The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel, who is terrorizing Denmark, then Grendel's Mother, who begins killing out of revenge.The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel, who is terrorizing Denmark, then Grendel's Mother, who begins killing out of revenge.The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel, who is terrorizing Denmark, then Grendel's Mother, who begins killing out of revenge.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 3 wins & 19 nominations
Videos10
Brice Martin
- Musician #4as Musician #4
- (as Brice H. Martin)
Sonje Fortag
- Gitteas Gitte
- (as Sonja Fortag)
Julene Renee
- Cilleas Cille
- (as Julene Rennee)
Sebastian Roché
- Wulfgaras Wulfgar
- (as Sebastian Roche)
- Director
- Writers
- Neil Gaiman(screenplay)
- Roger Avary(screenplay)
- Anonymous(epic poem "Beowulf")
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
Set against the coming of Christianity, this is the story of the last hero: in 507, a monstrous troll wreaks havoc in the mead hall of Danish King Hrothgar (Sir Anthony Hopkins). He offers rewards for the death of Grendel (Crispin Glover), so Beowulf (Ray Winstone), a great and boastful Geat warrior, arrives with his thanes. Beowulf sets aside his armor and awaits the monster. A fierce battle ensues that leads to Beowolf's entering the watery lair of Grendel's Mother (Angelina Jolie), where a devil's bargain awaits. Beowulf returns to Herot, the castle, and becomes King. Jump ahead many years, and the sins of the father are visited upon Beowulf and his kingdom. The hero must face his weakness and be heroic once again. Is the age of demons over? —<jhailey@hotmail.com>
adult animationbeowulf characterking hrothgar charactercharacter name as titlepsychotronic film256 more
- Taglines
- Pride is the curse.
- Genres
- Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
- Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence including disturbing images, some sexual material and nudity
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaBased on the oldest known written story in a language purporting to be English.
- GoofsThe movie depicts Christianity displacing the Old Norse religion from Denmark over the 6th century AD. In reality, Denmark did not become Christian until the 9th century.
- Alternate versionsDirector's Cut features violence and nudity cut from the theatrical version.
Top review
A compelling dramatization of a thesis paper, not a poem
In the original epic poem, why does Beowulf come back from defeating Grendel's mother carrying Grendel's head? It's an interesting question that has fired literary critics imaginations for a while, and when Robert Zemeckis set out to make his big screen adaptation of the poem, he went beyond merely adapting the text itself. Instead, he took those questions that critics had considered and ran with them dramatically.
So, what we end up having isn't so much an adaptation of Beowulf, but an adaptation of a master's thesis on Beowulf.
The movie received mixed to positive reviews when it came out. A lot of the negativity seemed connected to the movie's visual style. Expanding what he had done on The Polar Express, Zemeckis used motion capture and computer animation to get realistic-ish looking characters. The problem is that the characters exact right in the middle of the Uncanny Valley. They are too real to treat as cartoons, but not real enough to convince the mind that they are real, so there's a natural barrier that's created because the brain knows it's not real despite a somewhat realistic looking appearance. I was more okay with the look of the film upon its initial release, but less so now.
I understand, though, why Zemeckis was enamored with the technique. The freedom as a filmmaker to build the environments he wanted and place the camera wherever he wanted must have been quite enticing. The problem was the effort at getting photo-realistic effects, which end up falling short. A more cartoonish look might have been less jarring for the audience.
Moving on, though, the movie's approach to the material, as implied, is really smart. It's not just a monster movie, but an exploration of bravery, heroism, and the costs of power. It takes a different approach than the original poem, but that's fine by me. The seduction of power, and the literal seduction of Grendel's mother, is an interesting approach to take, and I think it works really well. Beowulf must sell his soul to achieve power, but when the bill comes due he doesn't lay down like Hrothgar did. He fights. He reclaims his honor and sense of bravery by having a spectacle infused fight with a dragon. It's a sop to modern movie convention, but it's still fun on its own while refusing to undermine the basic point of the story.
Performances, which you mainly need to judge by voices since the faces do have a plastic-like feel that they movie can't escape, are very good. I can see why Zemeckis wanted to cast Ray Winstone as Beowulf because he carries a gravelly voice that matches the vision of the character perfectly, but Winstone is, at the same time, not a body builder with 8 pack abs. Brendan Gleeson is wonderful as Wiglaf, the sad advisor, Anthony Hopkins is wise, sad, and guilt-ridden as Hrothgar, and Angelina Jolie is pure seduction as Grendel's mother. Special nod to Crispin Glover as Grendel, speaking Old English and evoking quite a bit of emotion as a monstrous creature with inside out ears.
So, what we end up having isn't so much an adaptation of Beowulf, but an adaptation of a master's thesis on Beowulf.
The movie received mixed to positive reviews when it came out. A lot of the negativity seemed connected to the movie's visual style. Expanding what he had done on The Polar Express, Zemeckis used motion capture and computer animation to get realistic-ish looking characters. The problem is that the characters exact right in the middle of the Uncanny Valley. They are too real to treat as cartoons, but not real enough to convince the mind that they are real, so there's a natural barrier that's created because the brain knows it's not real despite a somewhat realistic looking appearance. I was more okay with the look of the film upon its initial release, but less so now.
I understand, though, why Zemeckis was enamored with the technique. The freedom as a filmmaker to build the environments he wanted and place the camera wherever he wanted must have been quite enticing. The problem was the effort at getting photo-realistic effects, which end up falling short. A more cartoonish look might have been less jarring for the audience.
Moving on, though, the movie's approach to the material, as implied, is really smart. It's not just a monster movie, but an exploration of bravery, heroism, and the costs of power. It takes a different approach than the original poem, but that's fine by me. The seduction of power, and the literal seduction of Grendel's mother, is an interesting approach to take, and I think it works really well. Beowulf must sell his soul to achieve power, but when the bill comes due he doesn't lay down like Hrothgar did. He fights. He reclaims his honor and sense of bravery by having a spectacle infused fight with a dragon. It's a sop to modern movie convention, but it's still fun on its own while refusing to undermine the basic point of the story.
Performances, which you mainly need to judge by voices since the faces do have a plastic-like feel that they movie can't escape, are very good. I can see why Zemeckis wanted to cast Ray Winstone as Beowulf because he carries a gravelly voice that matches the vision of the character perfectly, but Winstone is, at the same time, not a body builder with 8 pack abs. Brendan Gleeson is wonderful as Wiglaf, the sad advisor, Anthony Hopkins is wise, sad, and guilt-ridden as Hrothgar, and Angelina Jolie is pure seduction as Grendel's mother. Special nod to Crispin Glover as Grendel, speaking Old English and evoking quite a bit of emotion as a monstrous creature with inside out ears.
helpful•51
- davidmvining
- Nov 22, 2019
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Beowulf: An IMAX 3D Experience
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $150,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $82,280,579
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $27,515,871
- Nov 18, 2007
- Gross worldwide
- $196,393,745
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content

Recently viewed
Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.






































