movie review about beowulf

Beowulf: I am the very model of a medieval monster slaughterer

Angelina Jolie in "Beowulf."

In the name of the mighty Odin, what this movie needs is an audience that knows how to laugh. Laugh, I tell you, laugh! Has the spirit of irony been lost in the land? By all the gods, if it were not for this blasted infirmity that the Fates have dealt me, you would have heard from me such thunderous roars as to shake the very Navy Pier itself down to its pillars in the clay.

To be sure, when I saw “Beowulf” in 3-D at the giant-screen IMAX theater, there were eruptions of snickers here and there, but for the most part, the audience sat and watched the movie, not cheering, booing, hooting, recoiling, erupting or doing anything else unmannerly. You expect complete silence and rapt attention when a nude Angelina Jolie emerges from the waters of an underground lagoon. But am I the only one who suspects that the intention of director Robert Zemeckis and writers Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary was satirical?

Truth in criticism: I am not sure Angelina Jolie was nude. Oh, her character was nude, all right, except for the shimmering gold plating that obscured certain crucial areas, but was she Angelina Jolie? Zemeckis, who directed the wonderful “ The Polar Express ,” has employed a much more realistic version of the same animation technology in “Beowulf.” We are not looking at flesh-and-blood actors but special effects that look uncannily convincing, even though I am reasonably certain that Angelina Jolie does not have spike-heeled feet. That’s right: feet, not shoes.

The movie uses the English epic poem, circa 700 A.D., as its starting point, and resembles the original in that it uses a lot of the same names. It takes us to the Danish kingdom of King Hrothgar ( Anthony Hopkins ), where the king and his court have gathered to inaugurate a new mead hall, built for the purpose of drinking gallons of mead. The old hall was destroyed by the monster Grendel, whose wretched life consists of being the ugliest creature on earth, and destroying mead halls.

To this court comes the heroic Geatsman named Beowulf ( Ray Winstone ), who in the manner of a Gilbert & Sullivan hero is forever making boasts about himself. He is the very model of a medieval monster slaughterer. (A Geatsman comes from an area of today’s Sweden named Gotaland, which translates, Wikipedia helpfully explains, as “land of the Geats.”) When the king offers his comely queen Wealthow ( Robin Wright Penn) as a prize if Beowulf slays Grendel, the hero immediately strips naked, because if Grendel wears no clothes, then he won’t, either. This leads to a great deal of well-timed Austinpowerism, which translates (Wikipedia does not explain) as “putting things in the foreground to keep us from seeing the family jewels.” Grendel arrives on schedule to tear down the mead hall, and there is a mighty battle which is rendered in gory and gruesome detail, right down to cleaved skulls and severed limbs.

Now when I say, for example, that Sir Anthony plays Hrothgar, or John Malkovich plays Beowulf’s rival Unferth, you are to understand that they supply voices and the physical performances for animated characters who look more or less like they do. ( Crispin Glover , however, does not look a thing like Grendel, and if you are familiar with the great British character actor Ray Winstone you will suspect he doesn’t have six-pack abs.) Variety reports that Paramount has entered “Beowulf” in the Academy’s best animated film category, which means nothing is really there, realistic as it may occasionally appear. I saw the movie in IMAX 3-D, as I said, and like all 3-D movies it spends a lot of time throwing things at the audience: Spears, blood, arms, legs, bodies, tables, heads, mead, and so forth. The movie is also showing in non-IMAX 3-D, and in the usual 2-D. Not bad for a one-dimensional story.

But I’m not complaining. I’m serious when I say the movie is funny. Some of the dialog sounds like Monty Python. No, most of the dialog does. “I didn’t hear him coming,” a wench tells a warrior. “You’ll hear me,” he promises. Grendel is ugly beyond all meaning. His battles are violent beyond all possibility. His mother (Jolie) is like a beauty queen in centerfold heaven. Her own final confrontation with Beowulf beggars description. To say the movie is over the top assumes you can see the top from here.

Now about the PG-13 rating. How can a movie be rated PG-13 when it has female nudity? I’ll tell you how. Because Angelina Jolie is not really there. And because there are no four-letter words. Even Jolie has said she’s surprised by the rating; the British gave it a 12A certificate, which means you can be a year younger and see it over there. But no, Jolie won’t be taking her children, she told the BBC: “It’s remarkable it has the rating it has. It’s quite an extraordinary film, and some of it shocked me.”

Here’s the exact wording from the MPAA’s Code people: “ Classified PG -13 (for intense sequences of violence including disturbing images, some sexual material and nudity).” How does that compare with a PG rating? Here’s the MPAA’s wording on “ Bee Movie “: “Classified PG (for mild suggestive humor and a brief depiction of smoking).” I have news for them. If I were 13, Angelina Jolie would be plenty nude enough for me in this movie, animated or not. If I were 12 and British, who knows?

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

John Malkovich as Unferth
Crispin Glover as Grendel
Ray Winstone as Beowulf
Angelina Jolie as Grendel's mother
Anthony Hopkins as Hrothgar
Brendan Gleeson as Wiglaf
Neil Gaiman
Roger Avary

Directed by

Robert Zemeckis

Now playing.

Merchant Ivory

The Deliverance

City of Dreams

Out Come the Wolves

Seeking Mavis Beacon

Across the River and Into the Trees

You Gotta Believe

Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival 2024: Highlights of a Joyous Event

The Unloved, Part 129: The Power

Venice Film Festival 2024: Babygirl, The Order, The Brutalist, I’m Still Here

“Risky Business” Remains One of the Most Daring Films of the ’80s

The best movie reviews, in your inbox.

an image, when javascript is unavailable

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘beowulf’: film review.

What have they done to Beowulf, everyone’s least favorite Old English epic about a hero’s battles with a monster, the monster’s mother and an annoying dragon who turns up 50 years later? Director Robert Zemeckis not only deploys 21st century movie technology at its finest to turn the heroic poem into a vibrant, nerve-tingling piece […]

By Kirk Honeycutt

Kirk Honeycutt

Share on Facebook
Share to Flipboard
Send an Email
Show additional share options
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest
Share on Reddit
Share on Tumblr
Share on Whats App
Print the Article
Post a Comment

A digital Ray Winstone as Beowulf in the 2007 movie of the same name.

What have they done to Beowulf , everyone’s least favorite Old English epic about a hero’s battles with a monster, the monster’s mother and an annoying dragon who turns up 50 years later?

Director Robert Zemeckis not only deploys 21st century movie technology at its finest to turn the heroic poem into a vibrant, nerve-tingling piece of pop culture, but his film actually makes sense of Beowulf . In Zemeckis ‘ hands, it’s an intriguing look at a hero as a flawed human being.

The Bottom Line An intriguing look at a hero as a flawed human being.

Remember in Annie Hall when Woody Allen advised Diane Keaton, “Just don’t take any class where you have to read ‘Beowulf'”? As multitudes stand in long lines to see this movie, many may indeed be reading “Beowulf,” if only to relish what Zemeckis & Co. have accomplished. In any event, those lines should last through year’s end.

THR Newsletters

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Summer box office conundrum: domestic revenue falls 10 percent, but it could have been far worse, james darren, ‘gidget’ surfer and cop on ‘t.j. hooker,’ dies at 88, telluride: ‘september 5’ stuns attendees, is fest’s hottest sales title and could be a top awards contender, ian mckellen open to returning as gandalf in new ‘lord of the rings’ films, tilda swinton, julianne moore dazzle in venice as pedro almodóvar’s ‘the room next door’ earns 17-minute standing ovation, telluride: zoe saldaña, selena gomez and karla sofía gascón on ‘emilia pérez,’ breaking barriers and yearning to be seen differently (exclusive).

Notice: All forms on this website are temporarily down for maintenance. You will not be able to complete a form to request information or a resource. We apologize for any inconvenience and will reactivate the forms as soon as possible.

DVD & Streaming
Action/Adventure , Animation , Drama , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

Ray Winstone as Beowulf; Anthony Hopkins as Hrothgar; John Malkovich as Unferth; Robin Wright Penn as Wealthow; Crispin Glover as Grendel; Angelina Jolie as Grendel's Mother

Home Release Date

Robert Zemeckis

Distributor

Warner Bros.

Movie Review

Bæc be sēo dogor, mid þam þe hererincs swelce hererincs—

Oops, sorry. I slipped into Old English for a minute. Where was I? Oh, yes … back in the day, when heroes were heroes and monsters polluted Scandinavia like so many thistles, there was a particularly odious beastie named Grendel. …

Long on drool and short on manners, the nasty-looking brute hates noise—so much so, in fact, that when King Hrothgar throws a party in his nearby mead hall, Grendel goes nuts and slaughters most of the revelers.

The ogre won the battle, but the king isn’t about to let it win the war. So he sends word across the known world that anyone who can kill the monster will win half the gold in his kingdom.

Beowulf, a great Geat warrior, answers the call. He sails into town in all his blond, bearded glory and takes on Grendel with his bare—well, everything. Naked, they fight. And when Grendel tries to flee, the warrior rips off the monster’s arm—a fatal wound.

There is much rejoicing—for a while. Unfortunately for Hrothgar and Beowulf, Grendel has a mother, and we all know that when mama’s not happy, ain’t nobody happy. She sneaks into the mead hall late one night and kills another bevy of the besotted. And suddenly, the Geat is forced to kill two monsters for the price of one.

Little does he know that Grendel’s remarkably attractive mother has other plans. She tells Beowulf she isn’t out for blood—just another son. And she wants Beowulf to be the proud papa.

Positive Elements

Beowulf is a he-man of a hero, brave, courageous and—at least by the standards of the day—polite. He feels it’d be more sporting to fight Grendel without weapons (or armor or clothes), so he does.

Though Beowulf is boastful in the beginning, we see him age and mellow as the film progresses—to the point at which he takes responsibility for his own mistakes (which I’ll detail later) and sacrifices his own life for the lives of others around him. “I visited this horror on my kingdom,” he says after becoming king. “I must be the one to banish her.” His last request is to be remembered “not as a king or a hero, but as a man, fallible and flawed.”

Spiritual Elements

Beowulf takes place in the 6th century AD, when (the film suggests) Scandinavians were moving away from pagan gods and toward Christianity. This clash of faiths is felt throughout, with Christianity being presented—superficially, at least—as weak and ineffective.

When Grendel starts his rampage, Hrothgar’s advisor, Unferth, tells the king that the people are sacrificing to the old gods. He asks Hrothgar if they should also start praying to the “Roman” god Christ Jesus. Hrothgar says, “The gods will not do anything for us that we cannot do for ourselves. What we need is a hero.” (Hrothgar and other characters reference the Norse god Odin several times.)

Once the film leaps forward 50 years, Christianity is firmly in control of the land. Beowulf says that “the Christ god” killed all the monsters, and all the heroes, too. All that’s left, he laments, is “weeping martyrs” and “shame.”

Unferth has apparently become a Christian, wearing a long, monkish cowl and crucifix around his neck. He brandishes it in front of an advancing dragon/man, but loses his family in the dragon’s fiery breath and is severely burned himself. He’s carted to Beowulf on a cross-like litter to pass on the dragon’s message: “The sins of the father.” (We also see a cross torched in the dragon’s wake.)

Sexual & romantic Content

After its actors were filmed wearing motion-capture suits, Beowulf was transformed into a computer-animated flick. But that doesn’t minimize the hyper-realistic skin often on display. (And never mind that the whole story takes place in cold-and-snowy Denmark.)

Grendel’s mother (Angelina Jolie) is completely naked throughout her scenes, sometimes covered with a gold-like film dripping off her skin like chocolate. We see her fully from the front and from the back. And while the CGI isn’t completely spot-on realistic—think of it as a mash-up of real-life anatomy and a naked Barbie doll—it is still vivid enough to have caused an audience member behind me to crudely whisper, “That Brad Pitt is a lucky man, eh!?” When Jolie herself saw the final footage, she was reportedly embarrassed and called her family to warn them about how much of her virtual self they would be seeing.

Also, as already mentioned, Beowulf fights Grendel in the buff, and audiences see his naked rear as he’s bouncing off tables and jumping on chandeliers. His “critical” areas are obscured—hidden by a well-placed hand, a sword hilt or a dozen other objects—but he does expose himself to the swooning Queen Wealthow.

