User reviews

I hoped for so much something as great as 'Vikings,' or 'The Last Kingdom,'but it felt like an episode of Doctor Who (i.e. more for kids and sets that look like sets). Then after a lot of irritated huffing and puffing on my part, I realised it has been made for a young audience who would get the most from this ambitious reworking and I expect these it would delight. I can't rate this properly as it wasn't made for me, but if I look back to my earlier tastes in life, am sure I'd have revelled in this show. The time slot should have given me a clue that it wasn't intended for me and all the gripes I had are answered by it being reworked for it's target audience which doesn't include me. From childhood to 24 I expect I'd have loved this version of Beowulf. I hope enough of it's target audience find it.

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.

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.

This series isn't great. This series is very entertaining. I wish the series creators hadn't gone for the easy option of calling it Beowulf because that's what niggles people like me. For heavens sake think up a new norse name to call your hero and eliminate all the pedant complaints, this is just asking for bad reviews. My son, who has actually been made to read the saga of Beowulf at school tells me that Beowulf died. I don't know if that's actually true but if he believes it then many others of his age will also. My son is extremely scornful of the series without even bothering to watch any of it.My son is probably the target audience of this series. Nuff said.

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.

Decent once it gets going. I had tried this about 5 times and always turned it off about 3 minutes in. This time I looked at the episodes and went to ( I think 3)? The one that looked like a kingdom( I like anything like that) even if there's the occasional monster that is awful! Tho I generally can't stand supernatural creatures in general I did like GOT monsters and a few others. I always forget who Joanne Whalley is! Lol. I she finally dropped Kilmer from her name. Lol. I like Laura Donnelly and love Holly Earl! It's a shame she didn't use her real accent and I wish there were more seasons as I've run out of everything and am watching what I can take of Merlin atm.

I think the main issue with the reviews and what I have heard seem to be comparison to Game of Thrones.

I think its very harsh to review a show on a single episode but now we are on 3 I feel its starting to reveal more of its true nature.

I am a GOT fan and admit the intro was a big mistake but if we judge this on its own merit and the fact its based for family popcorn viewing on a sat night it hits the mark.

We seem to forget GOT s1 was very slow to begin with and a lot of story telling took place but here we are thrust into battle every episode. I think we need to view this for what it is easy but enjoyable viewing ona sat with the kids.

It reminds me more of the Merlin series than GOT to be fair. They obviously used a lot of artistic licence and its fantasy so cant really be compared to vikings. If they used traditional heavy swords the fight scenes would probably have less flair and traditional Armour would have been a bit drab not really vibrant.

It seems this production has gone more USA and relied on fun and monsters . To be fair I've seen worse CGI has no one seen the new Jurassic park? :) and the budget associated with that?

I googled for 'TV shows that have been canceled' and out pops Beowulf. The main character on the poster looked a bit like Faramir, and after reading some positive comments on various sites, I was convinced to give it a try. Told myself to keep an open mind; and given that it's only 12 episodes, it shouldn't take very long to finish it right? Well, I was pleasantly surprised. Nevermind that it is nothing like the original material, the premise was enough for me to go on to the next episode, and then on. I found it entertaining. You just have to look beyond the CGI (but it isn't really that bad, I have seen worse- 1st episode of Grimm comes to mind ) and the source material. In regards to the latter, just consider it Beowulf re- imagined and you'll be fine. It deserved better and in my opinion is way better than Merlin, which could never get pass an episode.

You can only take so much of watching this garbage. This is a great series to watch if you've got hours and hours of your precious time to waste. It is very low quality in just about every respect. Poor script, lighting, graphics and on and on. William Hurt is probably so ashamed and hoping that no one will know that this is out there. If you're looking to waste your time watching a mind numbing, vapid, frivolous "woke" version of Beowulf, then this may be for you. You might want to consider other forms of entertainment that may be more interesting such as watching paint dry, counting cars in the parking lot, watching the grass grow, etc.. Seriously though, it would probably be a lot more interesting to read Beowulf and maybe watch some well made documentaries about it. This series was just pure rubbish.

Most of the criticism I've seen of this series either relates to the CGI creatures or that it is unrealistic and compares badly to Game of Thrones and Vikings. This is not comparing like for like. The series is obviously intended as a family show, with appeal to younger viewers, reflected by it's 7pm time slot. Better comparisons would be to shows like Primeval, which relied on CGI creatures, or The Three Musketeers and Merlin, which took well known works and expanded the story in new directions. Three episodes in the series is coming to life. It almost has the feel of the Wild West, with Herot as a frontier town and Beowulf becoming a character rather like a town sheriff. There are several strong female characters and much centres around Rheda and her attempts to retain power, while different factions plot to undermine her. Looking forward to seeing where the story goes and how other elements of the original poem will be woven into the plot. I hope it plays well with it's intended audience, maybe a Saturday evening slot would have worked better, capturing viewers with Dr Who withdrawal symptoms.

