of his men, Beowulf comes to learn of the reasons behind the attacks. Beowulf wrestles with his conscience, fully understanding why Grendel would want revenge. Furthermore one of the women in the village called Selma who is a witch happens to know an extraordinary amount about Grendel.

"A LITERARY MONSTER MOVIE"
Marilyn Smulders - The Halifax Daily News

The story is very deep and often sad in parts. Grendel even keeps the skull of his dead father in a sort of shrine, in his cavern where he lives. Many times you see in the film that Grendel is full of emotion and can feel tremendous emotional pain. It is very easy to empathise what he must be going through and to hate the Vikings. The whole ethos of the plot is very captivating and as king Hrothgar spirals into depression at the terrorism his village endures, and he is ever useless at preventing his mockery, you feel a degree of enjoyment at seeing this bastard suffer. Yet the need for Beowulf becomes apparent when eventually the wanton killing Grendel unleashes becomes evidently superfluous. The film is very well made with great acting after all these are all seasoned well experienced actors that carry themselves well. The action scenes are on par with the top movies of this genre that are out there. The clothing and scenery are totally authentic and this is a very good film that has obviously been well thought out before executing. The DVD comes with a few deleted scenes and after viewing them, I agree they were better left out of the movie they offer little in the way of being pertinent or necessary to the movie as a whole. The film also comes with a very fancy cardboard outer with a picture on the front of Beowulf with sword in hand, a nice touch.
A son must avenge his father, A king must save his people, A hero must fulfil his destiny!

THE CAST
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* Gerard Butler - Beowulf
* Stellan Skarsgård - King Hrothgar
* Sarah Polley - Selma
* Ingvar Sigurdsson - Grendel
* Tony Curran - Hondscioh
* Steinunn Olina - Queen Wealhtheow

Official Website
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http://www.beowulfandgrendel.com/

Thanks for the read/rates, Addy

© July 2008

Summary: Pissed off scary dude wants revenge but Beowulf thinks otherwise