Re: Random movie talky stuff.
Just watched "Beowulf and Grendal", a 2005 version of the old Myth. Gerard Butler plays Beowulf, speaking in his normal accent, and adding a Norse hero to his resume of ancient warriors (Leonidas (300), Stoick (How to Train your Dragon), Attila the Hun (Attila)). This particular version is fairly slow, with very few fight sequences in it, but I found it to be more enjoyable than the semi-animated turn in 2007 with Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie.
The troll Grendal looks much more human like, and is killing off Danes because they murdered his father when he was a boy. Beowulf of course comes in from Gaetland because of his friendship with the king. Grendal however refuses to fight him because Beowulf has done him no wrong.
Really this version is more complex than "kill troll" or "kill troll and get seduced by his mother spawning an even more dangerous foe", and there's no real good and evil around. Beowulf doesn't come across as an overly arrogant dick like he did in the 2007 version, and Grendal has much more complexity to him than "kill things! Yargh!".
Special effects weren't anything spectacular. Indeed everything was costumes and prosthetics, and all the major violence (severed limbs, decapitated heads) are all seen after the fact. No obvious blue screens or green screens, so all the landscapes are as you see them or at least cleverly hidden.
The only big downside was the ending. I'm still not sure what I think of it. Everything was wrapped up neatly, but there was no real climax. More a slow burn off. Though I suppose with the way the movie went, it worked well enough.
Overall, sure it doesn't stack up to Mel Gibson's "Braveheart", Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven" (the director's cut), or Luc Besson's "the Messenger", however I enjoyed it more than the 2007 "Beowulf", the Viking vs. North American native's movie "Pathfinder" and even Wolfgang Peterson's "Troy".
Now I have to hunt down Attila and see how that is. I do so hope it's better than "Druids" with Christopher Lambert. I guess I have a weakness for epics taking place before 1500.