A STAR IS BORN:
I couldn’t resist…I had to go to the midnight showing of the
Eragon movie. And overall I was not disappointed. There were some things that
I would have liked to have seen and some things I could’ve done without...but
for the most part, I liked the movie.
Let me start this review by answering the question that I left my
editorial “How about that trailer” with. In that editorial, I had talked about
several things based on that 1st trailer that I thought I liked and
what I didn’t like. And I closed stating that I would be going to see the
movie, but was wondering if I would be going back to see it over and over again.
The answer to that question is yes. I will be going back in a
day or two and let me do alittle Ebert & Roeper here…I give it two thumbs. I
sat there during the midnight show at Yorktown 17 in Lombard IL with a bunch of
other Inheritance fans and really enjoyed myself. I thought it was
entertaining.
I thought that Fox did a good job maintaining most of the core
story. Don’t get me wrong…there were some glaring omissions that I don’t really
understand. I mean…WHERE WAS SOLEBUM?!?! I do believe that he is a very very
important part to upcoming scenes from book 2 and possibly book 3. Let’s get to
some positives for a bit.
I have to applaud the casting of Ed Speleers in the lead role of
Eragon…he was simply marvelous! I really hadn’t expected the level of comfort
that he maintained in the role. It was like a second skin. I mean, I had
thought that he would be good in the part, after all he wouldn’t have been cast
in the lead of a feature film if he wasn’t good. But it was more than that. He
held a natural ease in the part that many actors who have been in the profession
for many years haven’t achieved in any part they’ve had. He’s a natural…as I
said at the very beginning of this article…a star is born.
Jeremy Irons was just brilliant as I had expected he would be.
He always delivers a stellar performance…I love Jeremy…he did not disappoint one
bit. If there is any disappointment surrounding Jeremy Irons performance. It’s
that we didn’t get to see enough of it. I wanted more Brom! I think there
should’ve been more time spent to show the mentor relationship develop. What
was shown, was awesome…Jeremy is such a wonderful actor…yeah I know, I’m
gushing…but he really was brilliant in the part. I was so happy that the scene
was there where Saphira encased Brom in crystal to protect his body after his
death.
Sienna Gilroy was so beautiful and natural as Arya that you just
know that she IS Arya in her heart and soul. As I also had
thought she would be because she is such a wonderful actress. You don’t even
remember that the book Arya had black hair. It doesn’t matter…it’s irrelevant.
Sienna was spectacular.
I also really enjoyed Rachel Weisz as Saphira’s voice. I’ve
always liked the movies that she’s been in so I’m glad that she was cast for her
voice. Great fit Fox!
I don’t know how it was when you all were sitting in the theater,
but when Saphira hatched and then again when she was sleeping next to Eragon and
looked up into his face…the whole audience had a collective “Aaahh”… baby
Saphira was so cute. I want a Saphira doll!!! Where do I get one
Although I did like the movie and I will go at least once more
with a friend who didn’t get to go with us on Thursday night, I have to tell the
truth of what I had hoped for that wasn’t on the screen
I had expressed concern about a couple of things that I should
talk about here. I had said that I didn’t care for the big blue stone in the
hilt of Zar’roc. I thought that it looked out of place and didn’t belong on a
red sword. I felt that in looking at the still pictures and the trailer that
the big blue stone looked to be distracting from the red sword. But you know
what, it really wasn’t that much of a distraction. I didn’t even notice the
difference in color between the stone and the sword after awhile so that concern
is gone.
Another concern I had from the 1st trailer I saw was
when Durza was riding something that I thought looked like a dragon. I was so
happy when subsequent trailers and movie clips surfaced, so I knew going into
the movie that it wasn’t a dragon but rather, “something evil” so that concern
was also gone before walking into the theatre.
The last concern that I had expressed was in a previous editorial
and concerned Angela portrayed by Josh Stone. I left it saying that I would
have to withhold judgment until I saw her performance. Seeing still pictures of
her before going to see the movie, I was really worried that this “spangly -
made up” Angela wasn’t going to work. I had envisioned Angela more subdued in
her appearance. But I guess that you could say that Angela being in her shop
where she gives readings, maybe she would look like this because this is how
people coming for a reading would expect her to look. But for Eldest this look
won’t work. After all there’s a point where she’s slipping thorough the enemy
lines and poisons them. At that point she’ll need to have a serious costume
change and dress “way down”. As for Joss Stone’s performance, well…all I can
say is that she was only on the screen for a very short time, so she didn’t ruin
the movie for me. Sorry, but I thought she was very stiff and un-connected to
the part. Fox…you could’ve done better here.
The worst part was that there was no Solebum…I was so
disappointed. His words are so pivotal, that I can’t imagine why he was left
out.
Another cast member missing in action was Katrina. I thought
that Tamsin Egerton seemed to be a great fit in casting for the part of
Katrina. So what happened to her? Doesn’t that put a damper on half of the 2nd
movie? I mean half of book 2 is Roran looking for Katrina…someone who wasn’t
even introduced. Also, what happened to the twins? How do you explain how
Murtagh finds out that they are brothers without the twins to “figure it out
while digging around” in Eragon’s mind?
I was alittle concerned after seeing the movie about a few things
that I‘ll share with you here. I was upset about the end of the movie…I mean
Eragon is suppose to go to Ellesmera with Arya and Orik, Murtagh wasn’t captured
either. They kinda lightly touched on the fact that Eragon was injured by Durza
and the stone of
Isidar
Mithrim
was left undamaged. Anyway, as I was saying…I was going on and on about the
things that were missing and my movie buddy said a couple of things that calmed
me down, so I’ll tell you what he said. He said that it’s possible that in the
2nd movie they will have flash backs to the fight with Durza and show
more detail at that time, then as Eragon starts showing the effects of the
Shade’s injury to his back maybe some cool slow-motion thing will show the
actual injury happen and the effects will creep up on him just at they did with
Arya. She didn’t show the effects all at once…they sort of grew in intensity
until she collapsed. Maybe they’ll do something similar with Eragon’s injury.
Hello…that injury is kinda important in Eldest! So much hinges and surrounds
that injury – you can’t just ignore it like that. So, I hope that he was
right…anyway that explanation got me to shut up for awhile. And as for Murtagh,
it’s possible that when Eragon gets back from saying goodbye to Arya, Murtagh
will have been kidnapped and the rest of it will happen at that time at the
beginning of the 2nd movie.
Remember, in the Lord of the Rings, the 1st movie
didn’t end where the 1st book ended, so maybe their going that route.
I heard an interview with the director or someone and understand
– sorta – why they wanted to maintain a PG rating. But it really did take away
from what the movie could have been. It really needed more for the full
effect. It wouldn’t have hurt to leave some of the things in and made the movie
2 hours. I think there were some vital things left out.
I asked my friend if he thought anything was lacking in the
movie, since he hadn’t read the book…he said no, that he was able to follow it
and he liked it. But understood why I was initially upset about the missing
items, and agreed that they would have been a great addition to the movie.
Maybe that’s all something to look forward to on the DVD. Hey, maybe we’ll get
to see the deleted scenes on a double disk set…YEAH!
But in closing, as I said, overall…I liked the movie. I felt the
majority of the cast really did well. I had made a characterization in my
editorial about the movie earlier in the year, and said that I thought the movie
would go one of two ways. It would go the way of Harry Potter (entertaining,
but lacking in essential plots translating to the screen) or The Lord of the
Rings (perfection). Eragon followed the Harry Potter mold…entertaining, but it
could have been so much more.
d
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