Beowulf & Grendel

Plot synopsis:
In 500 A.D., Hrothgar, king of Denmark, and a group of warriors chase a large and burly man, whom they consider a troll, and his young son, to the edge of deep cliff. The father directs his young son, Grendel, to hide from the attackers' view; whereupon The Danes shoot the father dead, and his dead body plunges onto the beach far below. The Danish king sees the young Grendel, but spares him. Later, Grendel finds his father's body and cuts the head off to take it home. Many years later, the severed (and mummified) head is inside a cave where the boy Grendel has become as large and powerful as his father, and plans revenge.
When Hrothgar finds twenty of his warriors killed inside his great hall, the Danish king falls into a depression. Beowulf, with the permission of Hygelac, king of Geatland, sails to Denmark with thirteen Geats to slay Grendel for Hrothgar. The arrival of Beowulf and his warriors is welcomed by Hrothgar, but the king's village has fallen into a deep despair and many of the pagan villagers convert to Christianity at the urging of an Irish monk. While Grendel does raid Hrothgar's village during the night, he flees rather than fight. Selma the witch tells Beowulf that Grendel will not fight him because Beowulf has committed no wrong against him.
A villager, recently baptized and thus now unafraid of death, leads Beowulf and his men to the cliff above Grendel's cave. When the villager is found dead, Beowulf and his men return with a rope and gain entry to Grendel's secret cave, where Beowulf's men mutilates the mummified head of Grendel's father. That night, Grendel invades Hrothgar's great hall, kills the Geat who desecrated his father's head, and leaps from the second story, but is caught in a trap by Beowulf. Grendel, refusing capture, escapes by severing his captive arm, and dies near the site of his father's death, where his body is claimed by a mysterious webbed hand. Thereafter Hrothgar admits to Beowulf that he had killed Grendel's father for stealing a fish but had spared the child Grendel out of pity. Grendel's severed arm is kept by the Danes as a trophy. In revealing more about Grendel, Selma recounts that Grendel had once clumsily raped her and has protected her since that day; and Beowulf becomes her paramour.
The Danes are later attacked by Grendel's mother, the Sea Hag; and Beowulf slays her with a sword from among her treasure, and then notices that the battle was being observed by child of Grendel and Selma. Later Beowulf, with Grendel's son watching, buries Grendel with ceremony. Shortly thereafter, Beowulf and his band of Geats leave Denmark by ship, having warned Selma that she must hide her son, lest the Danes destroy him.

Tags: good versus evil, revenge

Review:
The ensuing Logic would then dictate that War is merely a lazy solution to a problem better addressed by examining our own psyches.Beowulf is portrayed with astonishing depth by the Scottish actor, Gerard Butler, who is accumulating an impressive array of credits from Attila (the highest-rated U.S. mini-series) to Phantom of the Opera (the lavish 2005 Musical) to Dear Frankie (the award-winning independent Scottish film), to name a few.
Delving into the reasons behind his mission, he becomes a relentless, if uneasy, historical detective, needing to unearth the cause of the troll/monster Grendel's savagery.The Hero's journey, punctuated by pre-destined acts of violence, is one in which we participate and evolve along with Beowulf, with the assistance of the witch, Selma (appropriately ambiguously played by the popular Canadian actress, Sarah Polley).
Stellan Skarsgard is the alcoholic Danish king Hrothgar, not only unwilling to accept responsibility for the scourge of Grendel, but not even wanting to consider "why a f***ing troll does what a f***ing troll does." Eddie Marsden plays the foaming-at-the-mouth crazed Irish Catholic priest, Brendan, heralding the advent of Christianity and the desire of a people to unburden themselves of any and all accountability for their actions.
Gerard Butler is extremely effective as Beowulf, but perhaps the best performance in the movie is that delivered by the tempestuous and weirdly beautiful land of Iceland.
There are others who enjoyed the film much better at the second viewing, so maybe it's all there in the movie beyond my distraction by the scenery and Gerard Butler's rugged good looks.
Without going into the story, it can safely be said that the introduction of the hero Beowulf (wonderfully played by Gerard Butler) leads to a tale of honor, friendship, loyalty, bravery, horror, and retribution.
I was fortunate enough to view the world-premiere performance of Beowulf and Grendel at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September 14th, and I found it to be a hauntingly beautiful film, with some surprising comedic moments added into the mix.
