Beowulf Naked

Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 30th, 2007

What have they done to the saga of the misunderstood lonely neighborhood hairy forest giant and his cranky mom? Where has the Neandertaloid gone in this tale of a dying, soon-to-be extinct group of humanlike beings?

Coming this November, Beowulf is re-invented for the screen beyond the epic remembrances many of us share of this legend.

Beowulf

I really doubt the filmmakers have followed my line of thinking that Grendel was a surviving true giant, near Neandertal, or perhaps even a relict form of Homo heildelbergensis.

Nevertheless, the film is made in a fashion that makes it appear similar to 300 (out on DVD on July 31st), and mirrors that film’s artistic cinematic adventure but with dragons. There seems much to enjoy for fans of the genre. Angelina Jolie as the mother of Grendel may be more attractive that my imagined images of Grendel’s parent when I first read the tale, but nevermind my biases.

I’m not sure what the promise really is, but the promise this movie will be a financial success for the producers seems inescapable.

Released this last weekend, the trailer was shown at Comic-Con 2007:

What have they done with the epic tale of ancient Europe’s last Homo heildelbergensis? See the Grendel entry, The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates, pages 86-87.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.


13 Responses to “Beowulf Naked”

  1. DavidFullam responds:

    Ah, Hollywood rapes another classic.

  2. Ceroill responds:

    Yep. I saw a trailer for that one. Hero. Monster. Girl. Speaking of Grendel and Neanderthals, what did you think of The 13th Warrior?

  3. dws responds:

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

    Angelina Jolie is playing the same $$^#^ing character as she did in Alexander…AGAIN!!!
    NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  4. Loren Coleman responds:

    The 13th Warrior is a good alternative version of the Beowulf/Grendel saga that tips its hat to the possible Neandertal origins of the tale.

    The 13th Warrior is a 1999 action film based on Michael Crichton’s novel Eaters of the Dead, directed by John McTiernan and an uncredited Crichton, and starring Antonio Banderas as Ahmad ibn Fadlan and Vladimir Kulich as Bulywif (Beowulf)….In the original novel it is speculated that the wendol might be Neanderthals in an afterword.The 13th Warrior, Wikipedia.

  5. Jason P. responds:

    Beowulf really wasn’t made in the same style as 300. Beowulf was shot using a motion-capture process. They filmed real actors who have sensors attached to them, and then used the data from those sensors to digitally animate the actors against fully-digitized backgrounds and settings. On the other hand, 300 used real footage of real actors, against a mix of digital and real settings.

  6. fyrmnsflam responds:

    Looks awful! The characters are almost comic-book like.

    I really liked 2005’s Beowulf & Grendel, with Beowulf played by a pre-“300” Gerard Butler.

  7. gridbug responds:

    Nevertheless, the film is made in a fashion that makes it appear similar to 300 (out on DVD on July 31st), and mirrors that film’s artistic cinematic adventure but with dragons.

    To be fair, the upcoming Beowulf feature has very little to do with 300, both stylistically and (of course) content wise. If anything, Beowulf looks to be more akin to Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, only with full CG as opposed to using live actors and bluescreen compositing.

    Still and all, looking forward to Crispin Glover’s portrayal of Grendel… and a little Angelina Jolie is always a good thing. 🙂

  8. Lesley responds:

    Written by Neil Gaiman. A quick search of his blog at http://www.neilgaiman.com should give you all kinds of inside info on the film.

  9. sschaper responds:

    What have they done to the poem?!?

  10. MattBille responds:

    Well, it’s clear in the original epic that Grendel is hairy and smells very bad, which sounds familiar to cryptozoologists, but the poem also has a dragon and (I’m using Seamus Heaney’s wonderful translation here) “every kind of reptile, writhing sea dragons and monsters slouching on slopes by the cliff, serpents and wild things such as those that often surface at dawn…” We’ll have to see just what critters surface in the film.

  11. sausage1 responds:

    I like the 13th Warrior.

    So. A Hollywood version of Beowulf, eh??

    Don’t tell me, the ogre is a sociopathic upperclass Englishman, the terrified populace are all chubby, charming Celts with muddy faces, and they are all saved by Beowulf , the all-American hero (see Robin, Prince of Thieves, Lord of the Rings, Braveheart and other assorted crap ruining our literary legacy).

    WOW! Bitter or what?

  12. Mothmanfan responds:

    The Dragon looked kinda cool….

    BUT HEY to tell you the truth i’ve never read Beowulf, though my mom sais its really good.

  13. Ceroill responds:

    I thought perhaps a few links dealing with the poem would be in order. If not, I understand if this comment is deleted.

    http://www.lone-star.net/literature/beowulf/index.html

    http://www.library.unr.edu/subjects/guides/beowulf.html

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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