Grendel is also nude—though he doesn’t appear to have any sexual organs and his “skin” is little more than a slimy mass of tendons and muscle. Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) parades about in a kind of a loose-hanging toga—one that showcases lots of skin on the sides and, occasionally, the rear. Naked women occasionally frolic in and sleep under blankets that obscure their most private body parts.

One Danish woman appears to try to entice a Geat warrior with her breasts (which move and shake atop a low-cut dress). The Geat later tries to have intimate relations with her, spouting some vulgar come-ons, but she rejects him. Another woman comments on Beowulf’s body and jokes about his penis. A Geat suggests that a comrade has a fondness for sheep. And Hrothgar says he hopes his land is a haven for “fornication.”

[ Spoiler Warning ] Grendel, as it turns out, is Hrothgar’s illegitimate son, and a good part of the queen’s reluctance to sleep with the king is due to his earlier affair with the demon’s mother. Grendel’s mom also seduces a willing Beowulf, and we see the beginning of their sexual interlude through an indistinct reflection in a shield. (The offspring that results from this union turns out to be a dragon.)

Violent Content

Beowulf begins with Grendel literally ripping apart his victims and ends with Beowulf tearing the still-beating heart out of a dragon. In between, enough virtual blood is spilled to fill a Second Life swimming pool. In 3-D mode, audiences sometimes get doused with the stuff.

Grendel, a 12-foot-tall monstrosity, shreds his victims like paper dolls. He occasionally flings them up in the air, after which they invariably are impaled on something sharp. He tosses them against wood pillars and stone walls. His last snack is the decapitated head of his last victim, which he noisily chews.

When he finally gets his, Beowulf pounds away at Grendel’s oversized eardrum (which shatters in splatter) and severs his arm via a huge door. The limb still moves after it falls on the ground, and partyers later nail it up above the door. In retaliation, Grendel’s mother spirits herself into the mead hall and kills nearly everyone. Though we don’t see the killing, we do see bodies hanging from the rafters.

Beowulf also battles a legion of sea monsters in a flashback: The hero slices through their innards as if they were made of canned cranberries and stabs them in the eyes with unblinking realism. When a monster swallows Beowulf, he manages to stab through its eye from the inside, jumping out in a spray of blood and gore.

[ Spoiler Warning ] In the climactic battle with the dragon, Beowulf stabs the beast several times—mainly in order to stay with the flying creature—and rips open one of its wings. He slashes its throat at the point where it glows, allowing liquid fire to spill out. When the dragon is emptied of its fire, Beowulf spies its beating heart. Get at the heart and the dragon dies, Beowulf knows, but he can’t reach it because one of his arms is caught in thick chains (part of a ship anchor Beowulf has already jammed into the dragon). So Beowulf decides he must cut himself free of his own arm to reach the heart with the other. And he proceeds to do just that.

Someone commits suicide by jumping off a castle wall and falling to the beach below. Unferth beats his servants until they’re bruised and swollen.

Crude or Profane Language

The exclamation “d–n” is said about six times. And it’s joined by sporadic instances of “b–tard,” “h—” and the British curse word “bloody.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Those Danes and Geats love their mead, and the film opens in Hrothgar’s notorious hall where people are loaded on the honey-based beer. (Hrothgar is particularly repulsive in his drunken state, and his most prized possession is a golden drinking horn.) Beowulf mentions how famous Hrothgar’s mead is throughout the world, and asks for some. But while his comrades drink liberally, Beowulf takes his mead in moderation: He’s never shown drunk.

Before English teachers everywhere rush their students off to the theater to soak up this latest incarnation of a literary giant, there are three things to say:

1) The film has very little to do with the book. For one thing, the poem’s Christian overlay (Beowulf often credits God for his heroic exploits) is all but replaced by backhanded slaps at Christianity onscreen. In the book, Grendel and his Mother are said to be offspring of Cain, who was cursed by God as recorded in Genesis. That’s not in the movie. And Beowulf doesn’t “lay” with Grendel’s mother in the original, either. Instead, he slays her with a sword made by a race of giants—wiped out, apparently, in the Flood. And when Beowulf confronts the dragon, in the book, he’s confronting his own mortality in a particularly splashy way—not his own misbegotten son. So anyone who uses this film as a sort of CliffsNotes is bound to get all the questions wrong on the semester test.

2) Beowulf does say some interesting things about sin and temptation, despite its obstinate overlooking of the poem’s overall character. “Many of the themes that are in Beowulf were lifted from the Bible—a heroic man’s journey, the fight between good and evil and the price of glory,” says director Robert Zemeckis (The Polar Express, Cast Away) . Hrothgar, for instance, wallows in a world of sensual gratification and therefore breeds a creature who’s plagued by his own hyper-developed senses. Beowulf is boastful, and his “son” is all balled up arrogance and anger draped in a dragon’s skin.

Beowulf, the hero, says that in the wake of Christianity, “We men are the monsters now.” In Christian teaching, there are indeed monsters without and monsters within. “Filthy rags,” the prophet Isaiah calls the best of what we are. And it’s Grendel’s mother who becomes the temptation that brings these sinful characteristics to horrifying life. So, despite the film’s apparent exoskeleton of paganism, it ends with the Christ-like sacrifice Beowulf must make and the idea that he must show incredible courage to confront his own, monstrous mistake.

3) The nudity and violence in Beowulf is such that, had this been a live-action film, the Motion Picture Association of America would’ve undoubtedly slapped it with an R rating. This may be an animated film—the rationale surely used to justify its PG-13 status—but everything is so realistic it feels like Zemeckis got off on a technicality. Even star Angelina Jolie says she won’t take her own children to the film because of its content. “It’s remarkable it has the rating it has,” she told the BBC. “It’s quite an extraordinary film, and some of it shocked me.”

A fourth point is therefore not needed. And class is now dismissed.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

Latest Reviews

reagan movie president reagan gives a speech

City of Dreams

Weekly Reviews Straight to your Inbox!

Want to stay Plugged In?

Our weekly newsletter will keep you in the loop on the biggest things happening in entertainment and technology. Sign up today, and we’ll send you a chapter from the new Plugged In book, Becoming a Screen-Savvy Family , that focuses on how to implement a “screentime reset” in your family!

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

About Rotten Tomatoes®
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening This Week
Top Box Office
Coming Soon to Theaters
Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

Fandango at Home
Prime Video
Most Popular Streaming Movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

73% Blink Twice Link to Blink Twice
96% Strange Darling Link to Strange Darling
86% Between the Temples Link to Between the Temples

New TV Tonight

100% Slow Horses: Season 4
94% English Teacher: Season 1
-- The Perfect Couple: Season 1
-- Tell Me Lies: Season 2
-- Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist: Season 1
-- Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos: Season 1
-- Outlast: Season 2
-- The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Season 1
-- Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Season 14

Where to Watch

Rent Beowulf on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Graham Baker

Christopher Lambert

Rhona Mitra

Oliver Cotton

Layla Roberts

Grendel's Mother

Or browse by category:

Movie Reviews
Best Movie Lists
Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best TV Lists
Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
Common Sense Selections for TV
Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

Book Reviews
Best Book Lists
Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Game Reviews
Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Podcast Reviews
Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

App Reviews
Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

YouTube Channel Reviews
YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

How to Help Kids Build Character Strengths with Quality Media

Family Tech Planners
Digital Skills
All Articles
Latino Culture
Black Voices
Asian Stories
Native Narratives
LGBTQ+ Pride
Best of Diverse Representation List

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 13 Reviews
Kids Say 20 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Violent animated adventure is no kiddie movie.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 16+?

Lots of sexual innuendo and partial nudity (it's animated, but the animation

Grendel -- a disturbing, oozing, pus-filled sight in and of himself -- kills mos

The Danes and their visiting mercenaries drink a lot of mead in the mead hall. S

Milder than the rest of the film: "damn," "hell," etc.

Any Positive Content?

The message seems to be that men are all-too-easily seduced by beauty and the pr

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Lots of sexual innuendo and partial nudity (it's animated, but the animation is very realistic). Beowulf strips completely naked in preparation to fight Grendel. Various people and items conveniently obscure his genitals, but his bare buttocks are shown several times during the fight. The drunk king wears a robe that half falls off; a buxom woman's cleavage is shown heaving and jiggling. Later she's propositioned by one of Beowulf's warriors, who says things like "my loins are burning" and that he won't be quiet when he comes. A bare-shouldered woman and soldier share a sleeping bag. The king demands his queen produce an heir; Beowulf has a younger mistress in addition to his wife. Grendel's mom can take the form of a gorgeous woman (Angelina Jolie) who emerges dripping wet and naked from the water.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Grendel -- a disturbing, oozing, pus-filled sight in and of himself -- kills mostly at random. He impales victims, snaps necks, rips off heads and eats them, tears people in two, throws men into fires, squishes heads, etc. Most of the violence is fast, but there's still a great deal of it. Beowulf dismembers Grendel's arm after a long hand-to-hand battle. Grendel's mother kills almost an entire group of warriors, who are shown as shadowy, bloody figures hanging from ceiling beams. Beowulf battles an angry, murderous dragon. Beowulf's army slaughters its enemies on the battlefield.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

The Danes and their visiting mercenaries drink a lot of mead in the mead hall. Some men are so drunk that they pass out on the table.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

The message seems to be that men are all-too-easily seduced by beauty and the promise of power.

Parents need to know that although this adventure is animated, it's not aimed at kids. Some people may misinterpret the fact that it was created by the same filmmakers responsible for The Polar Express as an automatic thumbs-up for kids. But the considerable violence and sexual innuendo are comparable to the content of popular live-action flick 300 . As those familiar with the ancient epic poem the movie is based on know, Beowulf defeats the monstrous Grendel ... but not before Grendel kills a lot of innocent people in disgusting, harrowing ways. The violence includes dismemberment, impalement, bashed heads, people being eaten alive, and more. Animated or not, it can be hard to watch (even more so in 3D, an option that some theaters are offering). To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (13)
Kids say (20)

Based on 13 parent reviews

Great animation, mediocre story adaptation

My parents made me watch this with them when i was 9, what's the story.

Based on the epic poem, Robert Zemeckis' motion-capture action adventure follows the heroic exploits of Beowulf ( Ray WinstoneAnthony Hopkins ) get rid of a murderous demon cursing his people. After disposing of the grotesque, pus-oozing Grendel ( Crispin Glover ) in a (literally) naked battle of hand-to-hand combat, Beowulf learns that the monster has an even more dangerous, shape-shifting mother ( Angelina Jolie ). Beowulf's hubris as a warrior is evident from his first appearance on screen. But every hero has an Achilles' heel, and Beowulf's is apparently a beautiful woman -- the perfectly cast Jolie -- who promises him wealth and power beyond imagination. Beowulf isn't the first warrior to give into her, and he probably won't be the last, either, since she's seemingly invincible when nude and dripping wet (her feet even take the form of stilettos).

Is It Any Good?

Once you get past BEOWULF's slightly creepy, ultra-realistic depiction of actors as animated figures, there's no denying that this film is entertaining. Improving on the revolutionary technology he used in The Polar Express , Zemeckis's film is an awe-inspiring achievement in animation. It's also in no way a film for kids, even if that's the first thought that many moviegoers might have when they see animated characters. The action is as bloody as anything Quentin Tarantino could conjure up.

Yet, for all of the movie's sweeping action and impressive technology, there's still something substantially more heart-quickening about flesh-and-blood action. Sure, then audiences wouldn't get to see Grendel squish as many heads and eat as many people (at least not in a PG-13 fashion), but there would've been an extra sense of excitement and not as many unintended laughs.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about whether it's confusing for filmmakers to make and market an animated movie that's so violent and clearly not targeted to kids? Also, does the fact that the animation is so realistic make the violence more upsetting? Why or why not? Why do people tend to react differently to live-action mayhem than they do to similar content that's animated?

Movie Details

In theaters : November 15, 2007
On DVD or streaming : March 15, 2022
Cast : Angelina Jolie , Anthony Hopkins , Ray Winstone
Director : Robert Zemeckis
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Paramount Pictures
Genre : Action/Adventure
Run time : 113 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : intense sequences of violence including disturbing images, some sexual material and nudity.
Last updated : April 18, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Beowulf Review

16 Nov 2007

114 minutes

When Robert Zemeckis announced, a few years back, that he was going to stop directing live-action and instead dedicate himself to performance/motion capture technology (where actors work on a bare soundstage, and are digitally painted over; it’s essentially rotoscoping’s flashy cousin), it was hard not to think that one of Hollywood’s finest was wasting his time and talent, fiddling with toys when he should be making ‘proper’ movies. It didn’t help that his first stab, 2004’s The Polar Express, was a saccharine affair, peopled by dead-eyed zombie-esque characters - even though it was sometimes visually ingenious. But with Beowulf, an astonishing, sumptuous 3D epic, it’s clear that Zemeckis, the great innovator, knew what he was doing all along. Bob, if you’re reading, we’re sorry we doubted you.

