The German TV broadcast version (by ProSieben MAXX - broadcast on 8 June 2014) was compared with the Polish DVD by Carisma.

In a border post there are terrible murders, because every night one of the soldiers is killed by the monster Grendel. The mysterious stranger Beowulf breaks through the siege ring built around the castle to help the inhabitants. King Hrothgar welcomes the newcomer, but Beowulf will further be viewed critically. The King's daughter Kyra is interested in Beowulf and slowly a love affair develops. As it turns out, Hrothgar once had an affair with an attractive young woman who is actually a witch. Grendel emerged from this relationship. With greatest effort Beowulf manages to defeat the monster, but the joy is short-lived, because the revenge of Grendel's mother is terrible.

Beowulf's heroic saga was transferred to a post-apocalyptic future or an alternative past for the 1999 film adaptation, which never becomes quite clear. Ultimately, it doesn't matter much, because when techno music bursts out of the speakers while Christopher Lambert fights the monster with unusual weapons, the heart of the B-movie lover beats faster. The adaptation is very well done and captivates especially with the unusual setting to which the saga was adapted, Lambert's cool appearance and Rhona Mitra's deep cleavage.

The Polish DVD by Carisma shows some differences to the current versions. On the one hand the picture quality is clearly better than on the German DVD or the German TV broadcasts and on the other hand the image is available in Open Matte, i.e. in the upper and lower area there is clearly more to see. The finale is interesting because after the monster was defeated and Beowulf fled with Kyra from the castle, the border post appearance in the Polish DVD has changed. In the last shot you can also see how the silhouette of Grendel's mother forms from the smoke clouds in the sky, while in the German version only smoke rises.
I also have the Japanese DVD from Sony Pictures, which is identical to the German version. Apparently the changes are actually only found on the Polish DVD. One can only speculate about the reason for the change. Maybe there are actually two different versions, one of which mysteriously reached Poland or the Polish distributor made the change himself. Since the image of these scenes gets a bit darker, it could be that they were digitally reworked.

You can order the Polish DVD without any problems, just follow this Amazon.co.uk link. Because of the clearly better image quality and not least because of the curious change in the finale a purchase is worthwhile itself.

Image comparison:

Running times:

Polish DVD: 83:29 min.

[01:53:26][01:21:48]

As Beowulf and Kyra flee, the Polish DVD shows an alternative shot of the exploding border post.

Each 3 sec.


[01:53:34][01:21:56]

Again, an alternative shot can be seen.

Each 2 sec.


[01:53:44][01:22:06]

When Beowulf and Kyra flee on horseback, the border post in the background looks different.

11 sec. each


[01:54:42][01:23:05]

Even in the last shot, as the two riding away the border post differs. The Polish DVD also shows the contours of Grendel's mother in the clouds of smoke.

Each 21 sec.