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Movie Reviews, & Film Industry Commentary
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2006 – PG – 103 min.
Director: Stefen Fangmeir
Primary Cast: Ed Speleers, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, Djimon Honsou, John Malkovich, Joss Stone, Voice of Rachel Weisz
Stars ** 1/2 (of 5)
Popcorn *** (of 5)
Film Type(s): Fantasy, Adventure
Synopsis: Farm boy Eragon (Speleers) is out hunting one night when a mysterious stone appears before him. He soon realizes that the stone is in fact an egg; an egg containing a dragon. When the dragon hatches, he develops a psychic connection with her and learns that her name is Saphira (Rachel Weisz) and he is the last of the Dragon Riders that protect the land of Alagaesia. He soon learns from town storyteller Brom (Irons) about Dragons and how the evil king (Malkovich) had them and their riders killed, driving the Varden resistance movement out of the kingdom. As Eragon learns more on his adventure, he realizes that he needs to save the girl that sent him the egg (Guillory) before the ‘Shade’ Durza (Carlyle) that works for the king kills her and obliterates the Varden.
Review: This film comes more to mind as Star Wars / Willow meets Lord of the Rings rather than an action film in it’s own right. Princess sends message to boy, boy learns from message and gets mentor in process, when boy storms stronghold to rescue princess the mentor is killed, big bad that was after Princess comes after boy, etc. The costumes, special effects, and makeup in this movie are all excellent, but the dialogue borders on anemic. To their credit, Irons and Weisz as the mentor Brom and Dragon Saphira do their best with what they are given, but are hindered by a generic script and clunky direction from Effects wizard Fangmeir. The book on which this film is based is the first part of the “Inheritance Trilogy” by Christopher Paolini, who was 19 when the book was published. For those that are aware of this, the film ends in an obvious set-up for the sequel, Eldest, and causes the film version to end rather abruptly. (The finale of the trilogy has yet to be titled or released at the time of this review.) It is also about the only reason why Malkovich’s evil king is even seen, having only a half dozen lines but being built up as the heavy. This would have proven more effective had the character even appeared in the books to date, where he is more of prescience than character. That’s British soul singer Joss Stone as a witch that tell’s Eragon his future. This one is primarily for fans of the books. One bright spot: Rock singer Avril Lavigne’s end credits song “Keep Holding On”.
Awards Likely: Oscar nominations for the Special Effects and Song “Keep Holding On” with a remote possibility of a nomination for Costume Design.
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