Beowulf is a 2007 movie based on the Old English epic poem "Beowulf".

Set in Denmark, the film opens with King Hrothgar celebrating the construction of his new mead hall, Heorot. The noise of the celebration echoes into Grendels cave and torments him. In a mad fury, Grendel breaks into the hall and kills many people. After being challenged by Hrothgar Grendel runs off into the night. Back at his lair, Grendel is admonished by his unseen mother for attacking the humans and possibly inviting retribution. She calms down after Grendel tells her that he did not harm Hrothgar.

Meanwhile, Hrothgar closes Heorot and proclaims that he will give half of his kingdom in gold to any man who can defeat Grendel. Beowulf and his men arrive by ship from Geatland and convince Hrothgar to reopen Heorot. Beowulfs credibility is challenged by Unferth, the Kings most trusted advisor. Beowulf proceeds to tell a tale to convince the people of Heorot that he is capable of killing Grendel. Hrothgar offers Beowulf his Golden drinking horn in the event that Grendel is destroyed.

Later Hrothgar and Queen Wealtheow argue. Hrothgar states that he needs an heir. Wealtheow refuses to comply due to Hrothgars earlier involvement with Grendels mother (thus conceiving Grendel).

That evening, Beowulf asks his men to sing loudly. Grendel is agitated once again and attacks the hall in a blind fury. While fighting Grendel, Beowulf discovers an external eardrum and begins to attack it. This disorients Grendel who then tries to escape. Beowulf traps him with chains and later slams the door on his arm breaking it off. Beowulf is proclaimed a hero and Grendels arm is nailed above the door of Heorot.

After Grendel returns to the cave to die, Grendels mother cries out in grief over the loss of her son. Determined to avenge his death, she flies to Heorot in a rage. She initially appears to Beowulf in a dream disguised as Wealtheow. When Beowulf wakes from the dream he finds that all of his men are dead except for Wiglaf, who (striken with grief at the deaths of some of the other men in Beowulfs band) had elected to forego the festivities and tend to the ship. Beowulf confronts Hrothgar, whose evasive answers imply that he knows more of Grendels past than he will state openly, tells Beowulf how he can find Grendels mother. Unferth, who has by this time converted to Christianity, appears before Beowulf and apologizes to him for his previous behavior, offering him the use of his ancestral sword Hrunting, which Beowulf accepts.

Beowulf and Wiglaf find the cave. Beowulf enters it alone, eventually confronting Grendels mother. She appears to him as a beautiful nude woman with golden liquid dripping from her skin. She promises him fame and power if he gives her a son. She also demands the Horn of Hrothgar with the promise that as long as it is in her safekeeping, Heorot will be safe. As she entices Beowulf, she melts Hrunting with her bare hands. Beowulf gives in to her temptations.

Beowulf returns to Heorot and tells a disbelieving Hrothgar that he killed Grendels mother. Hrothgar states that his curse has been lifted (implying that it has passed to Beowulf) and then publicly proclaims Beowulf heir to his kingdom -- and its queen. Hrothfar leaps from his balcony and falls to his death. Beowulf is crowned king and marries Wealtheow.

Many years pass. King Beowulf is now old and disillusioned, a shadow of his former self. Unferths servant has found the Horn of Hrothgar upon a stretch of moors, and Unferth presents it to the king. Beowulf sees this as a sign that Grendels mother will return and dreams that evening of a man in gold, who threatens both the old Queen Wealtheow and Beowulfs young mistress, Ursula. (The two women get along better than one would imagine.) The next day, a fierce dragon attacks a village outside of Heorot and leaves a message with Unferth for Beowulf, after having slain Unferths wife and children in front of him.

Beowulf, intending to break the cycle of foreign heroes killing the current monster only to father another one by the same female demon, rides with Wiglaf to the cave of Grendels mother to kill the dragon. Beowulf tells Wiglaf that he has instructed the heralds to proclaim Wiglaf king should Beowulf fall in the coming battle. Beowulf enters the cave alone and attempts to mollify Grendels mother by returning the Dragon Horn to her. She tells him it is too late to do that and then sends the dragon to attack Heorot. As the dragon attacks Queen Wealtheow and Ursula, Beowulf kills it by a daring maneuver: While dangling from the dragon on a chain, Beowulf is unable to reach the dragons heart with his sword. He then severs his own arm in order to be able to reach it. As he is feeling through the dragons innards to reach its heart, the dragon swallows some of Heorots battlement on which Wealtheow and Ursula are attempting to take cover, jostling the sword from Beowulfs hand. Beowulf then proceeds to rip the heart from the dragon by using his bare hand. Wealtheow and Ursula survive.

The two fall to the shores far below. The dragon reverts to the golden man of Beowulfs dream, whom Beowulf realizes is his son. He then dies in Wiglafs arms.

Wiglaf prepares a Viking funeral for Beowulf. As Wiglaf watches the burning boat loaded with Beowulfs treasure that serves as Beowulfs funeral pyre, he sees Grendels mother kissing the corpse amidst the flames shortly before the boat sinks. The Dragon Horn washes ashore at Wiglafs feet. As he picks it up, Grendels mother emerges from the sea, beckoning him. The movies ending is ambiguous about what Wiglaf will do next. (Hrothgar became king after killing a dragon that was terrorizing the people, and at some point fathered Grendel; Beowulf became king after killing Grendel, and fathered and later slew a golden dragon; Wiglaf is now king and had a hand in slaying the golden dragon).