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04/23/09
Beowulf & Grendel (2005)
48 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 33
Fresh: 16
Rotten:17
Average Rating: 5.4/10
Consensus: Despite the impressive Icelandic scenery, Beowulf And Grendel fails to find its footing in the transition from epic tale to the big screen.
Theatrical Release:Jul 7, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Out of allegiance to the King Hrothgar, the much respected Lord of the Danes, Beowulf leads a troop of warriors across the sea to rid a village of the marauding monster. The monster, Grendel, is... [More]
Starring: Stellan Skarsgaard, Gerard Butler, Sarah Polley
Director: Sturla Gunnarsson
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Reviews for Beowulf & Grendel
The thrilling beauty of this reading of Beowulf is that it makes [the characters] feel modern... These people live in the real world, not in a fable and not in a history book.
10/14/06
ridiculous
10/07/06
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08/29/06
Gunnarsson has made a film that would make the real Beowulf and Grendel, if they ever really existed, quite proud.
08/24/06
A fascinating trip to the dark ages and a good story well told
08/12/06
Trying to give us the true story behind the epic, the movie only reminds us of why humans write epics in the first place.
08/12/06
Top CriticIf you're game for a strange and beautiful-looking new version of the (very) old legend, you can safely give this one a rental.
08/09/06
Beowulf's reality-driven approach suffers for lack of scope and questionable poetic license.
07/28/06
[You can] feel the filmmakers yearning to have Beowulf and Grendel go all Rambo on each other. Instead, they keep pulling back for more Old English angst, as if they’re torn between commerce and winning the approval of their high school English teacher.
07/27/06
...realistic, [but] Polley...is woefully miscast.
07/27/06
Aside from some nice Icelandic scenery, Beowulf & Grendel is a ludicrous botch.
07/22/06
A semi-mythic period piece, Beowulf & Grendel offers sublime scenery that's breathtaking and bone-chilling.
07/14/06
Top CriticThis gristle-intensive R-rated version of Beowulf travels a predictable revisionist route.
07/13/06
Top CriticA muscular, ardently naturalistic retelling of the ninth-century Anglo-Saxon saga.
07/12/06
Top CriticAndrew Rai Berzins' script spruces up long stretches of Old English with unexpected bursts of cussing and gleeful vulgarity that feel as misguided as everything else in the film.
07/12/06
Sturla Gunnarsson's film ultimately lacks the grandeur and wit necessary to make the legend fully come alive.
07/11/06
Top CriticWe've got a surprisingly multilayered drama
07/08/06
Sturla Gunnarsson's adaptation... despite some pretty awful special-effects makeup [is] a pretty good -- and good-looking -- version of the tale.
07/07/06
Unfortunately, there is... jarringly contemporary English dialogue... laced with F-bombs and humor straight out of a Monty Python movie.
07/07/06
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