Beowulf : Retour dans les Shieldlands

I first turned Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands on by mistake and quickly realized that this show could be an interesting watch. I have been pleasantly surprised and at times, I have only been mildly disappointed.

If you enjoy fantasy story telling, decent sword fight choreography, and minor attempts at comedy then give it a try. I don't think you will be too disappointed.

BUT...For the people who are easily dissuaded by mid talent acting and a bit of copy cat antics then I feel you will not enjoy watching it.

A lot of people are bashing it because it is trying too hard to be Game of Thrones. The title sequence is a direct copycat and really takes away from the show. Once people see and hear it they immediately get turned off and want nothing to do with it. There are small inadequacies that push the viewer to eye rolling but most of them can be overlooked. The story isn't the strongest but you can't compare it to GoT, that is unfair. If you compare ANYTHING to GoT it would be unfair.

If I was allowed to change ONE thing only...I would take away the title sequence and replace it with something individual. I believe wholeheartedly that it's a huge issue for people and will cause the show to lose some major viewers.

Don't give up on it after the first episode. It takes a little time to get rolling. It's really not a bad watch at all. Give it a try.

As a complete fantasy addict who is normally very forgiving, and a lover of early history, I personally had high hopes, but this show is a huge disappointment. It is far inferior to modern series like the Vikings, Last Kingdom and Game of Thrones.

There is nothing wrong with a modern telling of an ancient story for a young audience today. To fill out and even creatively adapt the epic for a 21st century audience would be good if it was done well. This wretched mixed up travesty abuses and soils the name of one of the the original and greatest works in the English literature. It has very little to do with the original Anglo-Saxon epic of Beowulf, rather it is a badly written 21st century quasi-medieval fantasy that steals a few names from the original and begins to tell the audience a utterly different inferior story.

Good grief the whole program is a bad with below average direction, production and acting. The whole cast where wholly unconvincing and Beowulf himself was a very poor version of the super top notch warrior of English literature. And what the hell have they done with Heriot, the great hall was some weird Mayan, tolkienesque, 21st century fantasy temple hybrid, were warriors did not have banquets but mingled at cocktail parties. So many of the costumes and sets appeared to be either bad or borrowed from other fantasy productions.

I just saw the first episode and I'd like to see the next one. It's not a bad show but its neither great.

First let me point out few bad things I've noticed in the episode.

1. Lots of similarities/resemblance with Game of Thrones -We can notice that even by watching the intro for Beowulf TV show, also the Wall, there is "bad" Queen and spoiled brat Prince who is Queen's son. Also we got here an adviser who "knows" almost everything and always remains in the shadow like Lord Varys, and etc etc.

2. Bad CGI and there is lots of CGI we can all agree on that. -I understand that the environment of the story requires CGI but hopefully they'll get better, they must get better if they wanna make great show.

3. Long pauses between scenes. -Its like they want to show us the stage they have set for the show over and over, and whenever a new scene is coming, the camera goes all over the scene mostly without people and talking.

Okay, these are the main bad things I've noticed in the first episode. Now the good things.

1. The writing! -Oh boy, I loved it! The dialogue isn't what you hear in almost 90% of the show, its so realistic, honest, logical and so on and on. I wish there was more of this!

2. The story. -I know nothing about Beowulf, except the movie, but I'm interested in learning more by watching this show. This show might just do that if its done the right way! It has it's potential, but they must be careful because in my opinion, I'd hate to see Beowulf as medieval detective who solves murders, catches bad guys and stuff like that which is so casual in todays shows.

3. The actors -This is not fashion show where we get to see every single actor to be like a model, which is perfect! They are all likable to look at and they blend in very well. The actors are rather good and they add huge amount of realism to the show.

Well to keep it short, an overall opinion: -I liked what I saw and I'm interested in seeing more with a bit of a hope that they'll try and keep trying to do better and better job!

Bad acting. Inaccurate view of the era/location, even considering it's based on a myth. Within the first 20 minutes of episode 1 you are introduced to a multicultural Britain. Several Africans and Indians are present. Even families who have integrated into the society. I could see MAYBE a foreign slave or two but even that would be far-fetched with no historical justification. In short, another attempt to infiltrate European history with multiculturalism and ruin a great piece of European identity. Even setting this aside, it still sucks. A clear (and horrible) attempt to ride the Vikings/Game of Thrones fanwagon.

Comparison inevitably will be made to The Vikings since these shows walk on the same genre. However, Beowulf is the more casual of the two, using special effect and colorful scenery for broader demographic, a bit like the animation from years earlier only without CG Angelina Jolie. This direction if fine, not all recent works must be brooding and gritty, although Beowulf suffers from erratic shifts in plot as well as a few dubious displays of mythical creatures.

It is noticeable that the story pushes the titular Beowulf into many tribulations from the first steps. Unfortunately, this sets up too many subplots at the same time. Characters are being murdered, betrayed and chased even before any connection could be made to any of them, which presents a couple of strange seemingly rushed developments. It also tries to present some mystery and political struggle, but these aspects lack depth since they have to share the scene with many other angles like childhood memories or shoehorned romance.

Much of the resources evidently went to costume and setting. The attires these characters don are incredibly polished, certainly different yet appreciated fashion from typical medieval series. Its surroundings are fairly gorgeous as well, colorful both in human settlement and natural landscape. If any flaws should come from this eye-catching presentation, it's that the characters look a tad too modern for the era.

CG effect is a toss-up, some scenes look terribly crude while few others look very meticulous. At its best, the display of creature is presentable, having decent features and surprising detail on fur or beastly motion. On the other hand, when it falters, it further weakens the immersion since the human characters already react unconvincingly to inorganic monsters.

Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands is a light excursion for wider audience with more colorful presentation, although the cumbersome plot and sloppy CG might undermine that effort.