Line #34 Film/Beowulf1999


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_beowulf_poster.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:''[[{{Tagline}} Unleash your dark side]]''.]]
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4	A 1999 ScienceFantasy action film based on the [[Literature/{{Beowulf}} epic poem of the same name]], starring Creator/ChristopherLambert and Creator/RhonaMitra.
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6	Hearing about a monster bothering a castle, a hunter with supernatural powers named Beowulf goes there to ply his trade.
7
8	!!This film has examples of:
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10	* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Beowulf from the epic poem was a dude who slayed monsters. This film made the character a HalfHumanHybrid who is tormented by the idea of him turning completely non-human, and fights monsters because of it.
11	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Though she's never described in the original poem, Grendel's mother is usually portrayed as an ogress or a she-monster. Here, she's a beautiful seductress played by former playmate Layla Roberts (beautiful until her OneWingedAngel form, that is).
12	* AdaptationOriginConnection: This movie made [[spoiler: Hrothgar sleep with the mother and father Grendel]] eight years [[OlderThanTheyThink before]] [[WesternAnimation/Beowulf2007 the animated film.]]
13	* AdaptedOut: The dragon is nowhere to be seen in this story, although some of his physical attributes are given to Grendel's Mother.
14	* AfterTheEnd: The world has regressed to a pseudo-Medieval state, with guns and cars presumably becoming LostTechnology.
15	* AllForNothing: Beowulf gets in a fight with the army besieging Hrothgar's fortress because they want to execute a girl who abandoned it. When she learns that Beowulf is heading [[NothingIsScarier there]], [[spoiler: she jumps from his horse and runs straight into the besiegers, who kill her.]]
16	* AnArmAndALeg: Beowulf's second encounter with Grendel ends with him managing to cut of the beast's right arm off. The arm is then hoist up on display.
17	* AntagonisticOffspring: Grendel is only loyal to his mother, and thus becomes an enemy to his father Hrothgar.
18	* ArrangedMarriage: Hrothgar married his daughter to the son of some powerful family from outside his domain.
19	* BadassLongcoat: Beowulf's.
20	* BigBad: Grendel's Mother, who has her son slaughtering the populace of the Outpost because it has been built on the land that belongs to her.
21	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Grendel and his mother are slain, ending their wickedness for good, Beowulf and Kyra are free to ride off to new places, new adventures, but Hrothgar and everybody else at the castle are dead.]]
22	* BlindWithoutThem: The Outpost's weapons master drops his glasses during a patrol, and while he's fumbling for them on the ground, he doesn't realize that Grendel is right on front of him until it is too late.
23	* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler:Kyra and Grendel]] are this in virtue of being [[spoiler:Hrothgar's offspring]] making [[spoiler:Grendel, Kyra's half brother]].
24	* CompositeCharacter: Although there's no dragon in the film, its version of Grendel's mother has a second form that vaguely resembles an insectoid dragon.
25	* CursedWithAwesome: Beowulf considers himself cursed by his heritage, which he believes [[TheCorruption will make him evil some day]]. However, in present time he is superhumanly strong and agile and has a HealingFactor.
26	* DarkIsNotEvil: Beowulf wears black and is the son of a dark god, who battles monsters for the sake of not being like them.
27	* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Hrothgar, his wife ([[DemotedToExtra killed before]] [[PosthumousCharacter the movie events]]), Roland (who sort of replaces Unferth) and the castle itself with everyone inside except Beowulf and OriginalCharacter Kyra]].
28	* DontTouchItYouIdiot: Despite Beowulf's warning, Will keeps fiddling with one of his weapons and almost gets shot in the face with arrows.
29	* TheDragon: Grendel to his mother.
30	* DrivenToSuicide: After learning that [[spoiler:her husband impregnated the woman who'd became Grendel's Mother]], Hrothgar's wife killed herself.
31	* EyepatchOfPower: Sported by the guy who's second-in-command to the leader of the forces besieging the Outpost.
32	* {{Fainting}}: Will faints when he sees Grendel murdering his assistant Karl on front of him.