Beowulf is, simply, the finest example to date of the mo-capabilities of this new technique. A 2D version is on release, but we strongly suggest that you watch this wearing a pair of silly glasses. Previously, 3D movies were blurry, migraine-inducing affairs. Beowulf is a huge step forward, with a depth and clarity of vision that is deeply immersive, while Zemeckis largely resists the urge for gratuitous look-at-me compositions (only once, when a character flings coins at the camera, are we taken back to the gimmicky bad old days of Jaws 3D days) in favour of subtle choreography of action scenes that instantly embed you in the action.

The story of Beowulf - the oldest tale in the English language - inspired The Lord of the Rings, yet Zemeckis has fashioned a fantasy flick a world away from that scale. That’s not to say that there aren’t fantastic and hugely ambitious action scenes, the third act showdown between Beowulf and a vengeful dragon is the stuff of instant classics, starting with a truly clever reveal and then swooping, vertiginously, over treetops, through volleys of arrows, and into tumultuous surf. But, on the whole, Beowulf is a curiously intimate epic, largely confined to three locations, and focusing firmly on its title character.

Only mocap could turn the portly, 50-something Ray Winstone into a buff demigod and - in the third act, which takes place years later, and which is composed of muted colours and a near-tangible sense of loss, guilt and regret - a buff demigod with wrinkles and white hair. Zemeckis didn’t cast Winstone for his six-pack; he cast him for his gruff vulnerability. Although his Cockney accent initially seems incongruous as he bellows lines like ‘I will kill your mon-STAH!’ as if he were still hefting a sock filled with snooker balls, Winstone’s turn ultimately reveals a burgeoning humanity and poignant humility as Beowulf finally realises what it takes to be a true hero. It’s in this performance that you see why Zemeckis has flipped for mocap, it’s a technique that allows him to nourish the heart and soul of the audience, while overwhelming their eyes with indelible images.

Beowulf isn’t perfect. It’s at times too austere and po-faced, and while the likes of Hopkins as the tortured Hrothgar and Jolie, playing Grendel’s mother as a vengeful and excruciatingly sexy siren, lend Winstone admirable support, John Malkovich (as Beowulf’s human nemesis, Unferth) is so hammy that you begin to wonder why Zemeckis didn’t just capture someone else’s performance. But as a glimpse into the future of movies, Beowulf is just the beginning, and that’s incredibly exciting.

Movies | 24 06 2016

Movies | 17 12 2007

Movies | 11 11 2007

Movies | 07 11 2007

Movies | 09 10 2007

Movies | 30 07 2007

Movies | 26 07 2007

Movies | 25 07 2007

Screen Rant

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Your Rating

Robert Zemeckis

Paramount Pictures

Reviews (0)

Have You Watched It?

Be the first to leave your review.

Ray Winstone

Anthony hopkins, john malkovich, robin wright, brendan gleeson, crispin glover, seasons (4).

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2018), season 3 (2022), season 4 (2026), users reviews (125).

We want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the review below and remember to keep it respectful.

Your comment has not been saved

Latest Stories

Jeff bridges, bryan cranston & dave bautista to star in new beowulf movie with the henson company, 10 underrated viking movies, according to ranker, 15 best movies with accurate depictions of ancient history (including agora), 10 movies to watch if you love vikings, related titles.

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

BABY REINDEER

Become a Critical Movie Critic
Movie Review Archives

Movie Review: Beowulf (2007)

General Disdain
Movie Reviews
12 responses
--> November 17, 2007

Let me start this particular movie review off by saying I’m a big fan of animated movies. I’m an even bigger fan of films starring real, flesh and blood actors and actresses. I am not however, a proponent of the stop-action animation that mixes these two forms of movies together. Apparently, Robert Zemeckis is. One of his previous movies, The Polar Express , used this methodology to, what I felt was, a disastrous result. So although I had been anxiously awaiting Beowulf , I had some mighty concerns on how it was going to play out using this technique.

But I guess a few years of technological advancements (The Polar Express was released in 2004) can make all the difference. The animation in Beowulf looks fantastic. Most of the movement jerkiness that plagued the other movies has been remedied and this format allows for a more seamless and realistic mixture between wholly animated creatures and the digitized actors. It is still a bit creepy looking at real people overlaid with this computer generated imagery (CGI) but it lends itself well to the Dark Ages setting of the movie.

As for the story itself, I don’t think there is any question as to whether or not it would translate well to the big screen. It’s been done previously several times, just not faithfully to the 6th century poem from whence it came (this version takes a few liberties itself). It’s a story about ego and pride and how it can cause the ruin of even the most stalwart of heroes. The hero in this case is obviously, Beowulf (Ray Winstone). He’s arrived on the shores of King Hrothgar’s (Anthony Hopkins) and Queen Wealthow’s (Robin Wright Penn) kingdom with a plan to slay Grendel (voiced by Crispin Glover), a hideous creature that has been wreaking havoc to all on the countryside. But alas all is not what it seems. It turns out there is a nasty little secret surrounding the monster and the kingdom and Beowulf learns of it when he runs into Grendel’s mother (Angelina Jolie). She reveals the truth and makes him an offer only the humblest of men can resist. In doing so, she ensures her stranglehold on the land and on the men who inhabit it.

For an animated piece, I was particularly taken aback by the level of nudity offered up by Beowulf . Jolie, pours on the sexiness. She’s uses a serpentine seductress voice and strips down to her birthday suit. Watching her gracefully slip out of the water dripping gold from her breasts is quite the sight even though she is digitized and muted (I don’t recall seeing nipples). Our hero strips to the buff as well for one of the better fight scenes of the movie, although thankfully his package is creatively obscured (think Austin Powers) throughout.

And speaking of fights, they are well shot, violent and bloody. Each skirmish is captured from multiple angles and many scenes are slowed down to help catch the intensity of the moment. The final fight is grand in nature and in my opinion, is eclipsed only by the ambitious battle sequences in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

With his latest offering, I believe Zemeckis has hit himself another home run. He’s a great storyteller and deserves a great deal more credit than he has been given (take a look at the movies he’s directed and you’ll be impressed too). Even more impressive is he’s made me a believer in this new animation technique. Beowulf is a movie that deserves to be seen, so get your AD&D friends together for a night out of the basement and check it out.

I'm an old, miserable fart set in his ways. Some of the things that bring a smile to my face are (in no particular order): Teenage back acne, the rain on my face, long walks on the beach and redneck women named Francis. Oh yeah, I like to watch and criticize movies.

Movie Review: Ghosted (2023) Movie Review: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) Movie Review: Fantasy Island (2020) Movie Review: Snatched (2017) Movie Review: Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) Movie Review: ABCs of Death 2 (2014) Movie Review: Life After Beth (2014)

'Movie Review: Beowulf (2007)' have 12 comments

November 18, 2007 @ 12:54 am Hide Ip

I thought it was okay, not great. But I was tired when I was watching it. I think the plot was good, the CG was a bit outdated though. (I’m a graphic designer).

November 18, 2007 @ 1:33 am Sirius Lee

The CG in this movie brought to mind another favorite of mine, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. The special effects, coupled with the excellent script written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary and the star power assembled for Beowulf made it a truly admirable adaptation of the heroic epic. Definitely stands up to the Lord of the Rings trilogy in comparison.

November 18, 2007 @ 7:07 am sacha

“It is still a bit creepy looking at real people overlaid with this computer generated imagery”

Creepy is the best you could come up with? It’s downright fucked up looking, if you ask me.

November 20, 2007 @ 11:19 pm Gyutae Park

lol, funny comment sacha.

Anyway, I’ve heard good things about this movie and plan on checking it out.

November 24, 2007 @ 9:33 am FancyBaller

See this movie in 3D. It is a LOT better.

March 4, 2008 @ 11:13 am patrick

the animation was pretty good, though the characters’ movement reminded me a lot of Shrek. At least Beowulf gives a pseudo-education in ancient literature (never had to read the book as a child)

April 7, 2008 @ 2:36 pm Asia'h Epperson

I don’t really get how this movie was awarded a PG-13 certificate. It’s easy to put down Parental Guidance but exposing and expecting you to make a choice for your kids.

May 24, 2008 @ 10:54 am curtains girl

I cant figure it out why they decided to overlay graphics across everything. Its just to weird, its hard to get the right perspective. And the PG13? For what?

February 27, 2009 @ 8:19 pm Personalized Diet Man With Plan

Jolie did indeed look lovely in this film. She clearly sticks to a healthy diet! Brad Pitt is one lucky man.

March 19, 2009 @ 6:53 am HGH reviews

I liked this film. 8/10

January 12, 2010 @ 2:41 am Martha

I too love animated movies. I enjoyed Beowulf movie, its really great. The animation was well designed in this movie.

September 16, 2012 @ 2:32 pm Ryan

Why are all reviews for this movie so terribly written? As part of a college literature class, I need to find three reviews of a Beowulf adaption and take note of how the reviewers mentioned differences between the movie and the source material.

Yet all of said reviews seem more focused on whining about how poor little baby reviewers “saw too much blood boohoo” or “oh cool there were lots of boobs make sure to up-vote me on youtubes!!!”. I mean really now, why public your thoughts if they’re going to be this inane. The internet is cluttered enough as it is.

| Log in

Beowulf (United States, 2007)

The legend of Beowulf , a mythical hero whose exploits were recounted in an 8th century epic poem, has gained unprecedented popularity some 1250 years after it was first told. With the success of The Lord of the Rings , which (along with the Harry Potter phenomenon) opened Hollywood's eyes to the potentially huge audience for big, bold fantasy movies, the inevitability of productions like this became established. Still, it's surprising that Beowulf has attracted so much attention, with three films released in recent years and another one on the way. Of all the cinematic variations on the theme, however, none is more ambitious and over-the-top than this one, the brainchild of director Robert Zemeckis and his screenwriters, Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman.

Beowulf is designed first and foremost as a visual spectacle of the first degree. Judged in those terms, it is a resounding success. Whether viewed in 3-D (the preferred way to experience it) or in a conventional theater, this is the sort of movie where the viewer can sit back and become immersed in the splendor of a wild, savage, colorful world. The movie opens up vistas previously undreamed of, providing viewers with a land that rivals the imagination-fueled panoramas of Middle Earth, Hogwarts, and 300 's ancient Sparta. As eye candy goes, it's tough to find something more satisfying in theaters these days.

Beowulf is animated, but it employs what's commonly referred to as "photorealistic animation," which means that the characters in the movie look almost human. Their features resemble (to one degree or another) the actors who provide the voices. Zemeckis has used this technique before, in The Polar Express , but it still needs polishing. There's something a little eerie, bordering on unsettling, about seeing familiar faces rendered this way. There's no doubt that it gives the filmmakers unparalleled creative freedom - they can age characters without requiring makeup, allow modest performers to do "nude scenes" without taking off a stitch of clothing, and reduce the complexities of special effects that require the mixing of live-action and CGI. However, the human beings have a somewhat "waxy" look and their eyes, supposedly the windows to the soul, are more often dead than alive. An almost indefinable emotional element is thereby lost.

The story lacks neither scope nor complexity, relying on the ancient poem for its basic structure and embellishing shamelessly. Holes are plugged and new avenues explored. Attempts are made at character development, but they aren't entirely successful. While it's true that the Beowulf on screen during the final reel is not the same man we see at the beginning, this is not an individual we become emotionally attached to. Maybe it's because the visuals of Beowulf so resemble those of a top-flight computer game, but the film often feels more like something that's trying to bring an almost interactive experience to the big screen. Character identification - a key element of any complete motion picture experience - is limited in Beowulf .

