Beowulf and Grendel (2005)

There's always a danger that any filmed version of the famous Anglo-Saxon poem will turn it into little more than a man vs beast action movie, but happily that isn't the case with Dir. Sturla Gunnarsson's B+G.
It establishes sympathy for Grendell (Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson) early in the running time, and then shifts much of the focus to the Danes and Beowulf (Gerard Butler) himself. The clash of accents is distracting, but the actual compromises made in the language used aren't too bad.
The real star of the show is the environments; the frigid, uncompromising landscapes are like something ancient and slumbering, the biting winds a reminder that what men do in their brief life matters only to other men, whereas nature's moods affect us all.

3 gnawing thoughts out of 5