Too compressed, but wonderfully Norse.

Rating: 7/10 (26 September 2004)

The movie's main fault is, perhaps, that it's not as good as it could be. However, it's not actually a bad movie.
Based on Michael Crichton's novel adaption of the Beowulf legend, it certainly suffers from a relatively short running time of 100 minutes - it tries to work in the political subplots, plus some lengthy journeying/cultural acclimation sections at the beginning that just feel rushed.
Where it most succeeds is the atmosphere. From the time the 13 warriors reach the North, the film becomes steeped in the Norse worldview. Fatalism and superstition abound - things that could be explained rationally in the light of day become sinister, mystical portents in the dense, rapidly-falling fog. This feel is aided by a strong (mostly) Scandinavian cast, excellent sets and good costuming.
Unfortunately, Crichton's clever premise -- that this might be the way Beowulf's story really happened, before time and the endless re-tellings spun it into legend -- is mostly lost, and I think a lot of people thought the script-writers just roughly copied "Beowulf" because they couldn't come up with their own story.
There is a good movie hiding in here, but as it stands it's only a decent sword flick, though it provides a good Nordic fix, if you find yourself needing one. (Or am I the only one who has that problem?)