Beowulf (1999)

In a besieged land, Beowulf must battle against the hideous creature Grendel and his vengeance seeking mother.

Director:

Graham Baker

Writers:

Anonymous (epic poem "Beowulf"), Mark Leahy (screenplay)

Stars:

Christopher Lambert, Rhona Mitra, Oliver Cotton

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher Lambert	...	Beowulf
Rhona Mitra	...	Kyra
Oliver Cotton	...	Hrothgar
Götz Otto	...	Roland
Charles Robinson	...	Weaponsmaster (as Charlie Robinson)
Brent Jefferson Lowe	...	Will (as Brent J. Lowe)
Roger Sloman	...	Karl
Layla Roberts	...	Grendel's Mother
Robert Willox	...	Chief Officer
Patricia Velasquez	...	Pendra
Marcel Cobzariu	...	Lookout (as Marcelo Cobzariu)
Vlad Jipa	...	Sentry
Diana Dumbrava	...	Hrothgar's Wife
Andrei Rusu	...	1st Soldier
Vitalie Bantas	...	1st Guard

Storyline

This post-apocalyptic future story is based on the 8th century Saxon epic poem about the knight who battled a monster in a medieval castle. In this story, Beowulf is a wanderer who learns about a man-eating creature called Grendel which comes in the night to devour warriors trapped at the Outpost. The Outpost is ruled by Hrothgar. He has a daughter, whose husband may have been murdered by the Outpost's master of arms.

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Plot Keywords:

battle | knight | monster | warrior | sword and sorcery | 

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Taglines:

Unleash your dark side.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

Christopher Lambert dyed his hair white for the film.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 6 mins) When Beowulf cuts off the arm of Grendel, we see a left arm hit the ground (look at where the thumb is) but it is Grendel's right arm that is missing.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Will: Hey, why I always gotta get the broken ones?
Weaponsmaster: Try the trigger.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Beware! Children at Play (2011)

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Soundtracks

Universe
Performed by ¡Laughing Us!
Written by Joe Faraci and Hans Gutknecht
Published by Follow Your Bliss/Tonally Dissonant
¡Laughing Us! appears courtesy of Risk Records, LLC
p1998 Risk Records

User Reviews

A good film.

The first thing you have to note about this film is that is it set in the future. It's post-apocalyptic, so the previous review talking about anachronisms is totally off. Think "Mad Max" meets "13th Warrior" and you have this film down to a tee. It is a pretty well-constructed re-telling of the Norse epic, with the added twist of the futuristic wasteland setting. There was just a little too much sense of "Highlander", however (Christopher Lambert plays a leading swordsman who heals incredibly quickly, possibly immortal, and the title line for the film in its original packaging was- ''There can be only one, to stand against evil''...) and anyone who has seen the second of that ever-more-tedious series will feel that the setting and the acting is quite familiar. All that aside, this film is enjoyable. Not hugely so, but it overtakes lesser films of this monster genre and could even stand a comparison to Aliens: Alien 2, as the beast-work and the tension is about as well put together. There is, for the men, also a pleasing amount of cleavage on display throughout, but it's not excessively surprising if you check Grendel's Mother's filmography... she's a playboy ''actress''.

All in all this film is about as pleasing a good computer game storyline- not a masterpiece on its own, but flashy, funky, and with some well choreographed if not horrendously unrealistic fighting scenes. I bought the video and I think it will get a good airing.

Details

Country:

UK USA Romania

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 April 1999 (Singapore)

Also Known As:

Beowulf

Filming Locations:

Romania

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$102,744

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Kushner-Locke Company, Capitol Films, Threshold Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1