The film opens in 6th century Denmark, in the mead hall of King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins). As the warriors feast and get drunk and the king and his young queen (Robin Wright Penn) look on appreciatively, the revelry becomes more exuberant. That's when tragedy strikes. The ugly troll-like monster Grendel (Crispin Glover) breaks into the hall and begins a slaughter. When he is done, many of Hrothgar's men are dead and the king sends out a summons for heroes to face Grendel. He offers half his treasury as a reward. Beowulf (Ray Winstone), a great warrior from Greatland (part of Sweden), arrives to battle Grendel. Driven more by a lust for glory than a lust for gold, Beowulf boasts of what he will do to the monster. He doesn't have to wait long for the encounter. During his first night enjoying Hrothgar's hospitality, Beowulf's slumber is interrupted by Grendel's arrival.

Beowulf purists, and I'm sure there are such people, may be chagrined at the idea of a computer animated version of the tale penned by a noted fantasy/graphic novelist (Gaiman) and the co-creator of Pulp Fiction (Avary). However, while the movie diverts from the original text, it provides an explanation for the licenses it takes. The movie purports to be about the "true story" of the legend who inspired the poem. In fact, a portion of the epic tale is recited at one point during the movie, with a brooding Beowulf reflecting how it offers a departure from what really happened. As in the story, Beowulf battles three monsters: Grendel, the troll's mother (Angelina Jolie), and a dragon. The outcomes of those struggles do not necessarily mirror what one might expect based on the legend.

The film's content straddles the ratings boundary between PG-13 and R; had it been live action it probably would have garnered the latter, but the animated nature of the nudity and gore have allowed the producers to procure the more teen-friendly classification. Beowulf restricts the violence so there are limits to the blood and viscera shown being spilt. The nudity is coy. Grendel's mother is shown full frontal but she has no visible nipples. Beowulf is naked when battling Grendel; unlike Viggo Mortensen's similar activity in Eastern Promises , he manages to keep his privates hidden from the cameras with a precision that Austen Powers would envy. This way, the movie gets away with fooling viewers into thinking they have seen more than is actually on screen.

Beowulf delivers everything one could reasonably expect from it. It's the kind of film that will appeal immensely to the 300 audience, although it's not as visceral or as grandiose as the earlier production. Spectacle and high-wattage action interweave in the movie's two most impressive fight scenes: Beowulf's battle with Grendel and the soaring, dipping, weaving sequence with the dragon near the end. Zemeckis makes sure the camera takes in everything with a flourish. There are plenty of showy tracking shots and one could argue that the concept of a static camera is unknown to the filmmakers. We don't watch the action from a safe distance; we are put into it.

The actors are all well-chosen. Ray Winstone is bombastic enough and, via the magic of animation, he is de-aged and given a physique that Arnold Schwarzenegger would envy. Anthony Hopkins adds a little prestige to the production; it's always nice to have an Oscar winner in the cast. Angelina Jolie gets to shed a few years and grow a tail. Rumor has it that, while she didn't film her scenes in the nude, the animators referred back to some of her earlier efforts in the name of verisimilitude. Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson, and John Malkovich are on hand in supporting roles.

While Beowulf stands up reasonably well in a traditional theater, this is a motion picture that deserves to be seen in a 3D digital environment (if you can stand wearing those annoying glasses for two hours). The film was obviously designed with 3D in mind, and is opening in more than 700 such venues. The movie is also being released in IMAX 3D, but I have to wonder if that experience might be overwhelming. At any case, regardless of the medium, this is an effectively brutal story of swords, sorcery, demons, and heroes, with an Oedipal hint or two thrown in for flavor.

Comments Add Comment

Water Horse, The (2007)
(There are no more better movies of this genre)
War Zone, The (1999)
Departed, The (2006)
Nil by Mouth (1969)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Breaking and Entering (2006)
Edge of Darkness (2010)
Shadowlands (1993)
Legends of the Fall (1995)
Remains of the Day, The (1993)
Meet Joe Black (1998)
Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)
Bobby (2006)
Message in a Bottle (1999)
State of Play (2009)
Hurlyburly (1998)
Nine Lives (2005)
Hounddog (2008)

Skip to main content
Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Book Reviews

Bro, this is not the 'beowulf' you think you know.

Jason Sheehan

Okay, sit still. I have a lot of things to say about Maria Dahvana Headley's new book, Beowulf , and I'm gonna try to say them all right now.

The first thing I need to tell you is that you have to read it now. No, I don't care if you've read Beowulf (the original) before. No, I don't care if you loved it/hated it, if it traumatized you, if it ruined and/or energized the English language for you, or ruined you for translations or whatever. I don't care what you think of when you think of Beowulf in any of its hundreds of other translations because this — this — version, Headley's version, is an entirely different thing. It is its own thing. A remarkable thing that probably shouldn't even exist, except that it does.

It is Beowulf, mostly. Beowulf, kinda . It is Beowulf down to the line numbers, and tells the story of Beowulf and Hrothgar and Grendel and Grendel's mom and the dragon and Wiglaf and everything.

Except that Headley has made it modern, not in form or style or content, but in temperament. In language. "Language is a living thing," she writes in her introduction. "And when it dies, it leaves bones. I dropped some fossils here, next to some newborns. I'm as interested in contemporary idiom and slang as I am in the archaic. There are other translations if you're looking for the courtly romance and knights."

Author Interviews

Beowulf in the suburbs 'the mere wife' is an epic retelling.

Truth: Beowulf would've been a vanity project if it wasn't written by Headley, and if Headley hadn't made a splash back in 2018 with The Mere Wife which was, in itself, a retelling of Beowulf set in 21st century suburbia and focusing (largely, but not exclusively ) on Grendel's mother. It would've been a thesis. An academic passion project read by no one but Beowulf nerds, loved or hated almost in a vacuum.

Instead, Headley's Beowulf is a big release — discussed, debated, talked about (as it should be) because it has everything: Love, sex, murder, magic, dungeons, dragons, giants, monsters. It spills blood by the bucket and gore by the gallon, makes heroes, slays villains and serves as an instruction manual for toxic masculinity, circa 700 AD.

Bro! Tell me we still know how to talk about kings! In the old days, everyone knew what men were: brave, bold, glory-bound. Only stories now, but I'll sound the Spear-Danes' song, hoarded for hungry times.

Yeah, she starts it all with "Bro."

I mean, that's ridiculous. And brilliant. And genius-level washed-up barstool-hero trolling all at the same time. "Bro" to take the place of Behold! and Lo! and What ho! because Behold! and Lo! and (especially) What ho! are all silly and stilted and stupid and do not — not a single one of them — have the social heft and emotional dwarfism and Bud Light swagger of "Bro," because "Bro" is the braggart's call, the throat-clearing of someone who wasn't, you know, there , but heard about it from some dude who totally was.

And THAT is the emotional level at which Beowulf works. Has always worked, really, but absolutely works in Headley's newest version. It is bragging. It is urban legend. It is that guy who once threw three touchdowns against State telling the story again — five beers deep on a Tuesday night — before hey-buddy-ing the bartender for his sixth.

That's what Beowulf always was. An epic poem made to be shouted over the howls of mead-drunk Spear-Danes as they toast the fallen and lovingly punch each other to sleep. It is thousand-year-old slam poetry, Hamilton for the Geats and Skyldings — full of blood and honor, inside jokes and historical digressions.

Headley takes liberties. She has reasons (and explains them in an extensive intro) and she has the right (having studied Beowulf as closely as anyone), and so she tinkers with focus and with the weight given to smaller characters (Unferth going toe-to-toe with Beowulf, trying to put the lie to the tales already told of him, becomes one of the poem's most memorable scenes — an epic mead-hall rap battle), and re-humanizes Grendel's mother into a grief-stricken mom demanding a blood-debt for her murdered son. Monstrous, yes. But no longer a monster.

Which is all fine. Which is all as it should be. Because there is no real Beowulf. Not anymore. It has been translated and re-translated. Academics have tussled with the language for ages. Even the original (not the original -original, but the original document upon which all other translations are based) was a group project. Two scribes, working through the 3,182 lines together, fighting each other in the margins, crossing out each other's words and replacing them.

So Headley's version (translation? transcription?) is just as real and twice as vital right now as any other. It sings straight through, the alliteration and temper of it invigorating (as it should be) and roaring (as it should be), like Beowulf, introducing himself to Hrothgar:

I'm the strongest and the boldest, and the bravest and the best. Yes: I mean — I may have bathed in the blood of beasts, netted five foul ogres at once, smashed my way into a troll den and come out swinging, gone skinny-dipping in a sleeping sea and made sashimi of some sea monsters. Anyone who f***s with the Geats? Bro, they have to f*** with me.

It rolls . It demands to be spoken, to be shouted and spat. To be taught as the thing that it is — the Marvel movie of its time.

I always liked Beowulf a little for what it was: history, foundational myth, epic poem of swords and dragons, source material for paintings on the sides of vans. But Maria Headley's Beowulf I love for exactly what it is: a psychotic song of gold and blood, stylish as hell, nasty and brutish and funny all at once, mad and bad and sad and alive now in a way that these words simply haven't been for more than a thousand years.

Jason Sheehan knows stuff about food, video games, books and Starblazers . He is currently the restaurant critic at Philadelphia magazine, but when no one is looking, he spends his time writing books about giant robots and ray guns. Tales From the Radiation Age is his latest book.

Share full article

Supported by

Movie Review

An Ancient Monster Rises Again in 'Beowulf & Grendel'

By Manohla Dargis

July 7, 2006

A more accurate title of this conceptually anemic if prettily mounted take on the Scandinavian epic might be "Beowulf & the Vixen." Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, a Canadian resident of Icelandic birth, this English-language version of the poem boils the classic text down into a generic action flick, complete with sweeping Icelandic vistas, clanging fights, galloping horses, a chiseled hero and a witchy woman who keeps her front door unlocked for both the good guy and the bad. Every so often a severed head lazily rolls across the frame, though alas not often enough.

Written at some point between the seventh and 10th centuries, the original "Beowulf" tells the story of a warrior who saves the Danes from the great monster Grendel and the creature's vengeful mother before succumbing, decades later, to a dragon. Grendel is dead about a quarter of the way into the narrative, but perhaps because he has the makings of such a juicy threat he remains alive for most of the film. Keeping the monster alive also dovetails with the action-film formula in which a hero (the dashing Gerard Butler as Beowulf) battles a villain (the imposing Ingvar Sigurdsson as Grendel) while simultaneously learning some inevitable life lessons on his way to the deadly climax.

The chief lesson imparted here by the screenwriter Andrew Rai Berzins is that this Grendel is not a mythic force with a direct line back to Cain, but akin to a persecuted, disappointingly human (if hairy) ethnic minority. Grendel kills not because he is a demon, the necessary embodiment of all that humans fear, but because when he was just a small fleck of blond fuzz, a Dane king (Stellan Skarsgard, beet-red and yowling) murdered his father. With all the mystery and meaning sucked from the story, the filmmakers do what filmmakers often do when faced with their own lack of imagination: they toss a little sex in with the violence, which here means that poor Sarah Polley, as the friendly neighborhood witch, has to bat her lashes at two opponents better suited to batting each other.

"Beowulf & Grendel" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Adult language, rolling heads and miscellaneous violence.

Beowulf & Grendel

Opens today in Manhattan

Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson; written by Andrew Rai Berzins, based on the Anglo-Saxon poem "Beowulf"; director of photography, Jan Kiesser; edited by Jeff Warren; music by Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson; production designer, Arni Pall Johannsson; produced by Paul Stephens, Eric Jordan, Mr. Gunnarsson, Jason Piette, Michael Lionello Cowan and Anna Maria Karlsdottir; released by Union Station and Truly Indie. At the Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 102 minutes.

WITH: Gerard Butler (Beowulf), Stellan Skarsgard (Hrothgar), Sarah Polley (Selma), Ingvar Sigurdsson (Grendel), Tony Curran (Hondscioh), Martin Delaney (Thorfinn), Rory McCann (Reca), Ronan Vibert (Thorkel) and Eddie Marsan (Brendan).

AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

Actor Felix Nobis at blacksmith's workshop

arts, culture and entertainment

Sparks fly as monster epic Beowulf makes a fiery return

Just like a blacksmith shaping hot metal, Felix Nobis has been hammering away at his rendering of Beowulf.

It’s been the project of a lifetime for the actor and academic, who first translated the Old English epic at the age of 28, and turned it into a one-man performance that toured the world.

Beowulf is regarded as the greatest poem in Old English and the beginning of the English literary canon, but there’s much contention about how old it really is – the only manuscript in existence dates to about 1000 AD.

On a smaller timescale, it’s been two decades since Nobis’ first sold-out Beowulf shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, and about five years since his last performance of the tale of heroes, monsters and dragons.

