6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 3.4 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
"Beowulf & Grendel" is the harrowing fantasy adventure tale of a Norse warrior hero pitted against the monstrous murderous troll, Grendel. The story of soldier prince Beowulf stars Gerard Butler, Stellan Skarsgård, Sarah Polley and Tony Curran. The film is directed by Sturla Gunnarsson.
Starring: Gerard Butler, Stellan Skarsgård, Sarah Polley, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Rory McCannAction | 100% |
Adventure | 39% |
Fantasy | 23% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: LPCM 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Great Beowulf, God’s awful arm.
I cannot remember the last time I was this surprised by a film. When I learned I would be
reviewing this, I was excited as it was something I had never seen before, and I went into it with no
expectations whatsoever. This is a film that has flown completely under the radar and I knew next
to nothing about it, except that it was headed to Blu-ray at some point this month. I started
playing the disc and an hour and forty-four minutes later, I sat on my couch in wonderment of
what I had just witnessed. I knew I had just witnessed a very, very good film once the credits
began to roll, but the more I let the film sink in, the more I thought about it, and the more it delved
into my consciousness, my fondness for the film grew and grew. As I write this review, the film
still fresh in my mind, I am still awestruck at just how good it was.
Beowulf hunts Grendel
This was a highly puzzling and annoying transfer, unfortunately. Presented in 1080p and in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, Beowulf and Grendel is a mess visually. It looks great at times--colors, especially reds, are very vibrant. Sadly, the disc is plagued with nagging problems. The image is very soft from the get-go, especially on longer distance shots. Rolling hills look more like green globs than anything else. At one point, there is an odd jump in the tint of the entire image of the film. Perhaps a fade was supposed to be there, but something was definitely wrong. Foggy scenes, especially one in particular, look downright dreadful. There is an exorbitant amount of noise present in one such scene, and it's perhaps the worst moment I have seen on a Blu-ray disc. Blacks are a little bright at times and cause the picture to look washed out. Haloing is an issue here and there. The image is rather flat throughout. Even when it looks good (and that is quite often) it doesn't jump off the screen. Overall this is a decent transfer with more than a fair share of problems. The bottom line is that for the majority of the runtime this is a nice looking transfer, but when problems arise it can look pretty bad.
Fortunately, Beowulf and Grendel fares much, much better in the audio department. Starz has included both Dolby Digital 5.1 and 5.1 PCM uncompressed audio tracks. This film has a powerful yet beautiful score. It is subdued and almost angelic sounding and it is a perfect match for this film. The film was nominated for a Genie award for the score, and it is worthy of such recognition. This is a mostly front heavy track. Dialogue can be slightly muddled at times, and the thick accents of most of the actors doesn't help clear things up. The track is appropriately loud when it needs to be without distortion. Bass will vibrate in your seat. There was nothing spectacular about this track, but there was nothing noticeably wrong with it either. It's a solid, loud, and often spellbinding audio track that makes the film that much better.
Unfortunately, this disc is pretty short on supplements. The main attraction is a commentary
with
director Sturla Gunnarsson, screenwriter Andrew Rai Berzins, first assistant director Wendy Ord,
and costume designer Debra Hanson. This is one of the more interesting tracks I have listened to
recently (it always helps when you love the film) and it is obvious that the crew members
enjoyed
the experience. They provide an in-depth background on the difficulties in filming in Iceland due
to
cold and uncooperative weather. They even discuss a blessing placed on the film beforehand and
how it seemingly turned into a curse. Dressing and grooming the actors appropriately, complete
with unique hair extensions and scars, is discussed. Interestingly, there were no CGI effects in
this
film. Colorful language is heavy in this film that was not present in the original story. The
filmmakers have received a lot of criticism for this, but they claim that such words are based on
old Norse dialect and they are "as old as we can make it." The story of Beowulf as we know it
today was
likely written down by a monk (though the original author of the poem is unknown), and
the filmmakers contend that such an individual would have left such colorful dialogue out of the
final story.
The only other special features are a 480p storyboard comparison that runs just under three
minutes, a 1080p trailer for Beowulf and Grendel and 480p trailers for Macbeth
and The Other Conquest.
Wow. I'm in awe of not only how great this movie was, but also about how I feel after watching
it.
I'll
be re-watching this again very soon. I knew I liked it after finishing it, but the longer it sunk in,
the
more I can't help but to be drawn closer to it. It's a powerful, touching tale that delves deep into
the human psyche and engenders in its viewers the ultimate message to never accept anything
based on face value alone. Yes, Grendel is a monster that cannot be allowed to continue to
murder but we, along with Beowulf, soon realize he is a misguided man with a good heart that
operates on instinct alone. Never accepted for what he is, he has nowhere to turn but inside his
own heart to determine what course his life will follow.
This is a film that moves along at just the right pace to draw us in deeper into the story. It's a
deep film that will undoubtedly leave you thinking about it long after the credits roll.
Unfortunately, the video quality is subpar as are the list of supplements. Please don't let the
negatives of the image quality sway you from buying this disc. The
problems are there, but they do not plague the entire runtime of the film. Even when they are
present,
the film is still watchable, and the disc sounds just fine. Based on the strength of the movie
alone, I'm recommending this Blu-ray. Highly.
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