Beowulf & Grendel (2005)

 

You have very fanciful versions of the Beowulf-tale, and then there is this one, that - for the most part - tries to make the tale as grounded as possible. It's a noble try, that's for sure, but in the end, it's a bit too slow and uneventful for its own good. 

Yes, the story is pretty much that of the poem. In Denmark, King Hrothgar and his men are besieged by a creature they call a troll and out from Geatland come Beowulf and his Geats to stop the beast. 

Yes, that is it. 

I will say, this film does a number of things right. The landscapes are gorgeous. Most of it was filmed in Iceland, and the desolate, northern look just fits perfectly. The countryside is pretty stunning and this will get you in the right mood for this story, even though at times, it all looks a bit bleak. 

Most of the casting is decent. You have Stellan Skarsgard as Hrothgar, who does a fine job portraying a king at the end of his wits. This does feel like the time Skarsgard was constantly chosen to play a Viking-esque character. Gerard Butler is his Scottish self as Beowulf and he is not the hero the tales make him out to be. This is explained that most of what he did and does is glorified by one of his band, who is a poet. Heck, Beowulf himself at one points gets annoyed because what the poet says is so far removed from the truth. It's a nice touch to try and humanize him more and to show how things can get quite out of hand through history. 

Who doesn't work as well, is Sarah Polley as the local witch. She's a good enough actress, but she just talks with her regular American accent and it is rather distracting, considering most of the other ones have European accents. It feels as though she doesn't fit in and that is a shame. 

Grendel in this story is not a monster, but a sort of elder human, sort of like a more primal throwback. He is big and strong, but because he looks different and doesn't really talk, he is hunted. It is because Hrothgar killed his father that he now hates the Danes so much. That makes a lot of sense. There is some intrigue to this character and it plays out a little differently to what we all know, especially because Beowulf gets that there are two sides to the story. 

The only thing that does feel out of place, is Grendel's mother, who is also one of these elder people, but she mostly swims in the ice cold sea and is usually submerged and that doesn't make any sense at all. It feels horribly disjointed when the rest of the story is supposed to be as realistic and grounded as possible.

So, the locale is spot on, the clothing and outfits are as period-correct as they could get them, and the tale is more grounded, and yet this doesn't fully convince. See, it is incredibly slow and at times even dull. The editing is fairly by the numbers and because they went for a realistic version of the story, it just isn't as spectacular. It doesn't need to be, but it feels as though some more character development is now missing to compensate for the lack of big action scenes. 

All in all, it's an okay film and you'll love the scenery, but it is not the most engaging thing out there.