Angelina Jolie's hot and all, but she was a horrible choice for Grendel's mother and she basically ruined the movie. In the original story, Grendel's mother was a monster, not a MILF. Therefore, Hrothgar was not Grendel's father. Let's get that out of the way. So, Grendel is attacking Hrothgar's hall in upper Denmark (because he's an asshole) for a while and it's pissing everyone off. They got that part right. So, Beowulf of Geatland (Sweden), comes from across the sea to kick some ass. They got that part right too. Yay, Hollywoold. Along with him is his trusty sidekick, Wiglaf. Bad Hollywood. In the original story, Wiglaf doesn't appear until the very end of the story, and he's a young guy. So, that night, Grendel comes and Beowulf severs his arm. Grendel goes home crying. They got that part right. Redemption? No. Hrothgar then reveals that Grendel was his son. Thanks, Hollywood. Anyway, Hrothgar tells Beowulf that he must kill Grendel's mother. This is not too much of a change, but in the original story, Grendel's mother calls Beowulf to her.
So, Beowulf goes to her cave to kill her. However, to his surprise, some bangin' naked chick comes out of the water and seduces him. WHAT THE FUCK???? That never happened. In the epic, Beowulf dives into the lake in the cave, finds the monster that is Grendel's mother, and slaughters her. End of story. But, in the movie, she uses sex to get him to leave her alone. Beowulf returns to Hrothgar's hall and tells everyone that he killed her. They celebrate by making him king. Huh??? There Hollywood goes again. What is supposed to happen, is that Beowulf returns to Geatland (after actually killing Grendel's mother) and becomes king there, years later. Anyway, the movie jumps to a random battle scene that obviously wasn't in the epic. Beowulf leaves the battle and returns to his kingdom (originally Hrothgar's).
Suddenly, a dragon attacks the kingdom. This is partially correct. The original poem did end with a dragon. However, it was in Geatland! Anyway, Beowulf realizes that this creature must be his son, because it babbles about "sins of the father." That's right. Years ago, Beowulf got Angelina Jolie pregnant. Needless to say, this was not the case in the actual story, in which it was just a random dragon. So, Beowulf goes to Grendel's mother's cave and sees the dragon. He realizes that he must kill it, because he doesn't want to end up like Hrothgar did (having a monster son that terrorizes him for the rest of his life). The dragon flees, but Beowulf gets on it's back and basically rides it to the kingdom. In the original epic, Beowulf leads a crew of young, strapping wards (including Wiglaf) to the cave and the battle takes place there. Anyway, in the movie, the final battle takes place at the kingdom.
Beowulf chases the dragon around for a while, and eventually rips out it's fire-breathing gland with his bare hands. This was cool and all, but they stole Wiglaf's moment of glory. In the epic, all the other wards had returned home and only Beowulf and Wiglaf were still at the cave. Beowulf was getting burned really badly, so Wiglag took his sword and slashed out the dragon's fire-breathing gland. This was his moment of glory in the entire story. Back to the movie. After ripping out the fire-breating gland, Beowulf the dragon just randomly plunged the their deaths. That made sense, Hollywood. In the original story, Beowulf uses his last bit of strength to slay the dragon with his sword. He then makes Wiglaf the new king and promptly dies. Much better ending. In the movie, he dies slowly in a really old Wiglaf's hands and tell him he's king because he's his friend, not because he was the only ward that wasn't a coward.
So, in the movie, there's a funeral pyre, and Wiglaf sees Grendel's mother (who was supposed to be dead) embrace Beowulf's dead, burning body. He just sort of glares at her and the movie ends. With such an ending, one must wonder if Hollywood is actually rediculous enough to make a Beowulf 2. I really hope to Odin that they don't. Anyway, despite all of these horrific changes, the movie was actually fairly enjoyable, and I suggest that you rent it when it comes out on DVD (assuming you haven't already seen it).
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