All of the lead actors (especially Gerard Butler as Beowulf and Stellan Skarsgard as the King) were superb in their roles, and although I have never read the original epic poem, I found that the story was very well-told and that the director and his cast definitely succeeded in delivering the many-layered messages of racial tolerance, bravery and the real meaning of heroism.
I have never done so much homework before seeing a movie- re-read the poem Beowulf, read John Gardner's book GRENDEL and read many of the very clear statements at the Beowulf and Grendel website by the screenwriter- Andrew Berzins, who indicated that this story had been passed around for possibly centuries in the oral tradition and this was just one more possible version.
He is them, all rolled into one, their collective courage and strength.It might be possible to adapt this to modern ideals, but it has to be re-imagined, which likely means changing time and place to, let's say, the recent old-west, the populace to sodbusters, the Grendel-menace to an unbeatable black-hat gunslinger and the hero to the man in buckskin.
In a medieval land is set this blood-soaked tale of a Norse warrior (Gerard Butler)'s battle against the great and murderous troll, Grendel (Ingvar Egger) .
The monster, Grendel, is not a creature of mythic powers, but one of flesh and blood - immense flesh and raging blood, driven by a vengeance from being wronged, while Beowulf, a victorious soldier in his own right, has become increasingly troubled by the hero-myth rising up around his exploits carried out along with Hondscioh (Tony Curran) and his warriors .
Good performance from Gerard Butler as Beowulf , a man caught between sides in this great shift, his simple code transforming , falling apart before his eyes and the strange witch well played by Sarah Polley.
Both of whom play a story of blood and beer and sweat, which strips away the mask of the hero-myth, leaving a raw and tangled tale .Beowulf was a poem written in England, but is set in Scandinavia , commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature .Beowulf is considered an epic poem in that the main character is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts.
The main protagonist, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel.
The original story was basically replaced with a soppy morality tale."Gosh, Grendel is just so darn misunderstood!" should have been the tagline for this anti-hero flick hacked out of solid source material.The language was neither modern nor ancient nor beautiful (like Lord of the Rings), nor authentic, but somehow seemed cobbled together from the worst of each of these.
The costumes looked authentic in style, and the terrain was well chosen, but it was all wasted on the directing, which failed to make the most (or most anything) out of what was there.The writers obviously hated "Beowulf", the original, and made this movie their soapbox to say so.Watch this movie if it shows up in the dollar bin, and only if you've never had a taste for the ancient tale and have absolutely no other use for the next two hours..
I would have to say it is the most beautifully shot film of the last 20 years.As for the acting Gerard Butler gives another excellent performance as the world wiry Beowulf as dose Stellan Skarsgård as the king trying to come to term with his past and conscious.
I would recommend this version of Beowulf & Grendel to those who like their historical films to have a more realistic edge..
Why the screen writers or director felt the need to portray Hrothgar the way they did I do not know.While I really enjoyed Gerard Butler's performance I didn't see the true Beowulf coming through.
Somebody had the brilliant idea of filming in the bleak Icelandic countryside, full of mountains and rocks and waterfalls with nary a blade of grass in sight; the decision paid off (despite problems with the weather during the shoot) and you can really believe the action is taking place over a thousand years ago.Gerard Butler does well as the hero, his Beowulf equally as rugged as the isolated scenery.
The ninth century Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf recounts the exploits of a hero of the Danes who saves them from a monster, Grendel, and the creature's vengeful mother, and then, decades later, dies fighting a dragon.
Whereas there's a lot of history -- epics are repositories of history -- in Beowulf the poem, in the movie things and people aren't explained very much.
This is a lame attempt to bring the legend of Beowulf to the big screen, this flick is no more that bad television show at its best.The fact that Grendel is human is a minor problem compared to others you will see for yourselves if you are unfortunate enough to buy it and watch it, until the end.I've expected this move with great anticipation and in the end in proved to be a great disappointment!My advice is don't buy it!Go and buy the 1999 version with Christopher Lambert in the leading role!
Another person, a high school teacher, said she looked forward to the release of the film because it would be an excellent learning tool for her students.This is one of Gerard Butler's best movies.
I'm familiar with the original story of Beowulf and a modern novel that was told from the monster's perspective and was very much looking forward to the film.
Secondly, the idea of turning the story sideways by making Grendel the sympathetic character is interesting, but I found that it detracted from Beowulf's development as a hero and he was portrayed in a heroic light.
