Beowulf (1999)

User Rating:

3.6/10   

Director:

Graham Baker

Writers (WGA):

Anonymous (epic poem "Beowulf")
Mark Leahy (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 April 1999 (Singapore)

Genre:

Horror | Action | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Unleash your dark side.

Plot:

A sci-fi update of the famous 6th Century poem. In a beseiged land, Beowulf must battle against the hideous creature Grendel and his vengeance seeking mother.

Plot Keywords:

Beowulf | Weapon | Massacre | Independent Film

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Christopher Lambert	...	Beowulf
Rhona Mitra	...	Kyra
Oliver Cotton	...	Hrothgar
Götz Otto	...	Roland
Vincent Hammond	...	Grendel
Charles Robinson	...	Weaponsmaster
Brent Jefferson Lowe	...	Will
Roger Sloman	...	Karl
Layla Roberts	...	Grendel's Mother
Robert Willox	...	Chief Officer
Patricia Velasquez	...	Pendra
Marcello Cobzarju	...	Lookout
Vlad Jipa	...	Sentry
Diana Dumbrava	...	Hrothgar's Wife
Andrei Rusu	...	Soldier #1

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and sexuality.

Runtime:

95 min | Argentina:99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Netherlands:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:16 | Portugal:M/16 (video premiere) | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13 | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Romania

Company:

Capitol Films

Trivia:

A short scene of Grendel having sexual contact with Rhona Mitra's character in her room was shot but left out because it didn't really work and the director later felt that it also wouldn't match with the story.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Beowulf cuts off the arm of Grendel, we see a left arm hit the ground (look at where the thumb is) but it is Grendel's right arm that is missing.

Quotes:

Kyra: You should be dead.
Beowulf: Many times.

Movie Connections:

Version of Beowulf & Grendel (2005)

A late '80s action flick from the late '90s

Honestly, without looking at the production details, I would never have guessed this film wasn't made in the eighties. It's so eighties I feel it perfectly epitomizes the beloved "'80s action B-movie" genre despite being made a full decade too late. And knowing the extremes B-movies actually from the eighties can go to, that's saying A LOT.

It has Chris Lambert playing Billy Idol in a long black leather coat playing Beowulf; Rhona Mitra, "The original model behind Lara Croft in Tomb Raider!"; the kind of ingenious/insane mix of pseudo-medieval, post-apocalyptic and modern fashion and technology I haven't seen since Knights (and that's another one for the B-movie history books); a rather nice, if forgettable, techno soundtrack; more somersaults than you can shake a lever-action clockwork sword at; and Grendel's HOT MOMMA!

I think Beowulf would have approved. It gets the attitude right, and that's what counts - to quote the poem, Chapter IX, "Me thus often the evil monsters/ Thronging threatened. With thrust of my sword,/ The darling, I dealt them due return!" (The full text of Beowulf is available at http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/ )

And, by the way, let's not forget that dirty little chuckle Lambert has perfected. I loved it when he played Raiden in Mortal Kombat, and I absolutely love it here.