There's been another little flurry of interest in Beowulf lately, mainly evidenced by a DVD that has been circulating a lot, with Ray Winstone, Robin Wright Penn, John Malkovich et al. A few years ago a new translation came out by Seamus Heaney, too.
My favorite version of the Beowulf epic was the one John Gardner did from the point of view of the monster, titled "Grendel". A short book, quirky and well worth reading. (I am a big John Gardner fan, "The Sunlight Dialogues" was my Bible during high school).