I do like the show. It is an ancient epic saga (a fantasy if you will), and I consider it well done in it's class/category. Sure a bit of artistic license was taken and really besides the 3 major adventures written in the Beowulf who knows what he did during his full life! It's a STORY! In regards to the issues of other reviewers there seem to be with woman in strong roles and people of different ethnic groups, there have been times throughout history where woman have been highly important figures in their societies AND there has been evidence of different ethnic peoples found in the Scandinavian countries. SO what if it's a bit more in the show than we think may have existed... The acting is good, yes I have seen better in some cases but I have seen worse on shows which have stayed on for more than 1 season!!! I liked it at any rate and hope to see a season 2.

Really with the Varni, smelters and blacksmiths? Horribly casted. Only liked Beowulf, Joanne, Hurt and Gisli(Vidar from Netflix's Ragnarok). The CGI was horrible and so was the storyline. Even Abrecan was horribly casted. This show just had too much cringe. I'll stick to the cgi movie thank you very much.

O.M.G. To say that this show was terrible would be an UNDERSTATEMENT. It was basically just Game of Thrones only they scrimped on the special effects and aired it before the watershed.

This idea sounded WONDERFUL but the end product was as best campy and at worst like a budget Game of Thrones. Even the THEME MUSIC is reminiscent of the Thrones theme. Whoever conceived this should be fired!

I could go on for hours about the faults of this show but, I'll end on this: Beowulf is a story that has been around for over a thousand years and is ripe for adaptation, but the next time you want to adapt it for TV, stay close to the source material. In short, GET. IT. RIGHT!

Unlike some of the other reviewers I did watch the whole series. I up-rated it a little because I use a slightly lenient scale for sandal epics and fantasy. Most of the acting is perfectly okay. Sets, costumes, and props are good. The plot twists are predictable, but standard fare. The consistent effort to provide a setting that's coherent (sets, costumes, etc.) made it work, for me. If you don't expect it to connect with the famous epic, there's less to complain of.

Crap dialogue, poor casting, constant mangling of the story. They should have called this something else besides Beowulf. Then at least it would just be pablum rather than an affront to cinema, literature, and a great culture.

When i saw Beowulf in the TV listings, i immediately hoped that a decent drama had been created, based on the historical poem, and produced to a high standard. I was quickly disappointed.

Although the story is very loosely based on the old English poem about a Scandinavian monster terrorising a Danish King, that is pretty much where the similarity ends. You are very quickly introduced to CGI trolls working a in human village in place of oxen, turning a wheel. It is at this point you realise the slant is farther toward the fantasy realm drama than the historical realm drama.

In terms of the characters, they are rather cliché and lacked depth. The sets are OK in parts and in others look like cheap fantasy set pieces. They also seem inconsistent as great halls with cast relief gates in bronze are hardly likely to be the product of a 20 person village. The grandeur of some of the buildings is far out of whack with the population size and any semblance of industry or agriculture.

Casting, and cast diversity - within minutes you are introduced to characters that are obviously Indian Asian, and also Black (African). There are quite a few characters with diverse ethnic origins. Again, if you were expecting something akin to the fantastic 'Vikings' or even the Stars productions like 'Spartacus' forget it.There is no attempt at historical, cultural, or geographic realism as a backdrop for this show.

A Black male actor appears in Arabic dress who speaks with a solid south England accent. I totally get diversity in a modern TV show about modern society, or even in culturally mixed locations like Rome, but in something apparently 'based' on an AngloScandinavian tale/poem it hardly fits. This reality works in both directions, if i were watching a show about the rise of a chieftain in Africa in 300BC, then i'd hardly expect to see the cast featuring heavily with Chinese and white Australian sounding actors (it just drags you out of the show). It's another element that constantly reminds the viewer that there is no historic setting for this and it is little more than a uber low budget Lord of The Rings rip off merged merged with the title Beowulf.

If this show were targeting adults, one has to ask, who watches stuff like this? The script, acting, story seems quite immature. It does feel more like a teen show, however it is on UK TV in a late evening slot. For this reason i suspect it won't pick up the viewers, and won't make a second season.

There are only a bunch of fantasy serials on TVs. Some are produced for pay-TV by spending a fortune for each episode, like Game of Thrones of HBO. And some are produced with a moderate budget, and you know what you can expect from them.

In this case -as always- 99 percent of the audience just watched the first or first two episodes, and just decided they have the right to judge and give 1-2 stars for a series that they don't actually care.

