Una recensione datata 2006,ma ripubblicata in occasione forse di una rassegna di film sul significato e tema dell'eroe...
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6...ing.html?cat=40A Good Variation on the Beowulf Story
Beowulf & Grendel, directed by Sturla Gunnerson, and starring Gerard Butler, Stellan Skarsgard, and Sarah Polley, was released on DVD September 26, 2006. The film never received a widespread U.S. theatrical release, so the DVD release is the first opportunity most Americans have had to see this movie. I, for one, had not even realized that this movie had been made until seeing it on the shelf at the video store.
Beowulf & Grendel begins with King Hrothgar slaying a man who had stolen a fish. His young son, Grendel, looks on during the murder, and though King Hrothgar sees the young boy, he spares him. The movie then progresses some years, to the point where King Hrothgar is an old man, and Grendel is an adult. Grendel enters the meadhall of King Hrothgar and slays some of Hrothgar's best warriors, which leads to a group of Geats, Beowulf and his compatriots, coming to King Hrothgar's aid.
Though it takes some time, Beowulf is able to cause the death of Grendel. After the celebration of Grendel's death, Grendel's mother enters the meadhall and kills some of Beowulf's warriors. Beowulf and his remaining companions then venture to the home of Grendel's mother, and Beowulf is successful in destroying her as well.
Butler and Skarsgard have characteristically wonderful performances, but Sarah Polley's performance is rather abysmal. Any semblance of an accent that she may have had during her first scene in the movie disappears in subsequent scenes, and one wonders why there is an American woman living in early medieval Europe. The stand-out performance of this film, however, is provided by Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson, an Icelandic actor who plays Grendel. He is able to depict the "monster" that Grendel is alleged to be, while showing that the character is human as well.
