WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Tweetienator A nice little movie - the Grendel & Beowulf saga embedded in a post-apocalyptic world. As the fearless warrior we get Christopher Lambert who fights against Grendel the beast, who kills after dark one after another the knights of a besieged castle. Inside the castle the killing beast and outside an army who stands at guard to kill everybody who wants to leave the fortress. This is what I call a good B-trash movie. Reminds me a little of the 3rd Evil Dead movie Army of Darkness - but with far less humor.Again, there can be only one - Grendel or Beowulf!

zardoz-13 Before he directed "Alien Nation" with James Caan, Graham Baker helmed the first feature-length film about the legendary Danish warrior of antiquity named Beowulf. Appropriately entitled "Beowulf," this estimated $3.5 million medieval fantasy adventure set in the distant but undetermined future after a presumed apocalypse generates an adequate amount suspense and action. People who have perused the poem and passionate about it will probably revile this actioneer with a techno-musical soundtrack. Audiences that don't care about liberties being taken with venerable literary material may have a greater appreciation for this low-brow but entertaining spin on the classic. Nothing in the way of modern conveniences remains, and everybody dresses in leather or lace as if they lived in the 8th century. Basically, you've got "Mad Max" clashing with "Excalibur." The weapons reflect the influence of an advanced society, and Hrothgar's unique castle is eye-catching. Leading man Christopher Lambert of the "Highlander" franchise appears on horseback with a peroxide blond coiffure. He is a warrior who knows a thing or two about combat. Cast as the eponymous hero, Lambert benefits from a memorable entrance into the action. He rides up to a perimeter established by an opposing kingdom as these brutes are about to cut a poor woman in two pieces. The site of a giant chopping table with a huge straight-razor poised over it gives you some idea what to expect from this swashbuckler. Lambert plays the pugnacious hero with his usual taciturnity and gimlet-eyed expressions. Surely, somebody stunted for Lambert because I don't for a moment believe that he could execute all those elaborate back-flips. After he slays a score of warriors, Beowulf convinces the opposition to release the poor girl who fled from the castle allow him passage so he can visit King Hrothgar (Oliver Cotton of "Firefox") and help him with his monstrous problem. Hrothgar's daughter Kyra (Rhona Mitra of "Underworld 3") looks pretty fetching in those tight outfits. As Grendal's mother, Layla Roberts is just as seductive and her transformation scene during the finale is worth checking out. Future "Tomorrow Never Dies" Bond villain Götz Otto plays the stalwart Roland who wields a big sword. A monster prowls 'the Outpost' as Hrothgar calls his castle. Lurid sex works its way into the Mark Leahy & David Chappe screenplay as Grendal's mom appears initially as a succubus to King. Beowulf behaves like a bittersweet hero and rejects Kyra's initial passes. The film replicates events that occurred in the ancient poem. Grendal's severed arm hanging from the ceiling is one such example. Leahy and Chappe depict the demise of Grendel's son and death of his mother, but they didn't have enough dough to depict the encounter with the dragons. I don't think that I have ever seen anybody shove a sword into their victim and twist it with the hilt. "Beowulf" cannot compare with later versions of the Anglo-Saxon poem, but it is superior to the usual run of this stuff.

nautomatic This movie was great. Seriously, I know that it seems by the average rating that there must be something wrong with this flick, but I tell you, it was great. The production values were excellent considering the obvious budget constraints, the imagination of the production crew really out-shined their financial limitations. This movie has a sort of "road warrior" meets "braveheart" look to it, and where less passionate crews might have trouble being consistent with the open ended possibilities that such an aesthetic might afford, these guys really do a great job of creating a believable world that does not seem artificial in any way. The acting was seriously top notch, all the players took the material with deadly seriousness and while lesser actors and actresses may have felt the material beneath them and turned in a tongue in cheek performance, these guys all brought their "A" game, which is more than can be said of most action movies with three times the budget. The fight choreography was very well done and although it had a bit of the "Hong Kong", Wu-Shu inspired feel to it, it didn't go overboard and the work done to edit the actors together with the stunt actors was well above par. The CGI, although not quite at the level of a big budget Hollywood movie, considering that this was made ten years ago, was incredibly inventive, (especially Grendels mom,) and the creature design for Grendel was, again, very imaginative and well filmed. I've heard complaints about the soundtrack, but although everyone's taste in music is different, i felt it was consistent and, appropriately conducive to my level of emmersion in this world. There are only two things that stop me from giving this movie a higher score. The first is a lack of chemistry between Beowolf and Kyra. Perhaps they could have spent a little more time on this relationship, then again, it may have detracted from the overall pace of the film, but I must say, it felt a little forced between them. The second is really no fault of the film, it simply didn't have the budget, (given the subject matter,) nor the aspiration, to be a completely life changing experience, which is what it takes to get a ten out of me. Overall, if you like your action movies to take themselves seriously and you're looking for something a little different, I highly recommend you give this movie a view. On a side note, i don't understand how the CGI Beowolf from a couple of years back could possibly get a higher average score than this, except to say that a lot of people would rather conform to the perceived opinions of the masses instead of giving forth the little amount of effort that it takes to think for themselves. I've seen both, and I have to tell you, this movie was far and above the better film. (And if you ask me, Layla Roberts was way hotter than Angelena Jolie as Grendel's mom.) If you're going to watch any Beowolf movie, make it this one.

Stewart Ash This film is so bad it's brilliant! I've never laughed so much out loud at a film in my life. Not even when watching a comedy; which this isn't. Imagine the production quality of the "Evil Dead" films, and the acting from the TV series "Sunset Beach", add a dash of soft porn, and a sprinkle of visual effects done by some blind students, and you have a truly entertaining evening in. And hang on in there till the end when you might actually fall off your seat in shock. If you catch the DVD with the making of documentary. It's even more astonishing that they all truly felt that they were working on great movie. Monsieur Lambert at his cheesy best.