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04/23/09
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Beowulf & Grendel (2005)
48
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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
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08/29/06
...realistic, [but] Polley...is woefully miscast.
07/27/06
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
...astonishingly dull and hopelessly irrelevant...
10/02/05
Sturla Gunnarsson's film ultimately lacks the grandeur and wit necessary to make the legend fully come alive.
07/11/06
ridiculous
10/07/06
A lumbering and ludicrous mess.
03/10/06
Top CriticUnfortunately, there is... jarringly contemporary English dialogue... laced with F-bombs and humor straight out of a Monty Python movie.
07/07/06
Top CriticA more accurate title of this conceptually anemic if prettily mounted take on the Scandinavian epic might be Beowulf and the Vixen.
07/06/06
This gristle-intensive R-rated version of Beowulf travels a predictable revisionist route.
07/13/06
Top CriticImagine the worst Deadwood episode ever, and you'll get an idea of the general tone of Beowulf & Grendel.
06/30/06
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
Gunnarsson is only partially up to the challenge posed by his illustrious source material.
07/05/06
Aside from some nice Icelandic scenery, Beowulf & Grendel is a ludicrous botch.
07/22/06
Icelandic-shot version of the legendary revenge saga is visually arresting and plausibly retrofitted for modern consumption, but lacks the savage bite that might have given the sixth century-set tale real impact.
10/13/05
Top CriticTrying 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
Thus does Beowulf collide with postmodern punk sensibility.
07/05/06
Top CriticA semi-mythic period piece, Beowulf & Grendel offers sublime scenery that's breathtaking and bone-chilling.
07/14/06
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