33	* FeudalFuture: Hrothgar conquered an "outpost" built over a medieval castle, arranged his daughter's marriage for some lands, and is besieged to make sure that nobody leaves the place until the monster is dealt with.
34	* GorgeousGorgon: Grendel's Mother in her human form. And perhaps her monster form too, if you [[NightmareFetishist fancy that sort've thing]].
35	* HalfBreedAngst: As Beowulf himself puts it he's "trapped between two worlds."
36	* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Believing that anyone still alive in the outpost is plagued by its evil presence, the forces surrounding the place execute anyone trying to leave it with a device that chops them half.
37	* HalfHumanHybrid:
38	** Beowulf is [[HeroicBastard a result]] of [[HalfHumanHybrid his mother sleeping with a being that apparently was a "god of darkness".]]
39	** Same goes for Grendel, who's the result of [[spoiler:Hrothgar]] sleeping with the demonic woman only known as Grendel's Mother.
40	* HealingFactor: Beowulf can regenerate from wounds that would kill a normal man.
41	* HotterAndSexier: Than the epic poem, for sure. Specially when it comes to Grendel's mother.
42	* KillItWithFire: During the final confrontation, Beowulf sees that the blood shed from Grendel's Mother is inflammable. He uses this fact a moment later to set her on fire, which leads to her explosive death.
43	* MsFanservice: Kyra's outfits might be very heavy on the cleavage, but Grendel's Mother barely bothers to cover herself up with her net-like dress.
44	* MultiArmedAndDangerous: When she transforms, Grendel's Mother turns her limbs into a pair of wings/claws each, and she also sprouts a couple pair more from her back.
45	* MysteriousPast: Aside from how his parents met and conceived him, we learn very little about Beowulf's past, his various comments such as "ghosts don't eat people" implying a long life spent fighting many different types of supernatural creatures.
46	* OfCorsetsSexy: All of Kyra's outfits have a built-in, visible corset showing lots of cleavage.
47	* OneWingedAngel: When Beowulf rejects her offer of sleeping with her, Grendel's Mother reveals her true [[GiantSpider demon-spider]] form to fight him to the death.
48	* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Grendel's Mother. Her nature is never exactly revealed, but her inhuman form is quite demonic-looking.
49	* PeopleInRubberSuits: Grendel. The filmmaker tried to hide this by adding a computer-generated sheen on the character whenever he appeared onscreen to make him seem more otherworldly.
50	* PosthumousCharacter: Hrothgar's unnamed wife (presumably Wealthow) and Kyra's husband both died before Beowulf's arrival.
51	* ProtagonistTitle: Duh.
52	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: During the final confrontation, Grendel's Mother claims to be "older than sin".
53	* RiddleForTheAges:
54	** Beowulf's father. Was it really a god? A demon like Grendel's Mother? Something else entirely?
55	** What caused the ''Film/MadMax''-esque CrapsackWorld of the film?
56	* SerratedBladeOfPain: Hrothgar's weapon of choice is a {{BFS}} with serrated edges.
57	* SuccubiAndIncubi: Grendel's Mother is a succubus who spawns demonic offspring from human fathers.
58	* TokenMinority: Besides the occasional mook, Will and his uncle are the only black people in the movie.
59	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Though we never learn how much into the future it is.
60	* TheVamp: Grendel's Mother uses her beauty to entice men (although, in a subversion, it seems she actually conceived Grendel by raping Hrothgar in his sleep rather than seducing him).
61	* VillainousCrush: Grendel's Mother holds some pretty twisted affection towards Hrothgar, constantly referring to him as "my love."
62	* WalkingArmory: Beowulf carries lots of weapons on his person: a sword, crossbows, daggers, two picks that double as grappling hooks, a BladeBelowTheShoulder, and so on.
63	* WalkingTheEarth: Beowulf has embraced this, traveling the land, slaying monsters wherever he stops by, never setting down any roots. By the end of the film [[spoiler: Kyra joins him.]]
64	* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: The girl saved early in the movie by Beowulf was Will's girlfriend and they planned to escape together.
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Context Film / Beowulf1999