He’s recently completed re-translating some sections, making for an updated show which will be staged for the first time in a Melbourne blacksmith’s workshop – one of a few remaining in the city – as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

“We’re calling this production Beowulf: Reforged, because I’ve actually been tinkering with it, kind of like with a hammer, just pounding certain sections that I haven’t been quite happy with,” Nobis told AAP.

Will there be molten metal and sparks flying as Beowulf slays his monsters? Nobis can’t say just yet, but promises it’s the ideal spot for a story all about armour and swords and helmets emblazoned with dragons.

The epic is endlessly fascinating, he explains, because it’s a portal to the past: into the medieval world and the souls of medieval humans.

These days the well-known actor mostly works as an academic, who enjoys telling his Monash University students that he’s danced with Nicole Kidman, moved into Ramsay St and even narrated the Walking with Dinosaurs arena spectacular.

Nobis is approaching his upcoming performances less as an actor, and more as a storyteller, and says his relationship to the epic has changed over the years.

Beowulf has three sections, beginning with the young warrior battling the monster Grendel, followed by the revenge of Grendel’s mother.

In the third section set 50 years later, an older Beowulf – aware of his flaws and his legacy – faces his final contest with a dragon.

“Maybe I’m not the age yet when Beowulf fights the dragon, but I feel that reflection – it’s not just about physical strength and courage, but how one has lived one’s life,” said Nobis.

Nobis lived his life – his late 20s at least – immersed in the poem, and wrote a PhD thesis on it at University College Cork in Ireland.

“It was a bit like doing a three year cryptic crossword puzzle, just thinking about the words and the rhythms and the alliteration, and I came up with this translation,” he said.

At the time, the young Australian had some serious competition.

Nobis finished his translation in 2001, but no less than the Nobel prize winner Seamus Heaney had completed his own version of the epic the year before.

The celebrated poet turned up to one of Nobis’ live performances of Beowulf in Dublin, and they ended up drinking beer together.

Heaney even wrote a short blurb for the performance, describing it as enthralling – and Nobis credits these few sentences with getting him his first sold-out slot at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Since then, Nobis has performed his Beowulf about 150 times in various productions around the world.

A recent trip to Europe included a trip to the British Library to see the Beowulf manuscript, which survived over 1000 years before being found after a house fire in London.

“Seeing the the burnt edges of it, looking at the weight of it, and just thinking how miraculous it is that document survived… it’s thrilling – for me personally, it is the deepest connection to history that I ever feel,” said Nobis.

Beowulf: Reforged runs October 2 – 12 at Waterside Forge in Footscray as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

The Beowulf Manuscript: A Performed History, at the same venue, runs October 6 – 13.

Keep updated

Latest News

Clean up begins after wild weather leaves one dead

Triathlon gold completes Parker's Paralympic redemption

Flood evacuations, walkers stranded in wild weather

I want to make history: Costa bullish on Syd FC titles

Investigation after theme park handler mauled by tiger

Latest fact checks.

NZ lab-grown meat claim doesn't check out

Greenland glacier claim a case of 'cherry-picking'

Baseless bottled water conspiracy picked apart by experts

Imane Khelif's father did not call her transgender

Ominous warning of forced jabs is a dystopian fantasy

Aap factcheck.

Information you can trust
Written by trained, experienced journalists using authoritative sources
Accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)

AAP FactCheck provides factual, authoritative information Australians can rely on. Accredited with the Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network and adhering to the highest industry standards, our experienced team works to minimise the impact of misinformation.

Award-winning Australian Photography
Editorial or Commercial use
Subscriptions or one-off licences

Image buyers from all industries rely on AAP Photos. A digital treasure trove of content depicting Australian life, our fully-searchable database contains millions of images from around the country and around the world.

News delivered to your inbox
Trusted, reliable and accurate
Corporate and individual packages available

AAPNews delivers newswire content direct to the public. Choose from a number of subscription models to not only gain access to high-quality fact-based news on your desktop or mobile device, but also to show your support for Australia's only not-for-profit newswire.

The wire – up to the minute news at your fingertips
Feeds delivered to your CMS
Agenda – AAP’s planning and events tool

Get the news feed your organisation needs, with AAP offering extensive coverage of news, courts, politics, sports, finance and the arts. Take advantage of AAP’s partner content to get the international news that matters to your business, with news feeds delivered via multiple channels including API and FTP.

AAP is Australia's only independent newswire service, delivering stories and images around the country and around the world every day. By supporting AAP with your contribution you are backing a team of dedicated, objective journalists to continue this work. Thank you.

Donations over $2 are tax deductible.

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

I expected the film version of the epically tedious Old English poem to be a craptacular. Director Robert Zemeckis used the same motion-capture process in 2004’s The Polar Express and turned live actors into digital humans who looked invaded by body snatchers. Boy, have things changed. The eighth-century Beowulf, goosed into twenty-first-century life by a screenplay from sci-fi guru Neil Gaiman and Pulp Fiction ‘s Roger Avary, will have you jumping out of your skin and begging for more. Be sure to see it in 3-D. I can’t vouch for the flat version, but the 3-D Beowulf will debut on a record number of digital screens (1,000, and 90 in IMAX). Put on those plastic glasses and ride, baby, ride. I’ve never seen a 3-D movie pop with this kind of clarity and oomph. It’s outrageously entertaining. Terrific actors were hired to do the movements and the voices. Ray Winstone, so good in The Departed and, well, everything else, speaks the role of Beowulf like a Viking hero for the ages. The Adonis body (Winstone is fifty and flabby) comes courtesy of the digital department. Angelina Jolie didn’t need body tweaking to play hottie mom to the monster Grendel (Crispin Glover). That is, until she transforms into a literal dragon lady. Anthony Hopkins plays a king with a thing for Mom, whose penchant for nudity also rouses Beowulf. Credulity is stretched tighter than the film’s PG-13 rating. There are unintentional laughs, especially when Beowulf strips off his Village People skivvies to fight Grendel. It’s a balls-out scene, with impressionable audiences protected from testicle whiplash by carefully placed objects (no doubt a nod to the censored orgy in Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut ). But as humans battle monsters, Zemeckis springs so many pow 3-D surprises you’ll think Beowulf is your own private fun house.

Joey Chestnut Defeats Takeru Kobayashi in 'Unfinished Beef' Hot Dog-Eating Rematch

He Ate That
By Tomás Mier

Omar Apollo Reveals He Has a Sex Scene With Daniel Craig in 'Queer'

The Two of Us

Justin Baldoni Writes Letter to Domestic Violence Survivors Amid 'It Ends With Us' Drama

Sharing Support

'Chimp Crazy' Star Owes PETA $240K and Still Could Face Charges for Faking Ape's Death

By Cheyenne Roundtree

George Clooney Praises Biden for Ending Campaign: 'Most Selfless Thing a President Has Done'

'very proud'
By Daniel Kreps

Most Popular

Winona ryder gets frustrated by her younger co-stars who 'are not interested in movies': 'the first thing they say' is 'how long is it', richard gere jokes he had "no chemistry" with julia roberts in 'pretty woman', bath & body works’ labor day sale has *all* body care for $6 & jaw-dropping deals starting at $1, steve harvey talks "hater" many assume to be katt williams: "i'd knock your short a** out", you might also like, james darren, teen idol actor in ‘gidget,’ singer and director, dies at 88, tilda swinton on ‘complicity’ with pedro almodóvar, julianne moore and embracing ‘unguardedness’, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, pedro almodóvar’s ‘the room next door’ enlivens venice premiere audience, portland, bhathal family get wnba expansion franchise.

Wolfs Review: George Clooney & Brad Pitt Reunite for a Tired Crime Thriller Throwback

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

It’s no spoiler to report that George Clooney and Brad Pitt’s characters survive the ending of director Jon Watts’ crime thriller, Wolfs . After all, the writing of the sequel has already been announced, whether that’s just a crafty play by Apple TV+ for an additional news cycle or not. What may not survive this film is the very idea of expensive, dependable A-list stars half-winking their way through bright lights and big cities for a blithely diverting seriocomic confection. Indeed, Wolfs , in which Clooney and Pitt play professional fixers forced to work together when they’re hired to cover up the same crime, feels like a eulogy for sophisticated capers like the Oceans series that helped make them global superstars.

This is not to say Wolfs isn’t a moderately entertaining noir-inflected genre exercise. Theodore Shapiro’s score is silky smooth, the New York City locations are darkly glamorous, and Clooney and Pitt’s all-black wardrobe would be the envy of Cary Grant. But there’s a nagging sense that Clooney and Pitt are exchanging insults, Advils, and side glances in a losing cause. For a duo mostly inoculated from the ravages of declining stardom, the post-celebrity age might be finally upon them. That's what it feels like here, as the iconic pair, on-screen together for the first time since 2008’s Burn After Reading , is stranded performing their song and dance for an audience that has mostly moved on.

Clooney and Pitt are Well-Dressed and All Business

Wolfs is an action-thriller film written and directed by Jon Watts, and sees the on-screen reunion of Brad Pitt and George Clooney after nearly fifteen years. The film centers on two fixers who are brought together when they're both hired for the same job.

Seeing Clooney and Pitt is never completely unwelcome
Austin Abrams gives a star making performance
This very expensive production looks great
Clooney and Pitt's schtick feels tired
Not as funny as it thinks it is
A perfunctory entry in a genre with much better films

Watts has not directed a film without the word "Spider-Man" in the title since 2015’s indie thriller, Cop Car , and those hoping he’d force Clooney and Pitt to get down and dirty for a low-budget lark will be disappointed. Watts could bankroll approximately 14 Cop Car sequels with the $70 million or so reportedly shoveled at Clooney and Pitt alone. This is a luxe production all the way , starting with the appearance of Clooney as an unnamed character referred to in press notes as Pam's Man but on Wikipedia as Jack (we're going with Jack for clarity and simplicity).

Jack is a fixer first seen entering a $10,000 a night hotel room occupied by New York’s terrified District Attorney (Amy Ryan) and a presumably dead man in his underwear (Austin Abrams). What happened to him is not Jack’s concern. Jack’s job is to surreptitiously remove him from the hotel with the discretion inherent in his secretive, lone wolf profession where flattery takes the form of compliments like “there’s only one man in the city who can do what you do."

George Clooney and Joel Edgerton - The Boys in the Boat Interview

Exclusive: George Clooney and Joel Edgerton on Their Inspiring Film The Boys in the Boat

Director George Clooney and Joel Edgerton deliver the uplifting true story of poverty-stricken boys who won Olympic gold in 1936.

In playing an all-business, extralegal character, Clooney turns off the charm and self-effacing humor for a vibe of near-constant annoyance he can’t fully sell, mostly because he’s too inherently charming and self-effacing. That leaves it to Pitt to approach the material with the same level of engaged nonchalance we do and he delivers . A performer of endlessly hilarious tics and barely perceptible mannerisms, Pitt brings an appropriately dull sparkle to his character, also unnamed but referred to in the press notes as Margaret’s Man and on Wikipedia as Nick (we're going with Nick). With Jack preparing to deftly wrap up the body and tie it to a luggage cart, Nick suddenly enters the hotel room claiming he’s also been called to “take care of your problem.”

This opening scene in the hotel room goes on for 30 minutes, which is an admirable little gamble. But Watts, who also wrote the quippy, calculated script, is hardly Aaron Sorkin or David Mamet, and the verbal one-upmanship and A-type zingers meant to establish Nick and Jack’s frosty dynamic wears out its welcome . Luckily for us, when Nick sees a backpack full of uncut heroin in the corner, the duo begin their deep dive into the increasingly dangerous bowels of New York.

The Best Crime Thrillers of the 2020s (So Far)

The 2020s have provided us with compelling (and even comical) crime thrillers.

Austin Abrams Kicks the Film into Gear

So at heart, Wolfs is a blank check version of one-night-only thrillers like Martin Scorsese’s After Hours and Michael Mann’s Collateral but without the free-for-all energy of the former or the edgy nocturnal frisson of the latter. Whatever freshness Wolfs has to offer comes from Abrams ( The Walking Dead ), who springs the movie to life when his character, referred to as The Kid, suddenly springs to life in the trunk of Jack’s car.

Looking like comedian Demetri Martin’s younger brother, Abrams brings a desperate, fidgety energy to the part that the film sorely needs . The unreliable Kid, who repeatedly reminds everyone that he’s not a male prostitute, is Jack and Nick’s only source of information and their key to surviving the night.

