Beowulf & Grendel

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 15, 2006

Release Date: September 26, 2006

Gee, I wondered quietly to myself, this is much like Braveheart; only, instead of Mel Gibson and a phony Irish accent I got Gerard Butler and his undoubtedly Irish dialect playing, a Viking warrior? Go figure, right? But Mel Gibson aside, there is always something interesting about these epic stories set in the dark ages of human civilization; back when Kings ruled by having noble heroes who protected their good names, and mythical creatures constantly stood in between a hero and his destiny. In that same light comes a story of one hero and his unlikely foe, the story of Beowulf and Grendel.

The film is about, well, exactly who I just mentioned: Beowulf and Grendel, hero and monster. Beowulf (Gerard Butler) is the norse hero who comes from a far away land to help King Hrothgar (Stellan Skarsgard) rid his kingdom of a murderous troll. The troll is Grendel (Ingvar Sigurosson), who as we the audience know (thanks to a well laid out opening scene), is not just acting on beastly rage but fighting to avenge the death of his father. It is this fact that causes him to not want to engage in battle with Beowulf, who has not wronged him, which frustrates our hero. But even with the beast not interested in fighting him, Beowulf chooses to move forward for the cause of helping his dear friend free his people from the fear that Grendel has caused.

The rest is a pretty twisted, but somewhat heroic tale as Beowulf tracks down Grendel, getting closer and closer to the truth as he encroaches on the inevitable battle that he must have with his enemy. The story is rather methodic, and it lacks any significant points of rising action, but it thankfully does not put you to sleep. You are kept awake by the fantastic landscapes captured by director Sturla Gunnarsson, who shows off the cold, dreary Icelandic landscape with great edge and mythical prowess. The settings create a very surreal tone for the film, which ultimately keeps it interesting, even when the story flounders around the details of medieval life.

One such point of floundering was at the hands of the acting, oh, the acting! It must cost a ton to film in Iceland, because the producers really short changed the film when they cast some of the secondary parts. One part in particular was Sarah Polley as Selma, the sexy witch who digs on both the troll and our faithful hero, playing her cards just right so that she can stay neutral in the affair. Her accent is absolutely terrible; I was unaware that there were so many 20th Century American dialects lurking around in Viking country, circa 500 AD, it just blows my mind.

But that is not to say that all of the acting is bad, just most of it. Middle aged women (a la my mom) would just eat Gerard Butler up as Beowulf. His flowing locks of dirty hair combined with that thick (and mildly out of place) Scottish accent make him the equivalent of Mel Gibson from Braveheart, with a little less badassery. I mean, come on! Mel led the Scots to revolution, Butler leads 20 Vikings into battle against one big, hairy cave mongering loon. It just doesn’t add up to badass in my book.

The film overall is just ok, with enough beautiful scenery and a moderate amount of killing to keep us almost interested. But the dialogue and they poor story development just land this one face down in the mud, in a place where not even the good looks of Gerry Butler can save it. While the little old ladies of the world will be tearing this one off the shelves, I may be running for the hills. There is nothing epic about Beowulf and Grendel, except maybe the size of Grendel’s forehead, but even that can’t make me want to see this film again.

The Upside: The film looks great and there is a gratuitous amount of killing that happens, that’s about it.

The Downside: The director must have overlooked the fact that you have to tell a story rather than just show off the beautiful shores of one’s homeland.

On the Side: The story was adapted from the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Beowulf, which was in turn more interesting that this film.

Film Grade: D

DVD Grade: D
I have to say that the filmmakers made an attempt with the DVD, which is about all I can say about the film as well, but it never really became anything worthwhile. There are a few lousy featurettes that don’t explain much about the film, and a few interviews with cast and crew that are, yawn, “somewhat interesting.” In fact, the most interesting part of the DVD is a preview for a documentary called Dan Aykroyd Unplugged on UFOs. Now that is something that looks interesting!

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