Hrothgar, King of the Danes, has been plagued with an evil creature known only as Grendel. Grendel (played by Crispin Glover) terrorizes the King's (Anthony Hopkins) new mead hall that he called Herot. After a night of terrible bloodshed and unspeakable horror, Hrothgar decides to send word that he has a monster that needs to be slain. One of the brave men to answer his call is the young Beowulf (Ray Winstone). Can Beowulf rid the land of the terrible menace known as Grendel?
For anyone that remembers the epic tale in high school or college, you may think that you already know the outcome of the movie. You only know half of it. The first half of the movie follows its Old English roots fairly closely with few alterations here and there for Hollywood's sake. But after Beowulf confronts Grendel's mother (played by the gorgeous Angelina Jolie) tradition is thrown out the window for a newer and more dramatic approach to the tale of Beowulf. The movie is still entertaining from beginning to end, it just throws a curveball to the audience that is expecting an accurate portrayal.
The jump to Blu-ray afforded the movie some added extras other than just superb visuals. It also allotted for more features, such as a behind the scenes look at nearly every conceivable aspect of the film. From the monsters and storyboarding to deleted scenes and web-enabled featurettes, all of the bonus content is a nice addition to the set and really conveys the passion that everyone on the team had for making a wonderful film.
Beowulf is a fun, bloody, and exciting ride through old fantasy and really creates some memorable moments along the way. It is just a little sad that people that have never read or heard the epic of Beowulf before will walk away with the wrong idea of what the original story was really about.
The easiest litmus test is if you enjoyed 300, then you are going to like Beowulf.