The tale is told in a murky, disjointed style against some stunning backgrounds for the exteriors but dimly lit scenes for most of the interiors.Whatever motivations characters have (particularly Selma, the Witch who seems thrown into the story for no particular reason and is played rather indifferently by Sarah Polley), are obscured by this tale of vengeance for vengeance's sake without thought of any consequences.
I suppose this is supposed to parallel what has happened to the world today that seems caught up in a war of global terrorism that often seems obscurely motivated.At any rate, it seems that the Danish king (played in lusty over-the-top style by Stellan Skarsgaard) was not completely honest in telling Beowulf the origins of Grendel's story.
This film tells the basic story of the epic poem Beowulf, about 13 soldiers led by Beowulf who go to Denmark to kill a monster.
As another example, Martin Gardner's book "Grendel" also tells the Beowulf story, but plays against the old patriarchal hero myth by telling it from the monster's perspective.
Because they do this in clumsy ways, such as making the king a pathetic drunk and denying the soldiers anything but the most stereotypical dialog, they only mute the core storyline without successfully adding tension or complexity."Beowulf and Grendel" is also too slow, with too much screen time spent on the scenery.
And while the costumes look authentic, the movie doesn't give you a real sense of how people lived in that era.If you want to see a better Beowulf re-interpretation, let me recommend "The 13th Warrior" (1999), which is more loosely based on the epic.
This movie is like one big pile of long empty shots about nothing, with as a redeeming quality that it features some beautiful scenery, which really fits the Beowulf story.
Most of the main characters remain totally uninteresting, including the main character Beowulf, which of course is obviously never a good thing for any movie.Sturla Gunnarsson might know how to handle scenery but he just doesn't know how to bring a story interestingly and/or exciting.
Apparently it's 'a cinematic drama that examines executive terminations and a new industry that specializes in handling them.' Sounds very interesting...My advice to him; start making some more nature documentaries, this is obviously were most of your talent lies.All the movie is basically about is Beowulf trying to fight and kill the 'troll' Grendel, who is troubling and killing the Danes.
But my husband wants to watch the new Beowulf film with Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie and a person at the library recommended that I watch this first so I could perhaps understand the new movie better.
The scenery adds a lot to the movie, but in my humble opinion the overall performance by the actors is poor with the exception of Stellan Skarsgård as Hrothgar and Sarah Polley as Selma.There were scenes where I did not know whether or not to laugh.
Beowulf (Gerard Butler) leads his men across the sea to battle the murderous troll Grendel for King Hrothgar (Stellan Skarsgård).
These people-- the director, writer, actors and crew, of "Beowulf and Grendel"-- have given us a glimpse of Dark Ages Scandinavian life, more I think than any movie has ever done before.
Watch the documentary about the making of "Beowulf and Grendel" called "Wrath of Gods" to really understand just how wonderful this movie is.
Beyond the script's shortcomings (really, it clips along quite nicely) and the excellent execution of the battle scenes, it is the minor characters that colour in the storyboard : the Irish monk who clamours apoplectically to baptize both king and Carl, the little seeress who brings a punk edge to fortune-telling, the fleetingly glimpsed child of the caverns, and the "grief-crippled King" in his cups (a melancholy Dane if ever there was one) who maintains the prerogative of a most Royal buzz and toasts "To the end of gloom !"In sheer bold camaraderie the actors' ensemble work of Butler's troop of men is second to none ; but something is modern in the state of Denmark.It must be said that --hands down-- the great troll's berserk outpourings of grief, rage and uncomprehending consternation make him the star of the show.In this joint British-Canadian-Icelandic production there is no shortage of fine period costume -- even brooches, a nice detail.
Released in 2005, "Beowulf & Grendel" tells the basic story of the epic poem: Beowulf (Gerard Butler), a hero of the Geats (modern-day Sweden), comes to the aid of Hrothgar (Stellan Skarsgård), the king of the Danes (modern-day Denmark), whose great hall is terrorized by the monster Grendel (Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson).
I've heard people complain about her performance, but I regard her as a highlight.The fact that the movie is called "Beowulf & Grendel" signifies that Grendel is probably going to be a more sympathetic character than in the poem, and he is.
Beowulf, ably played by Gerard Butler, is a stoic and thoughtful hero who brings a small army of Norse warriors to assist Hrothgar's people by slaying Grendel.
