There's something to be said for making a movie by placing real actors and real objects in front of a real camera with real film loaded in it. In this respect, "Beowulf and Grendel" easily exceeds Robert Zemeckis's largely CGI "Beowulf". If nothing else, Hrothgar is a believable Danish ruler, rather than a vinyl Stinky Pete, sans pickaxe.
The script -- which has a great deal of intentional humor -- never forgets that "Beowulf" is an Anglo-Saxon tale, and peppers the dialog with F-bombs and S-bombs -- not to mention the C word. Selma (a character not in the original tale) asks Beowulf why he hasn't made a snatch for her c---. Despite this, there is almost no sex -- the principal sex scene being Grendel ravishing Selma. (Yes.)
Which brings us to the "reworking" of the original tale. The Zemeckis version is tolerably close, but "B&G" strays far afield, with Grendel now the revenging victim of the Danes' violence. Still, as silly as it all is, the overall /effect/ is not half so silly as the Zemeckis film, which is why I've given it 3 stars. The Blu-ray transfer is beautiful, and allows one to savor the magnificent cinematography. Not to mention the bearded, long-haired eye-candy. Beowoof!
Performances are generally okay, with the notable exception of Sarah Polley. She was a wonderful child actress ("Baron Munchausen"), but her "performance" here is wooden and amateurish beyond belief (and beneath contempt) -- it wouldn't be acceptable in a high-school play.
Now that Gerard Butler has played the king of Sparta, Atilla, and Beowulf, perhaps it's time he assayed Gilgamesh. One problem, though -- Gilgamesh and Enkidu start off as woman lovers, but when they meet each other... well
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