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Beowulf

Play trailer Poster for Beowulf R Released Mar 31, 1999 1h 29m Adventure Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
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0% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 23% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
When warrior Beowulf (Christopher Lambert) learns that the inhabitants of the Outpost are being killed by a monstrous creature named Grendel, he offers to help the king, Hrothgar (Oliver Cotton), fight off the beast. The beleaguered fighters are grateful for his help, but a warrior named Roland (Gotz Otto) grows jealous of Beowulf when he sees him with the king's daughter (Rhona Mitra). As Beowulf learns more about Grendel, he realizes how much danger they all are in.
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Beowulf

Critics Reviews

View All (8) Critics Reviews
Eddie Harrison film-authority.com ...a shambles for the ages... Rated: 2/5 Jun 24, 2021 Full Review Mike Massie Gone With The Twins A handful of plot points recognizably follow the source material, almost making a game of picking out the morsels of faithfulness. Rated: 2/10 Sep 10, 2020 Full Review Grant Watson Fiction Machine Its ambition is considerably larger than its budget, resulting in a film that looks absolutely dreadful - and to be honest, its ambition is not particularly lofty. Rated: 2/10 Jun 3, 2019 Full Review Steve Biodrowski ESplatter [Beowful is] a bizarre hybrid, as strange (if not quite as ghastly) as the half-human, half-demon Grendel that haunts the first act. Jul 7, 2008 Full Review Chuck O'Leary Fantastica Daily Rated: 2/5 Oct 10, 2005 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Aug 14, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member The greatest Norse remake ever, LOL (so funny)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member A castle-like outpost comes under attack by a creature, named Grendel, on a nightly basis. However, it refuses to attack the border lord Hrothgar. One of the outpost's residents, Pendra (Patricia Velásquez), escapes the following morning but is captured by a rival siege line who intend to kill her to prevent the outpost's evil from spreading. Pendra is saved by a mysterious warrior named Beowulf (Christopher Lambert) and rides with him. When she realizes Beowulf is riding for the outpost, she runs back to the siege line and is killed. Beowulf meets Hrothgar, and is permitted to stay to help slay the beast. Hrothgar, his daughter Kyra (Rhona Mitra), and his military leader, Roland suspect that Beowulf was sent by a rival family to avenge the death of their son Nivri, Kyra's former husband. However, Kyra's suspicions dissipate when she realizes that Beowulf can sense evil. For a few nights, Hrothgar experiences nightmares, triggered by a succubus, about his late wife's suicide. When Grendel attacks during the day, Beowulf and Hrothgar's remaining soldiers are forced to confront Grendel. They evacuate the women and children to a sanctuary, but they are immediately slaughtered by Grendel. Beowulf manages to wound Grendel, but is also wounded in the process. As Kyra attends to Beowulf, Roland confesses his romantic feelings for her, however, she only sees him as a brother. After Beowulf recovers, Kyra reveals that Nivri was an abusive spouse and she killed him after he attempted to force himself on her. Beowulf believes she was justified. Beowulf faces Grendel again and severs its arm. Believing Grendel to be dead, the survivors celebrate and Roland is visited by the succubus... Critical reaction to the film has been highly negative. The general criticisms for the film were the weak script, below-average acting, corny dialogue, deviations from the source material, and over-reliance on camp, although it was hailed for its production design. Danél Griffin of Film as Art said the film "understands that liberties must be taken with the poem's characters to create a more cinematic experience, and there are moments that, even in its liberties, it reveals a deep appreciation for the poem, and a profound understanding of its ideas. There are other moments, however, that seem so absurd and outlandish that we wonder if the writers, Mark Leahy and David Chappe, have even read the poem." Griffin added that "Lambert is certainly effective", but concluded that "clever ideas aside, the film is unfortunately mediocre at best. The set design and some of the revised storyline are both stupendous, but the overall experience makes for poor cinema." Beyond Hollywood's review said that "genre films don't get any sillier than this", but called the film "above average". The review praised the film's "energetic action" and said that it "excels in set design", but added that "the techno (music) is pretty annoying." Calling the film "a cheesy post-apocalyptic update of the ancient tale", Carlo Cavagna of About Film praised the film's action scenes but felt that Lambert and Mitra had no chemistry. Nathan Shumate of Cold Fusion Video Reviews also praised the film's action scenes, but felt it used all its good ideas in the first half, "leaving most of the rest of the movie to die of attrition." Shumate added, "That's not to say that there are no effective scenes to be had, [but they] certainly can't carry the full 90-minute running time. Perhaps it's truly impossible to come up with a definitive film version of this epic. But I wouldn't want to make a judgement on that simply due to this attempt's mediocrity." "Beowulf" is loosely based on the Old English epic poem Beowulf. Unlike most film adaptations of the poem, this version is a science-fiction/fantasy film that, according to one film critic, "takes place in a post-apocalyptic, techno-feudal future that owes more to Mad Max than Beowulf." This is utterly campy and just bad in so many ways I don´t want to waste time to explain which ways. Poor script, poor dialogue, poor acting and poor effects. Just poor... And the techno soundtrack is just horrendous. On the plus side is only the appearance of Patricia Velásquez and Rhona Mitra. However, there´s no need to ever see this film. Ever. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Forget a story, forget a script, forget logic. Just enjoy this braindead "so bad it is good" spectacle! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member What to do when want to adapt a 6th Century epic poem? Why you of course set it in a post-apocalyptic future and cast Christopher Lambert! Low budget, bad special effects, dull story, but I do like Lambert and and I did like the hybrid medieval/post-apocalyptic setting, so that was enough to make this film watchable (barely), at lest for me. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Beowulk seeks to distroy an evil battle after battle. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Lite steampunk blandat med medeltid och C.L som låter precis som i Highlander! Helt ok söndagskvälls underhållning. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Beowulf

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Movie Info

Synopsis When warrior Beowulf (Christopher Lambert) learns that the inhabitants of the Outpost are being killed by a monstrous creature named Grendel, he offers to help the king, Hrothgar (Oliver Cotton), fight off the beast. The beleaguered fighters are grateful for his help, but a warrior named Roland (Gotz Otto) grows jealous of Beowulf when he sees him with the king's daughter (Rhona Mitra). As Beowulf learns more about Grendel, he realizes how much danger they all are in.
Director
Graham Baker
Producer
Lawrence Kasanoff
Production Co
American Internat'l Pics
Rating
R
Genre
Adventure, Fantasy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 31, 1999, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 17, 2016
Runtime
1h 29m
Sound Mix
Surround
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