You wait 1000 years for a Beowulf movie...

[MonsterMash]

.. and then two come along at once
Story here

 

[johnsemlak]

All I can say is I'm looking forward to both. I'm kind of happy there's two different one's coming.

[irony]This isn't the first beowulf, is it? Wasn't there a Beowulf film starring Christopher Lambert[/irony]


Runs for cover...

 

[Viking Bastard]

And the 13th Warrior of course.

A best friend of mine's girlfriend's father works on the Sturla one and I got to see a
promo on DVD for the film. Kinda random cool bits of footage strung together like a
trailer, but in less refined and calculated way.

And it looks wicked.

Of course, it might suck and it's pretty low budget (in the Hollywood sense).

But that promo looks totally wicked.

 

[Desdichado]

Looks like neither one of them thought the actual Beowulf story was "good enough" and both took considerable liberties not only the basic plot, but even the basic premise. In some ways, even though the plot also features considerable changes, it looks like The 13^th Warrior may be the most faithful adaptation of the story yet.

Oh, I'm sure I'll see both of them unless everyone says they absolutely suck to high heaven. But I'm not exactly hopeful that either of them will really be all that good.

 

[Greylock]

"The 13th Warrior"? , decent flick. I really liked the process where the Banderas char learned the Viking language. Thanks for reminding me of it. It should help me round out the concept of a language and knowledge oriented Cleric I'm working up for a new game.

Christopher Lambert's "Beowulf"? Aiiieeeee!!!!!!! Run!

 

[Pielorinho]

Side story: awhile ago, my wife and I went out to dinner with my father and his girlfriend. She's not my favorite person on the planet.

At some point, the Lord of the Rings movie came up, and my wife and I were raving about how great it was. Dad's girlfriend grimaced and said, "I just don't like movies with all that violence in them. I don't know why movies have to be so violent these days."

My wife said, "Well, the violence in it is a pretty integral part of the story it's telling, and it's mythic violence. It's kind of in the tradition of Beowulf."

My dad's girlfriend shook her head impatiently. "I didn't see that either."

The conversation ended as both of us desperate choked back our giggles.

Daniel

 

[Viking Bastard]

Looks like neither one of them thought the actual Beowulf story was "good enough" and both took considerable liberties not only the basic plot, but even the basic premise.

Well, the Sturla one is pretty faithful in terms of plot, as I understand it. It
just fills in the blanks when it comes to characterization, which the poem is
rather devoid of.

 

[Desdichado]

Well, the Sturla one is pretty faithful in terms of plot, as I understand it. It
just fills in the blanks when it comes to characterization, which the poem is
rather devoid of.

Beowulf & Grendel, directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, is a $12m co-production from Britain, Canada and Iceland, starring the Scots actor Gerard Butler. Filmed in Iceland, it is described by its producers as a "spiritual film".

Butler's Beowulf is a complex man who grows to understand and even sympathise with the troll Grendel.

Huh? Did you read the same Beowulf I did?

 

[Viking Bastard]

Hey, I'm not saying I agree with their interpitation, just that to be fair, they don't have
that much to go on. The poem doesn't read as much more than a plot description.


Personally, I want to see it done as balls to walls action film with bastards that kick arses
and take names. Today's movie heroes tend to be somewhat... on the wussy side.

 

[Pielorinho]

My favorite version of the story is still John Gardner's. I'm such a wuss.

Daniel