Ocean's Eleven George Clooney and Brad Pitt

8 Underrated George Clooney Movies That Deserve More Credit

Clooney is now defined by a reputation of class that is a result of his soft, gentle charisma, but his success in mainstream film wasn't guaranteed.

Keeping him alive long enough to trace the heroin back to its source means a visit to an underground doctor (Poorna Jagannathan) operating from the back of a Chinatown restaurant and a (too long) foot chase across Manhattan. Abrams also provides the film’s best moment, a showstopping monologue where The Kid spills his heart out regarding how he acquired the heroin and wound up in bed with the District Attorney.

Sorry, George and Brad, the Aughts are Over

George Clooney & Brad Pitt in the Ocean's franchise.

It's no coincidence that Wolfs ' brightest moments come not from its two main selling points but from someone a fraction of their age and with a fraction of their fame. The time when two long-beloved superstars dancing awkwardly at a Croatian wedding was considered the height of fish-out-of-water comedy has faded into the rear view. As is the time when the height of comedic irony was a super-serious black ops-style killer listening to Sade’s slinky hits "No Ordinary Love" and "Smooth Operator" in his car.

Back when stars other than Tom Cruise opened films, directors like Steven Soderbergh made star-studded big-money productions that felt light on their feet. In fact, Soderbergh directed Clooney and Pitt together in three of them. Wolfs , however, wants us to feel the weight of its star power and the king’s ransom spent on its creation . But Nick and Jack’s simultaneous yawn towards the end of the film doesn’t just signify that they’ve gone from wary rivals to simpatico friends. It signifies a pop cultural fatigue and disinterest in the sinking ship of boomer celebrity culture .

Wolfs will debut in select theaters September 20, 2024 before its global premiere on Apple TV+ September 27, 2024. You can watch it then through the link below:

Watch Wolfs

Movie and TV Reviews

George Clooney

Beowulf (1999)

User Reviews
Lambert gets to do his sword-swinging tricks over again like he did in Highlander.
The sets and costumes are amazingly cool (if you're a 12-year-old).
Rhona Mitra has a voluptuous pair of knockers which she likes to show off through-out the whole movie.
...er, Christopher Lambert has white hair...
Every time they start fighting, this over-the-top raving techno-soundtrack gets going. So why are these medieval slayer-dudes fighting while they should be dancing.
They don't have electricity in this castle but they do have speakers installed which seem to work fine. So where's the amplifier? I guess they borrowed it from the techno-dj who delivered the soundtrack.
Watch it for the climax in the end which features an outrageous demonoïd CGI creature coming straight out of any Playstation 2 survival-horror game.

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews

User Ratings
External Reviews
Metacritic Reviews
Full Cast and Crew
Release Dates
Official Sites
Company Credits
Filming & Production
Technical Specs
Plot Summary
Plot Keywords
Parents Guide

Did You Know?

Crazy Credits
Alternate Versions
Connections
Soundtracks

Photo & Video

Photo Gallery
Trailers and Videos

Wolfs Review: Brad Pitt And George Clooney Reunite For A Stylish, Serviceable Scorsese Riff

"It's gonna be a long night," Brad Pitt's unnamed "cleaner" wearily observes when things officially go from bad to worse early on in "Wolfs." It's only the first of the film's many winking, self-reverential story beats, throwing back to one of the great cinematic rites of passage for any filmmaker looking to make their own mark on crime thrillers. John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13," Sidney Lumet's "Dog Day Afternoon," and especially Martin Scorsese's "After Hours" perfected the art of throwing every possible obstacle they could think of at their heroes, putting them through the wringer over the course of a single endless day or night. "Wolfs" is writer/director Jon Watts' almost revisionist response to those classics of decades past, with the added bonus of reuniting movie stars Pitt and George Clooney for the first time since the "Ocean's" trilogy and "Burn After Reading." (No, we're not counting their recent voice cameos in "If," but thanks for playing.)

This movie, like so many of its predecessors, begins with a night gone horribly wrong. The opening establishing shot of the New York City skyline is literally shattered by the sound of broken glass, the sickening thud of a body hitting the floor, and a woman screaming in bloody terror. Here we meet the brilliantly-cast Amy Ryan as Margaret, a public figure in a career that's too ironic to spoil here, and her young lover (a surprisingly scene-stealing Austin Abrams) who inadvertently kicks off all the chaos with his gruesome accident. Desperate to avoid a scandal, she breaks the metaphorical glass in case of emergency and calls a number bringing George Clooney's unnamed fixer to her hotel doorstep. Grizzled and gruff as only a lifelong professional could be, it's easy to imagine a plot where he single handedly cleans up this mess with all the ruthless efficiency of Michael Clayton himself. Watts certainly plays with the notion that "Wolfs" could very well act as a spiritual "sequel" to that 2007 gem , but he clearly has much more interesting ideas in mind.

Another unexpected knock at the door brings Pitt's younger and more polished rival onto the scene, at which point this straightforward thriller turns into a convoluted caper and a genuine lark. Egos clash to hilarious results, mistakes are made in the heat of the moment, and absurd twists and turns lurk around every street corner as they struggle to dispose of this inconvenient body and deal with further complications popping up every step of the way. With a premise about two lone wolves in the exact same line of work who are forced to team up and make it to sunrise in the city that never sleeps, it's no wonder this script was apparently such a hot commodity . Going in, the only question revolved around whether the final product could actually live up to its sky-high potential. The verdict? Frequently funny and consistently stylish, "Wolfs" is a solid and serviceable enough addition to the genre — though one that's perhaps a bit too indebted to the influence of Scorsese.

Wolfs is all about the importance of movie stars and intuitive directors

It's amazing what happens when promising artists are allowed to thrive where they work best. Here, Jon Watts is free to define "Wolfs" exactly as he pleases, taking cinema's most precious dwindling resource and constructing an entire story about the importance of movie stars (and, by extension, the intuitive filmmakers directing them). Clooney and Pitt both receive intros that befit their respective statuses, setting the tone for a movie that all but turns to the camera and asks whether two of our biggest on-screen icons can even stomach sharing the screen together (or, for that matter, first billing rights in the credits) for the span of its breezy 108-minute runtime. In the process, this comedic drama pokes all sorts of self-deprecating fun at our prickly protagonists. As they scratch and claw for every inch of screen time, a simmering dynamic that even extends to dialogue how they're framed and blocked in every scene, both aging characters take moments to recover as they tweak their backs, get thoroughly winded during foot chases, and even sheepishly fetch their reading glasses.

Removed from the auspices of the Marvel machine and his thuddingly workmanlike "Spider-Man" trilogy, Watts flaunts a sense of acerbic wit and personality we haven't seen since his promising 2015 debut "Cop Car." On the surface, it was an interesting choice on Marvel's part to tap an up-and-coming talent for their biggest reboot, an effort that would go on to dominate the next three movies and six years of his career. But could even the biggest fans tell where the director's input ended and the studio notes began? In "Wolfs," that's an issue thankfully sidestepped completely. This is a case where Watts is given enough leash to do his own thing, flawlessly executing one amusing, laugh-out-loud sight gag after another ... almost as if he were landing a punchline to a joke we didn't even realize he was telling. And all the while, the established chemistry between his two A-listers gives us no shortage of gut-busting moments, orchestrating their battle of egos as it devolves into dick-measuring contests and even playground bickering.

Threading this particular tonal needle requires a strong hand at the wheel to navigate these big swings, which only reaches new heights when a major plot twist at the end of the first act (executed, as always, through a big laugh moment) completely and irrevocably changes the course of the narrative. Watts is (mostly) up to the task, muddling through some occasionally dry and perfunctory directing — a major shootout falls oddly flat, though an earlier car chase through Chinatown provides a much-needed hit of adrenaline — but making up for it with a keen sense of lighting and camera movement. Cinematographer Larkin Seiple and production designer Jade Healy go above and beyond the call of duty here, transforming nighttime streets, indoor malls, seedy back alleys, and other New York City landmarks into a neon-drenched, shadow-laden, snow-filled labyrinth.

Wolfs aims high, but settles for good enough

Yet for as entertaining as "Wolfs" is, carried in no small part by Pitt and Clooney's command performances, viewers may come away slightly underwhelmed. Not all of that is the fault of Watts' actual film, mind you. Disappointingly, we return to an ongoing trend of streaming services handing out blank checks (and, make no mistake, Apple TV+ paid for this movie ) that traditional studios have increasingly shied away from committing to. That goes double for movies made with adult audiences in mind, particularly one relying on little more than a nifty premise and a high dosage of star power to put butts in seats ... or, I suppose in this case, eyeballs in front of digital screens. Once upon a time, a sleek thriller like this could've conceivably aimed for $100 worldwide at the box office while offering some much-needed counterprograming to any leftover blockbuster titles. Instead, "Wolfs" saw its plans for a wide release scuttled unceremoniously , forcing it to settle for a token theatrical run before hitting our digital airwaves — a tone-deaf business decision that transcends any ol' film-snobbery nitpicks and genuinely robs the picture of its big-screen appeal. Critics may have had the luxury of catching this in a theater, as will the few lucky enough to see it during its one-week release in limited theaters, but that hardly feels like a deserving fate.

If that tension between creativity and commerce makes up the noise surrounding the film, it's only fair to note how much it outweighs the stakes (or lack thereof) present within. "Wolfs" is just a little too slick and oily to make its drama feel truly dangerous, or its numerous conflicts to feel like anything more than temporary setbacks. If there's any central storytelling tension, it's a germ of an idea introduced late in the movie about whether the otherwise ruthless fixers have what it takes to complete the job, regardless of potential innocents dying in the process. Watts finds a clever enough resolution to this arc, even if it sometimes feels like he's working his way backwards from a preordained conclusion. In a reminder of how much more self-assured this feels compared to his blockbuster efforts, however, a late scene all but lampoons how complicated and off-the-rails this otherwise tight thriller eventually gets ... and, in one delightful highlight, even puts an abrupt twist on a famous scene from "Collateral."

Devilish, original, and mercifully brisk, "Wolfs" never overstays its welcome. As a throwback that might be (unfairly) tasked with saving cinema, this can't help but fall short of its lofty ambitions and its various odes to classics gone by. But as a thoroughly modern tweak on the crime thrillers that turned many of us into cinephiles in the first place, this is one long day's journey into night worth seeing through to the end.

/Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

"Wolfs" will receive a limited theatrical run starting September 20, 2024 before streaming exclusively on Apple TV+ September 27, 2024.

‘Wolfs’ Review: George Clooney and Brad Pitt Are Rival Fixers in a Winning Action Comedy Spiked With Movie-Star Chemistry

The two actors go at each other in Jon Watts's likable throwaway caper, which plays like an exercise in movie-star nostalgia.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

‘The Room Next Door’ Review: Tilda Swinton Gives a Monumental Performance as a Woman Confronting Death in Pedro Almodóvar’s First English-Language Drama 7 hours ago
‘Wolfs’ Review: George Clooney and Brad Pitt Are Rival Fixers in a Winning Action Comedy Spiked With Movie-Star Chemistry 1 day ago
‘The Brutalist’ Review: Director Brady Corbet Breaks Through in His Third Feature, an Engrossing Epic Starring Adrien Brody as a Visionary Architect 1 day ago

WOLFS, from left: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, 2024. ph: Scott Garfield /© Sony Pictures Releasing /Courtesy Everett Collection

The movie-stars-are-over era has been overstated. If audiences are now drawn to movies not for stars but for franchise concepts, I’m not sure how to fit the career of Timothée Chalamet into that; Emma Stone and Zendaya would also like a word. That said, when you watch George Clooney and Brad Pitt in “ Wolfs ,” a clever, airy, winningly light-fingered and debonair action comedy about two rival fixers who have to learn to work together, you’d be forgiven for describing the sensation you feel as movie-star nostalgia.

Can Today’s Tech Touchstones Solve Hollywood’s Loneliness Epidemic?

James Spader Sets Marvel Return as Ultron in 'Vision' Series

Popular on variety.

“Wolfs” opens in a deluxe penthouse hotel suite in New York, where Margaret (Amy Ryan), a district attorney, is in a distraught panic. There’s a young man, seemingly dead, lying next to the bed in his underwear, with smashed glass all around him. What happened? She picked him up in the hotel bar, they came to the room, and he was jumping up and down on the bed when he accidentally fell and smashed through a glass table. File it under “shit happens.” To avoid a big mess, Margaret calls a number she has had in her contacts but has never used. It’s the number of a fixer, played by Clooney, who immediately starts telling her what to do on the phone, exuding the dry authority of … Michael Clayton.

