RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Beowulf & Grendel
Beowulf & Grendel

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Beowulf & Grendel (2005)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
48 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:33

Fresh:16

Rotten:17

Average Rating:5.4/10

Consensus: Despite the impressive Icelandic scenery, Beowulf And Grendel fails to find its footing in the transition from epic tale to the big screen.

Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Synopsis: Out of allegiance to the King Hrothgar, the much respected Lord of the Danes, Beowulf leads a troop of warriors across the sea to rid a village of the marauding monster. The monster, Grendel, is... Out of allegiance to the King Hrothgar, the much respected Lord of the Danes, Beowulf leads a troop of warriors across the sea to rid a village of the marauding monster. The monster, Grendel, is not a creature of mythic powers, but one of flesh and blood - immense flesh and raging blood, driven by a vengeance from being wronged, while Beowulf, a victorious soldier in his own right, has become increasingly troubled by the hero-myth rising up around his exploits. [More]

Starring: Stellan Skarsgaard, Gerard Butler, Sarah Polley

Starring: Stellan Skarsgaard, Gerard Butler, Sarah Polley

Director: Sturla Gunnarsson

Director: Sturla Gunnarsson
Studio: Union Station Media

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Beowulf & Grendel

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

This film has constant action, drinking jokes, and a blood-thirsty troll.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
07/06/06
Marcy Dermansky
Marcy Dermansky
About.com

Andrew Rai Berzins' script spruces up long stretches of Old English with unexpected bursts of cussing and gleeful vulgarity that feel as misguided as everything else in the film.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
07/12/06
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
AV Club

Trying to give us the true story behind the epic, the movie only reminds us of why humans write epics in the first place.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
08/12/06
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Tom Meek
Tom Meek
Boston Phoenix

Beowulf's reality-driven approach suffers for lack of scope and questionable poetic license.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
07/28/06
Annlee Ellingson
Annlee Ellingson
Boxoffice Magazine

A semi-mythic period piece, Beowulf & Grendel offers sublime scenery that's breathtaking and bone-chilling.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
07/14/06
Bill Stamets
Bill Stamets
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This gristle-intensive R-rated version of Beowulf travels a predictable revisionist route.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
07/13/06
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune

Gunnarsson has made a film that would make the real Beowulf and Grendel, if they ever really existed, quite proud.

Full Review Source: Cinematical | comment Comment
08/24/06
Kim Voynar
Kim Voynar
Cinematical

If you're game for a strange and beautiful-looking new version of the (very) old legend, you can safely give this one a rental.

Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | comment Comment
08/09/06
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
DVDTalk.com

Aside from some nice Icelandic scenery, Beowulf & Grendel is a ludicrous botch.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/22/06
Peter Sobczynski
Peter Sobczynski
eFilmCritic.com

A muscular, ardently naturalistic retelling of the ninth-century Anglo-Saxon saga.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
07/12/06
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
08/29/06
Film Threat

ridiculous

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
10/07/06
Keith Breese
Keith Breese
Filmcritic.com

The thrilling beauty of this reading of Beowulf is that it makes [the characters] feel modern... These people live in the real world, not in a fable and not in a history book.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
10/14/06
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

A lumbering and ludicrous mess.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
03/10/06
Liam Lacey
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail

We've got a surprisingly multilayered drama

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
07/08/06
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

Sturla Gunnarsson's film ultimately lacks the grandeur and wit necessary to make the legend fully come alive.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
07/11/06
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The incredible landscapes are breathtaking and hint at how inhospitable nature can be.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
03/10/06
Louis B. Hobson
Louis B. Hobson
Jam! Movies

Driven by what could only be called mad Icelandic energy, Gunnarsson's Beowulf & Grendel is by turns stark, ludicrous and fascinating, with the odd dumb joke and anachronistic wisecracks leavening the earnestness.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
03/10/06
Jim Slotek
Jim Slotek
Jam! Movies

[You can] feel the filmmakers yearning to have Beowulf and Grendel go all Rambo on each other. Instead, they keep pulling back for more Old English angst, as if they’re torn between commerce and winning the approval of their high school English teacher.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
07/27/06
Chuck Wilson
Chuck Wilson
L.A. Weekly
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
14% 14% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

5 facts straight from the cast.

Disney Animation

Disney Animation

We chart the studio's classics.

Avatar

Avatar

An exclusive look at the human hardware.

Eric Bana

Eric Bana

The Star Trek star talks cars with RT.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
30
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
24
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
48
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
26
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
128
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
181
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
92
  • Ban Them All! 10 Infamously Controversial Movies
73
  • 5 Facts About The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
67
  • Friday Harvest: The Road, Avatar, and more!
63
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
45
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
22
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
16
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
10
  • Duncan Jones Reteams With Kevin Spacey
2
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
16
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
11
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
21
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
21
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Beowulf & Grendel at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Beowulf & Grendel at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.