'Beowulf' Director's Cut DVD Review

King Hrothgar (Sir Anthony Hopkins), Queen Wealthow (Robin Wright Penn), and all the people of the kingdom gather to celebrate the opening of a new mead hall. As the drinks flow, the noise generated by the rowdy group reaches the ears of a pathetic, grotesque creature named Grendel (Crispin Glover). His giant, malformed body loosely resembles a human form, but he's more beast in attitude and action than human. With sharpened senses to match his gigantic body, Grendel's head throbs with all the noise generated by the celebration. Storming the hall, Grendel rips limbs from bodies and kills without pause while trying to make the noise stop.

Following the attack, King Hrothgar has no option but to try and find a brave warrior who will bring down the beast. The kingdom's savior comes in the form of a strapping fellow named Beowulf who vows to rid the land of the horrible creature, Grendel. But after completing the task, Beowulf discovers that not only does the beast have a seductive mother (Angelina Jolie) but there's also a dark secret connecting King Hrothgar and Grendel's sexy mom.

The Bonus Features

Really, the only negative about the Beowulf Director's Cut DVD is the lack of a commentary track. Zemeckis does explain his creation in a lengthy Making Of featurette, but a commentary track would most likely have gone into greater detail than any of the behind-the-scenes featurettes are able to do. That said, the special features are an above average batch worth checking out.

In addition to the 'A Hero's Journey' Making Of segment, the DVD delves into designing the beasts and how the mythology ties every creature in the film together. There's also a featurette that compares the film to the original story, info on the casting process, deleted scenes, and a featurette called 'The Art of Beowulf' that's fairly entertaining.