Beowulf and Grendel

Beowulf and Grendel is a 2005 film adaptation of the Old English epic Beowulf. Filmed in Iceland and featuring some truly glorious scenery, Beowulf and Grendel is directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, who is best known for directing many TV series and the Oscar-nominated documentary After the Axe. Beowulf and Grendel stars Gerard Butler as Beowulf, Stellan Skarsgard as Hrothgar, Ingvar Sigurdsson as Grendel and Sarah Polley as Selma the witch.

The film follows the story of Grendel closely, beginning with the killing of his father by Hrothgar, the King of Daneland. Grendel grows up and wants vengeance and, being a troll, he is sure to get it. He lives in the mountains and comes down to kill Danes at his leisure, terrorizing the village where Hrothgar is located. Hrothgar eventually sends for the legendary warrior Beowulf, who comes to slay Grendel but ends up being captivated in the tale and (somewhat) falls for Selma the witch, who has apparently also fallen for Grendel. The film is essentially a retelling of the first two thirds of the epic poem of Beowulf. It leaves out the dragon episode and, of course, the death of Beowulf.

The moral aspect of the poem is changed as well, turning Beowulf into a character that regrets what he has to do in order to kill Grendel. The film attempts to forge somewhat of a connection between Beowulf and Grendel, which ultimately fails to create any emotion and instead falls flat. The poem’s focus on Grendel as a monster is lost here and we are given heavy reasoning and sympathy for why Grendel does what he does. The film also has a heavy reliance on religious symbolism, including a hefty portion of dialogue dedicated to Christianity and the afterlife.

One of the larger issues with the film is its dialogue. With a reliance on old-school English dialogue coupled with liberal profanity, it seems unrealistic. Lots of the dialogue is laughable and ineffective, leading to a lack of reaction to any of the characters. Because of this, any attachment to the butchered mythology of the poem is lost and traded in for what appears to be a more modern look back. The savagery is toned down and traded for obscenity and even a rape scene seems “nice.” The characters, in this regard, seem to be unrealistic and bland.

Gerard Butler’s Beowulf leaves a lot to be desired, too. His acting is bland and unnoticeable, giving little recourse for actually liking the character or getting behind him in his supposedly epic encounters. Instead, he is less a folk hero and more an average boring member of a group of other average boring wanderers. The formation of the character of Beowulf consists of a tedious retelling of stories and legends around a fire. Sarah Polley’s Selma is ever worse, however. Sporting a hair colour that is about as unnatural as one can get, Polley invokes about as little emotion as possible into the character of a witch in the wild and leaves all of the wildness to wither on the vine. She is, instead, confusingly normal for a woman that lives in the woods and was raped by a troll. Without even a hint of mysterious glee, Selma simply exists in the film.

The real star in the film is the background and the beautiful landscapes of Iceland. Without some good cinematography, Beowulf and Grendel would be an absolute disaster and a convoluted baseless boring mess. No character attachment, bland action sequences and poor dialogue make it a boring film in every regard. There is nothing touching, moving, exciting, interesting or engaging about this film except the geographical location.

Trailer: