A farm boy finds a dragon’s egg, leading him on a journey, where he discovers he’s a dragon rider and the only person who can defend his home against the evil king who had killed off most other dragon riders.
When I first saw the trailer for this movie I thought that the dragon looked really fake with CGI. Upon seeing the movie, I couldn’t help but compare it to Lord of the Rings, by far a much better movie in every way. This is what Lord of the Rings would have been like if it had been done as a TV movie, rather than a big-screen movie. The budget was actually larger, but there were mostly unknowns for many of the parts and a weaker story overall. This is not to say that this movie is a total washout or that you should skip it altogether because it does have its
positives. It is entertaining and readers of the book by Christopher Paolini might like it more. Having not read the book, I can not judge it as a comparison adaptation, but knowing how most movies are, I highly doubt that this movie did the book justice. It feels like a watered-down action movie with a fantasy background.
As it stands in the movie, the story is not original at all. I’ve seen it done a dozen times, where the hero of the story was destined to be just that, legend turned real. If anyone has read Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, you will
know that in that series, the hero is a young farm boy who becomes the hero of legend, just like Eragon. Really, the only difference is that Eragon flies on a dragon. I’m guessing that the dragon riders are a lot cooler in the book,
because here it is rather boring, to me at least. The basic story here is easy to follow but not very mysterious or intriguing. It’s definitely predictable and rather boring too.
The story is very rushed, with major turning points occurring in the story almost instantaneously, without any easing into the changes which probably are supposed to be occurring over long durations of time. I really
don’t like that shortcut of the writing.
Eragon’s character starts out not being able to fight very well at all and, by the end of the movie, he still can’t fight very well at all. If he supposed to be a hero, I think I rather side with the enemy. Edward Speleers does fairly
well with the starring role, much to the contrary of other critics. I just think that it’s the writers’ fault that his character was bland, boring and very undeveloped to the point that I really didn’t care about him. His character
seems a bit dimwitted, like a sports jock. He just does what others tell him, but he is supposed to be a legendary hero! Also, why is he one of the few characters with a British accent while all of the other main cast members do not? It just doesn’t seem to fit.
Jeremy Irons does a great job as Brom, one of the last dragon riders left and mentor of Eragon. John Malkovich is creepy as King Galbatorix, thevillain of the story, not unlike that of Saruman in Lord of the Rings. He looks like a vampire. Garrett Hedlund does a good job as Murtagh, son of a dragon rider gone bad. He seemed more heroic than
Eragon, both the character and the actor. Unfortunately, his role in the movie is not very large.
I thought that the dragon, Saphira, voiced by Rachel Weisz, was the star of the show here. The dragon, as a baby, is so cute- I wanted one! She grows up from about two-foot to full-size in a few seconds though, which was weird. As an adult, the dragon still looks good although a bit too CGI. And the dragon’s telepathy seemed like a cheap way of keeping the costs of her mouth moving to a minimum. Rachel Weisz has a nice voice but it
just didn’t seem to fit the dragon’s appearance well.
The SFX, other than the dragon, were passable but not the best. Galbatorix’ makeup was pretty good and very creepy. He looked a bit like Full Moon’s Radu. There is no gore that I remember seeing. The Razac are like Lord of the Rings’ orcs (I believe they were orcs) and while a bit formidable, they just didn’t look as good as the orcs.
The music was very out of place for many scenes. In one particular scene, right after Brom first meets Eragon and tells him to run before the evil guys get there, they are both riding their horses across a mountaintop and the music playing is big, loud and inspiring. But, this is severely out of place because they are not doing anything heroic, nor have they done so yet. The music just seemed more awesome than the scenes called for.
There are tons of plot holes here which can drive you crazy. And surprise, surprise the ending is left open for a sequel.
Overall, not a good big budget ($100,000,000) movie at all. But, if you compare it to a TV movie, such as those on the sci-fi channel, this is comparatively good. It has some good actors, who are not used very well and/or not used enough. It is slightly entertaining, but mediocre and definitely not something I’d want to see again. View this bad Lord of the Rings clone at your own risk! 2/5
Cast:
Edward Speleers …. Eragon
Jeremy Irons …. Brom
Sienna Guillory …. Arya
Robert Carlyle …. Durza
John Malkovich …. King Galbatorix
Garrett Hedlund …. Murtagh
Alun Armstrong …. Uncle Garrow
Christopher Egan …. Roran (as Chris Egan)
Gary Lewis …. King Hrothgar
Djimon Hounsou …. Ajihad
Rachel Weisz …. Saphira (voice)
Richard Rifkin …. Horst
Steve Speirs …. Sloan
Joss Stone …. Angela
Tamsin Egerton …. Katrina
Michael Mehlmann …. Villager #1
Tamás Deák …. Villager #2
Matt Devere …. Tall Soldier
Máté Haumann …. Sergeant
Caroline Chikezie …. Nasuada
Andrea Fazekas …. Horst’s Wife
Ágnes Bánfalvy …. Varden Woman
Pál Makrai …. Varden Guard
Spencer Wilding …. Razac #1
Gábor Hortobágyi …. Razac #2
Directed by
Stefen Fangmeier
Writing credits
Peter Buchman (screenplay)
Christopher Paolini (novel)
_________________________________________
Article written by John Gugie, © 2007 butyoudontlooksick.com