A Fortress At The Edge Of Darkness.
An Enemy Within That Only One Man Can Conquer!
Starring: Christopher Lambert, Rhona Mitra, Oliver Cotton, Gotz Otto, Vincent Hammond, Charles Robinson
Director: Graham Baker
1999 | 95 Minutes | Rated R
“It knows I’m here.” – Beowulf
Synopsis:
The wandering Beowulf (Christopher Lambert) hears of a man-eating creature called Grendel which attacks the warriors of a castle each night.
In case you were confused, this is not a review for 2007 CGI Beowulf known for CGI Angelina Jolie boobs. This is the 1999 Christopher Lambert direct to video post apocalyptic sci-fi version. You’d be forgiven if you had never heard of it.
Beowulf is based on a 6th century poem. I read a comic book version of the poem at one point but I honestly can’t remember a thing about it so I couldn’t say for sure if it’s even remotely an accurate retelling of that legend… obviously updated with a medieval / mechanical style. To give you an idea of the setting you have broad swords and spinning saw blades shown side-by-side on the battle field. It does make for a fun setting.
The setting might be OK but the CGI definitely is not. It’s not just 1999 CGI… it’s 1999 bad DTV action movie CGI. Bad creature CGI, bad background CGI… it’s all bad.
Soundtrack sounds like a bunch of Chemical Brothers b-sides. Few things date a movie more quickly than a bad nineties techno soundtrack.
Christopher Lambert’s acting is typical for him. It’s no secret he ain’t a good actor but somehow his style of bad acting works in some movies. I guess it just fits with Beowulf’s goofy flippy fighting style.
All faults aside, Beowulf was a decently fun, dumb movie. It’s pretty bad by most standards but if you go in looking for a bad movie, you just might find a pretty good bad movie.
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