Eragon is based on the best-selling novel of the same name, part of the Inheritance trilogy written by Christopher Paolini. The land of Alagaesia is ruled by an evil King, the last of the once great dragon Riders who brought peace, governance and prosperity, until one of their own turned on them and wiped them out. Now there are only three dragon eggs, waiting for their chosen riders, and the only hope of defeating the tyrant. There are people who fight him, but most hide away for fear of annihilation. Having stolen an egg, the elves travel back and forth looking for the rider, until they are ambushed on the road and forced to transport the egg to safety, where it is found by Eragon, a farm hand, and the egg opens and the dragon inside bonds with him. The race is then on to keep the dragon secret and to get them both to the Varden, those who can provide shelter and training.
I like a bit of heroic fantasy, although the book is far from classic literature, it’s a compelling read. Actually, it was recommended to me by my sister, so it isn’t a boys’ own thing either. We went to see the movie together, despite reading bad reviews of it.
For the most part they were right. It wasn’t a bad movie, there just wasn’t much good about it either. It was always going to be a tough job squeezing the novel into a film and while some recent movie adaptations (Harry Potter for example) have suffered from over-long run times, Eragon comes in at only 104 minutes, way too short a time to fit in any real development paste the initial setup. What you end up with is a similar approach to that used in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where they don’t try to cut anything but the boring travel sequences and we end up screaming through the story like it’s on fast forward with a few signposts thrown in to try and give you some idea of where the plot is going. Either they needed to make extensive cuts, or split the movie into two.
I’m not sure about the lead actor, newcomer Edward Speleers. While his acting is no worse than anyone elses, he looks like he has just walked in from a teen girls magazine, which means he has to work twice as hard to make you believe. There are some big names in the film: Jeremy Irons play Brom for example, Robert Carlyle is the Shade, Durza. Djimon Hounsou takes on the role of Ajihad, Rachel Weisz voices the dragon, Saphira, but probably the biggest name is John Malkovich, who plays the evil King Galbatorix. Unfortunately they are given little time on screen to win us over and little to make us empathise or care for them. Most of them have very little time to make any kind of impression and much of the dialog they do have is very clunky and awkward, I’m not sure if this is from the book or whether they changed lines. Malkovich spends all of his scenes in a tiny dark room shouting at Durza as if yelling makes him evil, hollow threats of doing nasty things to Durza undermines him too. Not what you’d expect from a King.
Most of the technical stuff is fine, the cinematography and set design are good, the music is a little off and the costumes, while fine for the most part, are just plain stupid where the lead character is concerned. He spends most of the film walking around in something that looks like he stepped off the catwalk rather than inhabiting a realm akin to the middle ages.
I’ve seen Dungeons and Dragons, another bad film, and when you add that to the many other failed or mediocre attempts at films in the fantasy genre you can see why Hollywood typically shuns it, but equally it makes Peter Jackson’s efforts with The Lord of the Rings all the more amazing and you wonder why they won’t do whatever it takes to secure him for The Hobbit.
It’s enjoyable, but forgettable, something to pick out of the bargain DVD bucket for a bit of switch your brain off entertainment (and some fantastic scenery), just don’t expect too much.
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