Review of Beowulf & Grendel (2005) by Paul C — 08 Jan 2008

Good film, follows the original poem reasonably closely. The costumes and props etc are accurate too. Like they're riding ponies not big war horses, which is accurate for the historical era and location.

Stellan Skarsgard is great as Hrothgar. The film seems to interpret the poem as if it was a legend based on actual events rather than the supernatural approach by others. Grendel the troll here seems to be a giant human (maybe a Neanderthal?) physically superior in many ways to the humans but the last of a dying race, unable to adapt to changing times.

So he scares them and is rejected by them. An interesting twist on the story. Worth seeing.