Many of the fantastic elements of the original story are downplayed or completely removed, and the sympathy between the primary adversaries is amplified - mainly through interactions between the key characters - Beowulf, Grendel and Selma, the young and beautiful outcast witch (Sarah Polley).
The many accents of the actors make understanding the lines a problem and even though the dialogue is in English, subtitles would have greatly helped understanding the storyline as it unfolds.Many people will object to the character of Grendel as extracted here from the original myth, but for this observer the way in which we are allowed to understand the motivation of this rather pitiful beast makes the story far more poignant.
Beowulf kills Grendel's mother, a sea monster in the poem, some kind of half woman half fish in the movie.
The director's own experiences at the time of the Kosovo conflict strongly influenced his decision to make this a tale about mankind's tendency to destroy that which is different.Although I would have preferred a movie that followed the original intention more closely, this is still the only decent Beowulf film out there.
The guy pulled it off.The movie itself didn't follow the story of Beowulf like I wanted it to.
She does it with mild conviction and without sugar-coating fantasy elements like visual effects or CGI, creating a different but very barren and naked-feeling film - but also a clear-eyed portrayal.The story follows old Norse hero Beowulf (Gerard Butler) in his murderous quest to slay and defeat the troll Grendel.
Everyone else, Butler including, are good (not great) in Beowulf & Grendel - all except Sarah Polley whose Canadian/American accent and attitude feel anachronistic and distracting.
"Beowulf & Grendel" is a beautiful looking, modern re- interpretation of part of the legend with a reluctant hero and sympathy for the monsters.The barren Icelandic coastal scenery with wind-swept sounds dominate the film, and will doubtless be lost on small screen viewing, but the characters may then seem less dwarfed by nature.
I haven't read the John Gardner version, but this one is certainly sympathetic to Grendel from the beginning, and on as Beowulf oddly finds he can communicate with him, through the quizzical character of the alleged witch Selma (Sarah Polley returning to Iceland as in "No Such Thing").
I have traveled to Canada from my home in Tennessee twice to see "Beowulf & Grendel," Icelandic director Sturla Gunnersson's new movie based on the epic poem.
Filmed entirely on location in Iceland, with an international cast headed by Gerard Butler and Stellan Skarsgard, "Beowulf & Grendel" is a multi-layered story, with unclear lines between good and evil.
Based on the epic 9th century Norse tale (which partially inspired Tolkien to write Lord of the Rings), this Iceland-British-Canadian production tells the bloody and rough-hewn story of famed 6th century warrior Beowulf (Gerard Butler), who returns to his homeland to assist a king (Stellan Skarsgård) whose people are held in terror by the violent actions of murderous troll Grendal (an impressively imposing Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson).Beowulf and his men at first feel they will have no trouble dealing with the menace, but Grendal proves a mighty and cagey opponent.
Rather than simply depicting Beowulf's killing of a one-note Grendel as metaphor for good triumphing over evil, it is the story of the intersection of two fully realized, complex characters.
With Butler's presence and nuanced performance, Beowulf may not be the mythically embellished warrior but is nonetheless wholly compelling, and on a human scale, heroic.Skarsgard is amazing as King Hrothgar, a man self-destructing as he helplessly watches Grendel killing his people, consumed with hiding the fact that the catalyst was his own reckless action.
With Berzins' thoughtful and humorous script reflecting the real camaraderie of the talented cast, and Gunnarsson's direction reflecting his obvious love both for the story and for Iceland, we get a moving and beautiful film.Usually warrior epics end with the hero vanquishing his foe in some brave and spectacular way.
I saw this film at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.Beowulf and Grendel is based on the Old English epic poem of the same name.
The cast acquits themselves well, including Polley, whose Canadian accent serves to show her character's isolation from the rest of the community.Director Sturla Gunnarsson, screenwriter Andrew Rai Berzins, and actor Tony Curran did a Q&A after the film: They took a lot liberty with the story, especially as the poem has speeches that go on for pages.
Most of the reviews on "Beowulf and Grendel" are misleading -- this film isn't very good.
I didn't want to watch a documentary on the Icelandic landscape, I wanted to see a movie with characters and a story.2) The Sarah Polley subplot.
Beowulf & Grendel was a stunning epic film..
I bought the DVD of 'Beowulf and Grendel' recently and it is a wonderful film - each time I watch it I find something else to appreciate.