Neither of the two men is ever named. Clooney’s character, referred to in the credits simply as “Margaret’s man,” is a figure of Swiss-watch precision and time-tested methods, all driven by the conviction that no one else can do what he does. But the arrival of Pitt, known only as “Pam’s man,” throws a monkey wrench into that. Clooney looks at Pitt as if he were a pretender, a mere amateur in the fixer game, but, in fact, both are experts at … well, fixing.

The spark plug of “Wolfs,” as written and directed by Jon Watts (who directed all three of the Tom Holland “Spider-Man” films), is the nonstop stream of hostility and one-upmanship that passes between Clooney and Pitt like something out of an acid screwball comedy. It’s not just that the two characters don’t like each other. Each is invested in his own superiority — the special finesse of his skills. And so their back-and-forth isn’t just about the putdowns. It’s a kind of lethal contest to see who has the most fixer zen.

Clooney and Pitt had this kind of chemistry before, in “Ocean’s Eleven,” where it was in the very detachment of their banter that they found a bond. In “Wolfs,” Clooney and Pitt revel in the crack timing, in the I-truly-do-not-like-you obscene banter, that makes even the most casual insult take wing. As the movie goes on, these two will learn to work together, but the film’s anti-grammatical title is saying that each one is a lone wolf. They have no desire to mesh like wolves . The joke, of course, is that from their stylish leather jackets to their secret Mr. Big to their reading glasses, they’re kind of the same man.

Clooney’s character knows a trick or two about how to hoist a body onto a hotel cart, and for a while, as the two take the elevator down to the parking garage, where they stow the body in the trunk of Clooney’s car, the movie is all gambits and procedure, sort of like an improvised “Ocean’s Duet.” But it pivots and turns into a different sort of movie (I feel compelled to issue a spoiler alert, though this happens fairly early on) after the corpse…refuses to lie still.

“Wolfs” turns into one of those buddy movies with a flaked-out wild card of a third wheel. Austin Abrams, from “Euphoria” and “The Walking Dead,” plays the aforementioned dude in his underwear, known only as “kid.” He turns out to be a likably jabbering space case, like Timothée Chalamet infused with the spirit of the young Sam Rockwell. (At one point he has to wear a dress as a shirt, which is very Chalamet.) The key complication is that the kid was carrying four bricks of heroin in his backpack worth $250,000. How did he get them? He was doing a friend a favor, but the bottom line is that the fixers need to find out where those drug parcels came from and return them.

Coming out of the first showing of “Wolfs” at the Venice Film Festival, a friend asked me if I tend to take a movie like this one, which will probably be streamed on Apple much more than it will be seen in movie theaters, and rate it on a made-for-streaming curve. The answer is no, though it’s a good question, and you certainly could rate it both ways. Next to the vast majority of made-for-streaming fodder, “Wolfs” looks the essence of a classy, witty, stylish entertainment. It looks downright old-fashioned (in a good way). But as a movie , which will indeed play in theaters, it is, in the end, a well-made throwaway, no more and no less. The buddy movie is always, on some level, a platonic love story, but in this case by the time Clooney and Pitt locate their bond, they’ve come close to erasing the premise of the movie: that the key to a fixer is that he can’t afford to have a heart. These two never lose their cool, but by the end you feel like they’ve put on sheep’s clothing.

Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (Out of competition), Sept. 1, 2024. MPA rating: R. Running time: 108 MIN.

Production: A Columbia Pictures, Apple release of an Apple Original Films, Plan B, Freshman Year, Smokehouse Pictures production. Producers: Jon Watts, Dianne McGunigle, Grant Heslov, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner. Executive producer: Michael Beugg.
Crew: Director, screenplay: Jon Watts. Camera: Larkin Seiple. Editor: Andrew Weisblum. Music: Theodore Shapiro.
With: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, Pooma Jagannathan, Richard Kind, Zlatko Burić.

More from Variety

Kevin Costner’s ‘Horizon’ Sets Max Release Date After Box Office Flop

Kim Kardashian, Lisa Vanderpump, and Jeff Probst with a downward line graph

Reality TV Survived the ’07 Writers Strike. Why Is It Hurting in 2024?

Fubo’s Battle With Venu Sports Is a Stopgap Measure

More from our brands, charli xcx says ‘goodbye forever’ to her legendary ‘brat’ summer.

Luxury Automakers Are Racing to Build Design-Forward Branded Residences. Here’s Why.

Portland, Bhathal Family Get WNBA Expansion Franchise

The Best Loofahs and Body Scrubbers, According to Dermatologists

NFL 2024: How to Watch Kansas City Chiefs Games Online

Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission.

Controversial Point: George Clooney and Brad Pitt Are Good Together

George Clooney and Brad Pitt made for exuberant entertainment in the 2000s, and then gave us nothing together for the next 16 years. For this, I mostly blame Clooney, who’s spent the better part of that period on the run from his own effortless movie stardom toward a career directing earnest, unexciting films. Clooney is so adept at turning on the charm that he seems lightly embarrassed by the whole deal, as if it’s all too easy, but when you watch something like Wolfs you appreciate how rare his charisma is. Wolfs , which comes from Spider-Man: No Way Home ’s Jon Watts, isn’t exceptional as comedies go — certainly nowhere near as cutting as the Coen brothers’ Burn After Reading or as effervescent as the Ocean’s trilogy (may it continue looping on cable forever). But it is an unabashed platform for basking in the rapport of its two leading men, who are in familiar and fine form as a pair of hypercompetent cleaners, and that makes it a consistently enjoyable watch even when the pacing gets a little slack.

The characters that Clooney and Pitt play in Wolfs aren’t named. Clooney’s credited as “Margaret’s Man” and Pitt as “Pam’s Man” in a reference to the women who hire each of them, but neither of them actually belong to anyone. They operate alone, freelance fixers for hire who show up to solve problems for the powerful and connected. On the night in question, that means a District Attorney, Margaret (Amy Ryan), who finds herself in a ruinous situation with the body of a twentysomething in a $10,000 hotel suite, and Pam (Frances McDormand, another Burn After Reading alum, in an off-screen role), who owns that hotel. When the two men find themselves double booked to cover up what Margaret swears was an accidental death, they begrudgingly try to work together. When the body turns out to be accompanied by a backpack full of heroin, and also turns out to belong to a hapless kid (Austin Abrams) who isn’t actually dead after all, the unhappy pair of professionals realize they’re in for a long night in a snowy New York City around the holidays.

The film’s title is a reference to lone wolves, but it also brings to mind Winston Wolfe (Harvey Keitel), the no-nonsense cleaner in Pulp Fiction . Neither of the guys in Wolfs come close to summoning Winston’s tuxedoed zest for life, though. They live for their jobs, taking such professional pride in their work that each resents the other seeing the little tricks of the trade they’ve perfected over the years. There isn’t as much pop culture lore built up about the idea of fixers as there is about, say, assassins, and aside from a mentioned expectation of solitary monasticism, the film doesn’t have quite enough to riff on to sustain itself in its last act, when we’re expected to believe that the merest hint that the two men are acquainted in some way would be cause for one of their former clients to kill them both. But the bickering the pair do at the beginning, when they meet for the first time in that blood-soaked hotel room and soon find themselves arguing over body disposal technique, their division of labor, and who has the best backroom physician — that’s so very good.

Watts made the calling card indies Clown (2014) and Cop Car (2015) before getting scooped up by Marvel to direct Sony’s three Tom Holland Spider-Man movies. That those were some of the most successful blockbusters of the past decade says nothing about Watts’ filmmaking sensibility beyond his ability to shepherd movies through a complicated corporate mindfield. Wolfs doesn’t offer much more on that front, either, aside from the fact that Watts likes a lot of the right stuff, like, as cited in his own director’s statement, David Mamet, and Buster Keaton, who inspired a nice bit of slow-motion slapstick involving an unintended car collision in the middle of a chase. It’s a sign of how franchise-warped Hollywood has gotten that this action comedy starring two of the industry’s biggest stars is framed as a “one for me” project, but it doesn’t actually feel like a release of all the creative impulses Watts had to tamp down over years in the superhero trenches.

It feels adequate, never propulsive or clever enough, but exactly the kind of material that Clooney and Pitt know how to sell with their expert timing, their wordless exchanges of eloquent eye contact as the action heats up, and the expected but inarguable pleasure that comes from their characters starting to like and respect one another over the course of the slushy evening. They’re playing rival coworkers who’ve been secretly dying to talk shop with someone else in their field for years, and they slowly realize that they’ve finally been given that opportunity in between stops involving a Chinatown doctor, Albanian gangsters, and a Croatian mob wedding. Clooney and Pitt played heist besties in the Ocean’s movies, and they slip into some of those rhythms again, Pitt the wise-ass who likes to offer sardonic commentary from the sidelines, Clooney the would-be mastermind trying to game out the bigger picture. It’s good to see them together, especially as recurring bits about reading glasses and sore backs provide the reminder that neither is as spry as they used to be. We shouldn’t have to wait another 16 years.

Editor’s Picks

Most Popular

What is your email.

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create your free account.

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

Lower case letters (a-z)
Upper case letters (A-Z)
Numbers (0-9)
Special Characters (!@#$%^&*)

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York , which you can opt out of anytime.

Action/Adventure
Children's/Family
Documentary/Reality
Amazon Prime Video

More From Decider

Joey Chestnut Addresses Longstanding Takeru Kobayashi Rivalry Ahead Of...

New Shows & Movies To Watch This Weekend: 'The Deliverance' on Netflix...

11 Best New Movies on Netflix: September 2024's Freshest Films to Watch

'Unfinished Beef': Netflix Reveals Hosts For Labor Day Hot Dog Showdown...

11 Best New Shows on Netflix: September 2024's Top Upcoming Series to Watch

Andy Cohen Asks Brandi Glanville To Watch Him And Kate Chastain Have Sex...

Peacock Has Removed Raygun and the Entire Olympics Breaking Competition...

'WWHL': Bowen Yang Says One Terrible 'SNL' Host Once Made "Multiple Cast...

‘Wolfs’ Venice Film Festival Review: It’s the George Clooney/Brad Pitt Show … And Little Else

Where to stream:.

George Clooney

Ranking the Best Olympics Movies To Get You Pumped for Paris 2024

‘jimmy kimmel live’: kumail nanjiani says trump “s*** the bed” with his movie career after he criticized george clooney, “mad” joy behar, sunny hostin call out george clooney for turning on biden: “aired this dirty laundry to the world”, alyssa farah griffin accuses the biden administration of “gaslighting” americans on ‘the view’ .

Pick any scene featuring George Clooney and Brad Pitt in Steven Soderbergh’s Oceans trilogy, and the power of two stars colliding may prove blinding. These two icons since the ‘90s possess such ease with themselves in front of a camera that their comfort naturally transfers to a contemporary. It’s not that Clooney and Pitt can finish each other’s sentences. It’s that one doesn’t even have to finish the other’s thought ; they just know because they’re locked in on the same frequency.

Jon Watts’ Apple TV+ original film Wolfs , the duo’s first reteaming since the beloved heist series, attempts to cash in on their effortless rapport. This action-comedy shamelessly casts their personas and does not even try to hide it. As dueling “cleaners” for high-profile individuals looking to avoid detection of criminal behavior, their characters don’t even have full names .

A District Attorney candidate, Margaret (Amy Ryan), looks to contract Clooney’s services when a young man (Austin Abrams) suffers an accident in her penthouse room. A few minutes after he shows up, Pitt enters to help contain the damage in the hotel for the owner Pam (voice of Frances McDormand). The credits refer to them, respectively, as “Margaret’s Man” and “Pam’s Man.” But names aren’t necessary in this transactional world – both among the characters in the film and the audience watching it. They might as well refer to each other as “George” and “Brad” because those are the associations the film trades on.

The two rivals have a history to which the script vaguely alludes. Watts parses out small morsels about their competition within the industry, which could be either banal banter to fill space or potential spinoff-generating loglines. But he could honestly just cut the banter and lean into their established history: the Oceans series and their associated press tours.

