E. L. Risden

Beowulf is what caused me to change from a Biology major to an English major. Hence, my request for this book from Early Reviewers. I must admit I am a fan of movie versions of Beowulf regardless of how they treat the original (esp. 13th Warrior and Outlander). I have found myself repeatedly excited to see books offered thru E.R. that pertain to my major but have also been repeatedly disappointed in them. There is nothing different here and I have to curtail my request for them from now on. The intro to this book was the longest chapter and dealt so much with Freud that I forgot I had a Beowulf book in my hand. The first few chapters were so intensely complex and scholarly, I found them impenetrable. What was being conveyed, what was I learning, what was I supposed to take away? No idea. I became baffled later on by long passages pertaining to Tolkien and LOTR. I wanted to read about Beowulf movies. There were too often page-long paragraphs in which I lost my place, too much play-by-play of what was happening in a scene, too much talking about either the movie or the poem without comparing and contrasting. I finally got to the chapter on sacrifice which was as close to what I had been expecting from this book as I could hope for. Still,I found it lacking in that it didn't draw conclusions I thought obvious. A few chapters at the end became too humorous for my liking but were far more readable for the average lover of Beowulf.… (more)

I really can't express how disappointed I was with this book. I got it because I assumed it would be a thorough comparison with the poem and the various film versions. I expected critiquing, I expected highlights, I expected to be introduced to other people's opinions and to experience versions of Beowulf I'd never heard of before, and I was looking forward to all of that. I didn't expect to have the plots or certain scenes of each movie recited to me over and over again to the point where I practically knew each one by heart without ever having to see them. I didn't expect to have the Lord of the Rings drilled into my head (though the book promises it won't do this) as a version of Beowulf. I wanted so much and what I got out of it was mostly that the authors were tired of what Hollywood was making of their favorite epic poem and decided they would whine and complain about everything instead of just writing their own version and sending it out to a studio. You actually get the opening part of said unwritten movie at the end of the book, which was a huge relief to me because I spent most of the book grumbling, "Get to the point and tell us how you'd do it, already. That's all you really care about."

The whole thing comes across as two people who wrote essays and decided they could make money off of it by selling the essay collection as a book. My main hypothesis for this comes from the constant repetition of movie subjects and plots, as if we hadn't just been introduced to the movie or scene in the previous pages. This cashing in on what everyone wants to read about is exactly what they accuse Hollywood of doing, by the way. They also use the image from the most popular, biggest money earner for the cover, even though it's the version the authors seem to hate the most. Why? Because that image is going to sell more books.

A little more conversation and comparison would have been nice... Or maybe... Any at all. Even a smattering of honest, unbiased comparison would have been better than what came out about each movie. Though there were some observations of traditional versus modern heroism and how various dragons were portrayed as the Other, that's about as far as it came to being something worth reading and I really had to struggle to get to the end, because by the time I'd hit the middle it felt as if I had already read the entire book and was rereading it again and again. I WAS impressed that television versions and episodes of television shows (Star Trek: Voyager and Xena) were included for a short time as a part of "Beowulf on Film." Those versions are usually ignored all together, even by English teachers.

I honestly can't say that I would recommend this book to many people, except maybe fans of Lord of the Rings, who will probably get a huge kick out of their favorite author being mentioned so often and having his works referenced frequently. I can only suggest that if you want to compare visual representations of Beowulf to the actual text, you sit down and watch them yourself. If you have already seen them, you won't want to pick this book up, because it will bombard you with their descriptions until you are desperate for release.

Note: Though this book was a free gift from the author, the content of my review was in no way influenced by the gifting. The book speaks for itself and my review would have been worded just this way even if I'd gone out and bought it. (This book also needs a good check from an editor, who seemed to stop doing their job halfway through my copy, but that could be a result of this being an early release review. Other versions might be properly edited, or my copy could be defective in some way.)… (more)

Beowulf on Film is a collection of essays written by the two authors, written on various subjects related to the translation of Beowulf into film media and analysis of the reasons it takes the form it does in popular culture. This book is very academic. I recently completed a college course in medieval literature, so I felt I had a head start, but I also kept my phone nearby for quick googling of certain topics. I personally have not seen all of the films discussed, but I did not feel like it detracted from my understanding or appreciation of the arguments presented.

What interested me most about these essays were there focus on the consumption of literature and how this affects interpretation and vice versa as opposed to the traditional straight interpretation of the epic poem. The authors draw a lot from Freud and other psychologists, showing how the application of their ideas demonstrates how we translate Beowulf into modern films.

One thing I did notice is that the essays towards the end of the book seem to be less strong than those at the beginning. The introduction is strong and clear and made me intrigued to continue reading, but the conclusion was much weaker and seemed more like a note from the author than any real closure of the topics addressed. In fact, the last few pages are taken up by one of the author's dream vision for a Beowulf movie which, while potentially interesting to hear from an academic, is mostly just an excuse to rant and praise himself.… (more)