Its not Beowulf

Rating: 6/10 (1 January 2011)

There is quite a lot of Beowulf in this movie but it loses the heart of the poem completely.
The poem is about kingship. It shows how one might get to be a king and what responsibilities come with kingship. Beowulf is a hero. We admire him in life and in death. Grendel, his mother and the dragon are monsters to be dispatched.
The movie is about family, temptation and betrayal. Its not a bad movie, but it isn't the movie I wanted to see. Its all too neatly tied up and linked together and its very depressing. We don't admire anyone in this film.
I think its mentioned that it takes place in Denmark. I'm sure there are no cliffs like that in Denmark, and certainly no castles, now, in Beowulf's time or any time in between! So visually it just looks wrong. I wanted marshes and meres and wooden feasting halls built around a vast tree. I wanted beaches and mud flats.
I wanted heroes.