Beowulf, by another name.

Rating: Null/10 (5 September 1999)

After reading the first 34 comments on this movie, I noticed that anyone familiar with the ancient tale of Beowulf enjoyed it. All that did not like it never mentioned Beowulf. When I watched the movie with my son, I kept leaning over and whispering to him "This is Beowulf!". I had never read Crichton's book, and was totally surprised by the obviously lifted plot. But that is okay, as J.R.R. Tolkein lifted the core of "The Death of Beowulf" for his story of Smaug and the thief Bilbo Baggins, in "The Hobbit". I'm sure that after a thousand (plus) years the copyrights have expired.
Anyway, I enjoyed the movie despite some obvious flaws, and it was a bit tedious early on. I'll probably buy the video when it comes out.
I was left with one overriding question. Why was it so imperative to defeat the "unspeakable" army? Did these Vikings deserve to keep the lands they had originally taken, by force, from the the aboriginal "?????'s". It sounds a little like a major Indian uprising in the American west. Who is in the right? That's easy, "the heathen's must be destroyed". That is always the answer of the victors.