But there is always a group of people, that really admire those kind of productions. If you can see how the budget effects the production, you can still admire it. It is NOT so easy to produce a medieval fantasy serial without a Lord of the Rings budget. Design and production of all the settings, costumes, CGI are not childs play. And definitely not cheap. That of course restricts the story and the scripts. Which means, do not expect epic war scenes or huge indoor settings for example.

So yes, when I watched the first two episodes, I also saw the elements borrowed from other popular serials like GoT and Vikings. But that is not a reason for not watching. And to all the people that pulled the IMDb rating down after watching 15 minutes of this: you have missed a very good 10 episodes. And just because of your feckless and arrogant behaviour, this serial may not continue. You won't gain anything, but the ones that loved it will lose.

For anyone who is considering watching Beowulf, you should know that this is a British TV serial. Nothing you should compare with US series that have such budgets to employ celebrities, or shoot it in New Zealand or on Mars! But still... There are many good actors like most of other British productions, settings are very realistic and modest, computer generated monsters are really designed, modeled and blended so amazingly that you cant even decide what is taken to video and what part is generated. And the most important thing, starting from the third episode, the story deepens greatly. There is politics, human relations, fascism, hate, power, struggle, battles and fights. Music is awesome. Settings and sights are awesome. Cinematography is very good. There are many eerie and dark mysteries going on about the races and monsters. So instead of waiting for Game of Thrones for 10 months for just 10 episodes, or as far as I ve heard we are going to wait even 22 months at some point, you can easily watch Beowulf if you are really a fantasy lover.

If you are not, please don't rate something that you don't understand. Cos its unjust!

By the way, it is not a children's series but still naive in some ways, so you should not expect harsh elements like extreme blood or full frontal nudity.

And in short, as someone that have almost finished the first season, I can say this is definitely one of the best fantasy series/serials I have ever watched, and believe me I have watched at least 99 percent of that genre from medieval to futuristic.

First and foremost, this should never have been titled Beowulf... It you rate it on the title, then you give it a 1. I'll not rant on it as many others have already done it better than I.

Just watch it for what it is : pure pulp resurrected from the Conan Era, set in a low-fantasy crossover of Xena and Mad Max... Then, it stands its ground quite honestly, justifying my 7 rating.

Now I've got 242 chars left to fill, so I'll detail a little... It's neither a masterpiece nor utter crap, I see it as quite average but leaning on the good side... This applies to sets, stories, CGI, acting, but one thing is unmistakable : it has English flavor.... And as to the multicultural side, as it's by no means intended to any realism, I see no issue in this...

What stunning set design! and don't forget the superb, atmospheric score as well as the the script which evokes the period so well......but wait, (we shudder to a halt); oh, what a shame, the series is let down by the otherwise excellent cast in first two scenes who, unfortunately, are somewhat wooden, as well as the presentation of bog-standard SFX in the opening scene. Luckily for the viewer, things improve dramatically as the premiere episode moves on. Having said that, the positives far outweigh the negatives. Remember the early episodes of Games of Thrones? Poor, wooden acting that gave way to fluid, competent portrayals of well-known and beloved characters, who today, are household names.

During episode one, we see the cast struggling somewhat to fit their roles as the rest of us dress in our clothes, and yes, there is some fidgeting, as well as a little tugging here and there as we settle into our outfits, the same can be said, somewhat, of Beowulf's cast.

Are the sets realistic? Trust me, the sets are incredible, reflecting the very highest production values, creating exactly the right atmosphere, especially the Hall of the Mountain King which evokes the very best of Tolkienian fantasy. And what about the villages and towns? Incredibly, I believe they have been built from scratch.

Which reminds me, the titles also look amazing, truly of the era.

Where were we? Oh yes, episode one sees Beowulf as a child bereft, having just witnessed the death of his father following a fight against 'mud-born' trolls. Indeed, we see a very young Beowulf seize the moment and finish off the creatures.

Moving on, the audience witnesses the chronology flip forward and we get to see an older, rather more experienced and mature Beowulf returning home to visit with his beloved step-father Hrothgar, played brilliantly by William Hurt who always shines in these types of roles (remember Ridley Scott's Robin Hood?). However, on arriving, we discover Hrothgar dead and the family engaged in power politics with the crown as the prize. What of Beowulf? We find he is unwelcome, unwelcome indeed......

In closing, before turning over, I recommend you give the show the old college try as the adaptation has much to offer and the production behoves us all to persevere because the later episodes are absolutely first class.

Another excellent ITV production deserving of a heroic 8/10

Easy macgaffin. Nice horsemanship. Livable costumes. Great back drops outside. Yes it is campy. I enjoyed the casts output. How does the ocean break opposite on a spit?

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.