Old English, made bearable

Old English, made bearable

Saturday, July 08, 2006
BY LISA ROSE
The Star-Ledger
Beowulf & Grendel

(R) Union Station Media (102 mins.) Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson. Stars Gerard Butler, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Stellan Skarsgard, Sarah Polley. Now playing exclusively at the Quad Cinema in New York.

Stars: 2 1/2

A dread school reading assignment has been adapted into a movie that's more entertaining than you might expect. "Beowulf & Grendel," based on an Old English poem, is a hybrid horror movie/epic adventure.

Shot on location in Iceland, the film offers dazzling landscapes and brutal swordplay. It's geared towards those who like their myths extra gory, depicting knights falling to a foe who severs heads, breaks limbs and plays with corpses like toys.

Never mind the literary roots, the picture is closer in spirit to "Kill Bill" than "Lord of the Rings." Director Sturla Gunnarsson, an Icelandic TV vet, creates an old-school midnight movie. It's rife with problems -- ham acting, bad jokes -- but these qualities may be part of the allure for cult audiences.

The change in title from plain "Beowulf" to "Beowulf & Grendel" reflects the revisionist nature of the film. The story is told in a way that blurs the divide between good and evil, faith and delusion. You can interpret the whole thing as a metaphor for Europe's transition from paganism to Christianity.

Gunnarsson's picture is the third screen version of the saga and the best one yet, though that's not saying much. Its predecessors are "The 13th Warrior," a 1999 Antonio Banderas flop, and "Beowulf," a curious sci-fi fusion with Christopher Lambert.

Here, the plot is altered but the setting is true to the text, heavy on mud, blood and chainmail. Shooting the film with no computer effects, Gunnarsson concentrates on the first section of the epic and downplays the magical aspects of the story (sorry, no dragons).

Beowulf (Gerard Butler) is a flawed warrior while Grendel (Ingvar Sigurdsson) is a misunderstood savage. The king (Stellan Skarsgard) should be an authority figure, but he's really just an aging alcoholic tormented by sins of the past. A feminist witch named Selma (Sarah Polley) is a new character in the mix. As the story unfolds, a surreal love triangle develops between her, Beowulf and Grendel.

The ancient fable is being revived elsewhere in the culture. Julie Taymor's opera "Grendel: Transcendence of the Great Big Bad" begins its run on Tuesday at Lincoln Center. Next year, director Robert Zemeckis will offer a CG animated adaptation. It's interesting to see such a diversity of artists finding modern relevance in the tale of heroes, monsters and intolerance.



Rating note: The film contains pervasive violence, rape, strong language and alcohol abuse.