Wolfs has something of a plot, too, as it follows a single night on the job where this team of rivals must be both competitors and collaborators to preserve the reputations of their bosses. The two men dodge bullets and barbs alike in a whirlwind tour through New York’s criminal underbelly as complications arise from their seemingly simple fix. It’s slickly shot by cinematographer Larkin Seiple (best known for his work on Best Picture-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once ) but generically conceived by Watts. Any hopes of him returning to the clever genre play of his delightful directorial debut Cop Car appears squelched by his time directing three Spider-Man films within the Marvel machine.

But, in all honesty, the real sustaining tension proves seeing how long the film can coast on just being “George Clooney and Brad Pitt: The Reunion.” Watts gets far more mileage than expected out of a concept that could just as easily function in the context of a Saturday Night Live sketch (where applause greeting the two stars would take up half the duration of the scene). But he doesn’t understand what Soderbergh did: stardom is but an artificial sweetener. This sugar rush of watching two familiar faces interacting can only sustain a work so long in the absence of style or substance.

Wolfs provides good fun for a while, especially given the dearth of vintage George Clooney leading man roles of late. (Please, someone lure him out of the director’s chair!) Watts knows how to play the hits and lean into their well-established screen figures. Clooney gets to do his debonair, silver-tongued schtick while Pitt rattles off his soft-spoken, sardonic observations with aplomb.

It’s exactly in line with expectations, for better but mostly worse. There are some gags about the two men’s age – pulling out readers, needing to pop an Advil, cracking backs, yawning – yet little in the way of reflecting what all that time watching them means. Unlike Top Gun Maverick , which took Tom Cruise’s advancing age as a subject, Wolfs just wants to make it 2001 again with these two giants. That’s fine when the film can subsist solely by feeding off their energy, although it’s not enough to survive a third act that forces unnecessary crime genre twists and turns.

Sony Pictures will release Wolfs in theaters for a one-week engagement on September 20 before Apple TV+ premieres it for streaming on September 27.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.

Wolfs (2024)

Is 'Power Book II: Ghost' On Starz Tonight? Season 4, Episode 6 Premiere Date

Does Jenn Tran End Up With Anyone On 'The Bachelorette'?

'The Deliverance' True Story: What to Know About Latoya Ammons and the 200 Demons House

Gary Coleman's Friends "Appalled" By Ex-Wife's 911 Call For His Fatal Fall in 'Gary' Doc: "She Didn't Help Him"

R.I.P. Julian Ortega: 'Elite' Actor Dead At 41 After Suddenly Collapsing On The Beach

'The Bachelorette' Season 21, Episode 8 Recap: Who Went Home After Fantasy Suites?

IMAGES

'Beowulf' Review: 2007 Movie
Beowulf (2007)
Beowulf Review
Beowulf (2007) Poster #1
Beowulf (2007)
Beowulf (2007) Poster #1

VIDEO

Beowulf Movie Reaction P.2
Beowulf (1999) • Movie Recap & Plot Synopsis
McFarlane Beowulf figure review
Alert Spoiler
Beowulf (2007)
Beowulf Full Movie Facts , Review And Knowledge / Ray Winstone / Anthony Hopkins

COMMENTS

Beowulf
Faiz D Just a wonderful visual feast. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 08/29/24 Full Review Jeremy H I suggest be in the imagination mindset. And at 7 mins into the movie In my ...
Beowulf: I am the very model of a medieval monster slaughterer movie
Grendel is ugly beyond all meaning. His battles are violent beyond all possibility. His mother (Jolie) is like a beauty queen in centerfold heaven. Her own final confrontation with Beowulf beggars description. To say the movie is over the top assumes you can see the top from here. Now about the PG-13 rating.
Beowulf
Beowulf. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Animation, Action, Adventure, Fantasy. PG-13. 1h 55m. By Manohla Dargis. Nov. 16, 2007. You don't need to wait for Angelina Jolie to rise from the vaporous ...
'Beowulf' Review: 2007 Movie
The gruesome violence and male and female near nudity — about as bold as a PG-13 rating will allow — mixed together with ribald humor make Beowulf a waggish bit of postmodern fun. It may raise ...
Beowulf (2007)
Beowulf: Directed by Robert Zemeckis. With Robin Wright, Anthony Hopkins, Paul Baker, John Bilezikjian. The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel, who is terrorizing Denmark, then Grendel's Mother, who begins killing out of revenge.
Beowulf
Beowulf, a great Geat warrior, answers the call. He sails into town in all his blond, bearded glory and takes on Grendel with his bare—well, everything. Naked, they fight. And when Grendel tries to flee, the warrior rips off the monster's arm—a fatal wound. There is much rejoicing—for a while.
Beowulf (1999)
Beowulf: Directed by Graham Baker. With Christopher Lambert, Rhona Mitra, Oliver Cotton, Götz Otto. In a besieged land, Beowulf must battle against the hideous creature Grendel and his vengeance seeking mother.
Beowulf
Beowulf - Metacritic. 2007. PG-13. Paramount Pictures. 1 h 55 m. Summary In a time of heroes, the mighty warrior Beowulf slays the monster Grendel and incurs the wrath of its monstrous yet seductive mother, in a conflict that transforms a king into a legend. (Paramount Pictures)
Beowulf
The 3-D version of Beowulf -- the one you must see if you see the film -- is a wild roller coaster ride. Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/5 | Feb 2, 2009
Beowulf
"Beowulf" is loosely based on the Old English epic poem Beowulf. Unlike most film adaptations of the poem, this version is a science-fiction/fantasy film that, according to one film critic, "takes ...
Beowulf Review
Beowulf battles Grendel From the violently breathless opening exchanges, the film rarely slows down to catch its breath. Battle after battle ensues, the monsters becoming ever larger and more ...
Beowulf Movie Review
Parents say ( 13 ): Kids say ( 20 ): Once you get past BEOWULF's slightly creepy, ultra-realistic depiction of actors as animated figures, there's no denying that this film is entertaining. Improving on the revolutionary technology he used in The Polar Express, Zemeckis's film is an awe-inspiring achievement in animation.
Beowulf (2007)
Beowulf (2007) on IMDb: Movies, TV, Celebs, and more... *The following is a review of the digital 3D version showing at select theaters: Robert Zemeckis has always been a trailblazer with film technology. He was among the first to utilize CGI in "Death Becomes Her" and with his adaptation of the oldest surviving epic poem in the English language, he perfects the life-like digital computer ...
Beowulf (2007 film)
Beowulf is a 2007 American adult animated fantasy action film produced and directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, based on the Old English epic poem Beowulf, and featuring the voices of Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright, Brendan Gleeson, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Alison Lohman, and Angelina Jolie.The film depicts the rise and fall of the warrior ...
Beowulf Review
Beowulf Review. Sixth century Denmark, and the domain of King Hrothgar (Hopkins) is under attack from a hideous demon named Grendel (Crispin Glover). The heroic Beowulf (Winstone), a Geat warrior ...
Beowulf Summary, Trailer, Cast, and More
Beowulf: plot summary, featured cast, reviews, articles, photos, and videos. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and with a screenplay by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, Beowulf is a 2007 3D Animated Fantasy based on the Old English poem of the same name. ... Jeff Bridges, Bryan Cranston & Dave Bautista To Star In New Beowulf Movie With The Henson Company ...
Movie Review: Beowulf (2007)
Beowulf is a movie that deserves to be seen, so get your AD&D friends together for a night out of the basement and check it out. Critical Movie Critic Rating: 5. Movie Review: Dan in Real Life (2007) Movie Review: P2 (2007)
Beowulf
A movie review by James Berardinelli. The legend of Beowulf, a mythical hero whose exploits were recounted in an 8th century epic poem, has gained unprecedented popularity some 1250 years after it was first told. With the success of The Lord of the Rings, which (along with the Harry Potter phenomenon) opened Hollywood's eyes to the potentially ...
Beowulf (1999 film)
Beowulf is a 1999 American science fantasy-action film loosely based on the Old English epic poem Beowulf.The film was directed by Graham Baker and written by Mark Leahy and David Chappe.Unlike most film adaptations of the poem, this version is a science-fiction/fantasy film that, according to one film critic, "takes place in a post-apocalyptic, techno-feudal future that owes more to Mad Max ...
Beowulf (2007)
Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Shangri-la Entertainment present "Beowulf," starring Angelina Jolie as Grendel's mother, Anthony Hopkins as the corrupt King Hrothgar, and Ray ...
Review: 'Beowulf: A New Translation,' By Maria Dahvana Headly : NPR
Review: 'Beowulf: A New Translation ... To be taught as the thing that it is — the Marvel movie of its time. I always liked Beowulf a little for what it was: history, foundational myth, epic ...
Beowulf & Grendel
Beowulf & Grendel. Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson. Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy. R. 1h 43m. By Manohla Dargis. July 7, 2006. A more accurate title of this conceptually anemic if prettily ...
Sparks fly as monster epic Beowulf makes a fiery return
Beowulf has three sections, beginning with the young warrior battling the monster Grendel, followed by the revenge of Grendel's mother. In the third section set 50 years later, an older Beowulf - aware of his flaws and his legacy - faces his final contest with a dragon.
Beowulf
The eighth-century Beowulf, goosed into twenty-first-century life by a screenplay from sci-fi guru Neil Gaiman and Pulp Fiction 's Roger Avary, will have you jumping out of your skin and begging ...
Wolfs Review: George Clooney & Brad Pitt's Classy but Tired ...
Please verify your email address. Wolfs is an action-thriller film written and directed by Jon Watts, and sees the on-screen reunion of Brad Pitt and George Clooney after nearly fifteen years. The ...
Beowulf (1999)
BEOWULF is, by all accounts, a terrible movie. Its score on IMDB is an appalling 4,0 and it has 12,281 ratings so the only chance it will make the haunted Bottom 100 is if the score lowers to 3,9 if more users rate it 1. And the day before I saw it I read most of the reviews and they are so scathing that they nearly discouraged me from seeing it.
Wolfs Review: A Stylish Crime Comedy With George Clooney & Brad ...
Frequently funny and consistently stylish, Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, is an enjoyable enough crime comedy. Here's our review.
'Wolfs' Review: George Clooney and Brad Pitt in Winning ...
'Wolfs' Review: George Clooney and Brad Pitt Are Rival Fixers in a Winning Action Comedy Spiked With Movie-Star Chemistry The two actors go at each other in Jon Watts's likable throwaway caper ...
Wolfs Review: George Clooney and Brad Pitt Are Good Together
Watts made the calling card indies Clown (2014) and Cop Car (2015) before getting scooped up by Marvel to direct Sony's three Tom Holland Spider-Man movies. That those were some of the most ...
'Wolfs' Venice Film Festival Movie Review: It's the ...
Stream It Or Skip It: 'The Fall Guy' on Peacock, a Spirited and Funny Ryan Gosling/Emily Blunt Actionstravaganza The Problematics: 'Natural Born Killers' at 30, An Acid-Soaked, All-American ...

Beowulf: I am the very model of a medieval monster slaughterer

Roger Ebert

Directed by

Leave a comment

Merchant Ivory

The Deliverance

City of Dreams

Out Come the Wolves

Seeking Mavis Beacon

Across the River and Into the Trees

You Gotta Believe

Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival 2024: Highlights of a Joyous Event

The Unloved, Part 129: The Power

Venice Film Festival 2024: Babygirl, The Order, The Brutalist, I’m Still Here

“Risky Business” Remains One of the Most Daring Films of the ’80s

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

site categories

Kirk Honeycutt

Related Stories

THR Newsletters

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Notice: All forms on this website are temporarily down for maintenance. You will not be able to complete a form to request information or a resource. We apologize for any inconvenience and will reactivate the forms as soon as possible.

Content Caution

In Theaters

Home Release Date

Distributor

Movie Review

Positive Elements

Spiritual Elements

Sexual & romantic Content

Violent Content

Crude or Profane Language

Drug and Alcohol Content

Latest Reviews

City of Dreams

Weekly Reviews Straight to your Inbox!

Want to stay Plugged In?

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Email not verified

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Where to Watch

Critics Reviews

More Like This

Or browse by category:

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Common Sense Selections for Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

How to Help Kids Build Character Strengths with Quality Media

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

Common Sense Media Review

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 16+?

Any Positive Content?

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Violence & Scariness

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Positive Messages

Where to Watch

Parent and Kid Reviews

Great animation, mediocre story adaptation

Is It Any Good?

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Suggest an Update

Beowulf Review