- trailer (quicktime)

Gentlemen!  Ladies!  Raise your chalices!  Let us all toast, to a fine and majestic film, called Beowulf & Grendel!  Cheer!  Like a Pulp Fiction syringe of adrenaline driven into your chest, this masterpiece of a film injects bloody honor and righteousness directly to your heart.  Starring Stellan Skarsgard, Sarah Polley, Ingvar Sigurdsson, and Gerard Butler - this is far and above the best film I have seen all year - and is without a doubt one of my favorite films of all time.

Warn thee however!  It is a stretch to call this a horror film.  There is a troll, and an extremely high body count, decapitations, strange unseen creatures and mystery...  but above all it is about what is in the heart - what is good and what is mere tale - it is about family, and forgiveness.  These are the vitamins of Beowulf and Grendel that your heart and soul will absorb, while presented in the form of chainmail, rolling heads, and swords.  Never before has there been such a death soaked, beautiful movie such as this.  In all honesty, words fail to describe, and it must be seen to be believed.

Based on the epic poem "Beowulf", we begin this story in 500 AD - on the outskirts of Daneland.  A troll and his son roam the fields in search of food.  A hunting party discovers them and traps them on a cliffs edge.  The father puts his son on a ledge and turns to protect himself.  He is shot with arrows and falls to his death.  In this hunting party is the future king - Hrothgar - and when he peers over the cliffs edge to witness the kill, he sees the young boy.  It doesnt feel right to slaughter the innocent - and leaves him behind.  The young troll is Grendel.  He goes to the shores, decapitates the head of his dead father and brings it back to the caves to mourn.  For 20 years.  For two decades he boils with grief and bad dreams - until one day - he sees the smoke of a nearby village on the far horizon.  A king has been crowned - Hrothgar.  He and his warriors celebrate with beer and feast in the hall.  The fully grown and immensely powerful Grendel is drooling with revenge, bellowing atop a mountain, gashing himself with blunt stones - his pain and fury about to be unleashed.  Later that night, while the Dane King sleeps in his quarters, his 20 greatest warriors are all massacred in the hall where they celebrated.

Now enter Beowulf, ashore from a walrus hunting accident out in the seas, food for the eels.  He has come upon Gaetland, and a fisherman takes him in.  Soon he becomes a part of the village, a Gaet, and in time forges a name of honor aside his king with actions of great courage and victory.  Nobody in Gaetland has a love for kin as does the great Beowulf - and in time he hears of the slaughters that claim a peaceful king's people to the west.  200 armed men, all fallen to an evil troll.  With the blessing of the Gaet King, Beowulf organizes a party and sets off to Daneland, to bring a generation of Danish misery to an end.

They arrive to Daneland welcomed by King Hrothgar, who is all but crippled with grief and remorse for the pain his people must endure.  A good king decimated by a broken heart.  Beowulf vows to bring the troll's head back on a stick - and the adventure begins.  But where you think a story would continue into great wars and battlefields where other stories have gone before, Beowulf & Grendel follows its own true path, as if it were real, and not crafted by a ficticious tongue.  Selmar the "seer" catches Beowulf's eye - who I think is the sister to the Queen.  She offers insight to the "great warrior" that Grendel the troll means "grinder" - grinder of teeth - he was born with bad dreams.  Soon the story comes to light that perhaps Grendel was wronged.  He only kills those with weapons.  No women or children.  Only Danes - the people that claimed his father.  What unravels from here is a battle within the heart of who is right and who is wrong.  King Hrothgar is without a doubt a good man.  But so is Grendel, who fights with a clean heart - who spares Beowulf and his Gaet warriors, even - until he is wronged.  Even then, Grendel only punishes those who hurt him - and soon, it not about who wins the conflict - its about ending it altogether.

For the sake of clarity, Ill mention that the only minor bump in the story was near the end - in how they facilitated the idea that vengeance can just go on and on with no end.  Seemed slightly out of place, as if the filmmakers felt they needed to add some sort of "climax" for "popularity" sake - but its just a slight blemish.  In the end, it bridges the slaughter to the idea that this can go on for generations, until honor, respect, and forgiveness prevail.

I do say - and not lightly - that Stellan Skarsgard (King Hrothgar) should win an academy award or similar justice for his performance.  I would not be surprised to see this winning trophies somewhere in the world come award season.  When you watch this movie, you will be there.  You will feel the love of kin that Beowulf holds for his brethern.  You will ache with the good King - who becomes crippled with remorse over the loss of his people.  Your emotions will stir for an ugly troll, Grendel (Ingvar Sigurdsson), you speaks in nothing but gibberish the whole film - and when he is overcome with grief and rage, beating stones together or against his skull on a cliff's edge - you will feel his wrath inside of you.  Just as William Hurt recently nailed the acting role in Nightmares and Dreamscapes: Battleground, speaking not a word the entire film but gripping you with the performance, Ingvar Sigurdsson makes that look like television childs play.  Perhaps the most recognizable face of them all is Selmar (Sarah Polley).  She is as witchy and mysterious as she is alluring.  Her acting cred goes up in stock as well as a result.  Gerard Butler played Beowulf flawlessly and true, and owns the role.  There is not a film this year that comes within a mile of the acting in Beowulf & Grendel.

Final analysis:  All hail Beowulf & Grendel.  This, as is Lord of the Rings, is a story of ancient times.  Why say in green-screen and CGI what a sword and steel speaks truer?  Beowulf & Grendel was written 1200 years ago - a tale of epic proportions - there should not be a single solitary sign of computers and nor were there.  In its perfect moments, there is no better film I have ever watched.  For those who do not know the tale, embark.  There are no big hollywood twists or cheap thrills here - just substantial truth and purity of storytelling, reflective of the most spiritual qualities life has to offer in human form.  Beowulf & Grendel is as moving as a religious experience, a moment of enlightment when your thoughts are clear as to the true meaning of what is right and what is good.  Fans of swords and times of horses and honor will find no better film.  Fans of gore and action will not be let down throughout - many heads roll, many limbs fall.  And for those who have stumbled upon this review, indifferent to either - take a chance and put this in.  It is not "perfect" - and it may not follow script regarding the original writing verbatum - but the underlying story of honor and mercy is rich and will be admired by anyone with a sense of what that is. 

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