Review: Eragon

[roguem]

ERAGON

Directed by:	Stefen Fangmeier
Written by:	Peter Buchman
Cast:	Jeremy Irons, Robert Carlyle, Djimon Hounsou, Sienna Guillory, Ed Speleers, John Malkovich

I went in expecting it to suck, I hadn’t planned to see it, but after a week of moving boxes I figured it’d be a nice break and I wanted to spend some time with my friends.

It was a bit better than I had expected, but I had expected to be bored out of my mind. It had its moments. I was amused, and entertained, but there were also moments that I was bored.

 

When the film first started I thought that it reminded me a bit about “Earthsea”, then as it progressed I saw elements of “The Lord of the Rings” and even an element or two from “Harry Potter”. One of the creatures and some events reminded me a lot of “Wizard’s First Rule”. So it had borrowed a lot from other elements, and the cinematography didn’t help with trying to separate this film from the others.

 

Seeing Jeremy Irons again was great, same goes for Robert Carlyle, though neither had much to work with, they did the best they could.

John Malkovich seemed just to have put on his Cyrus the Virus persona again, however it wasn’t very intimidating

 

The little Saphira was adorable, that had to be my favourite parts of the film, the scenes where she was a baby. If they make plush toys or something of he, I’m sure it’ll be a big seller.

 

I understood that being a dragonrider was a very important role, but after the word had been emphasised several times I got tired of it. Pretty much every time it was mentioned the person who said dragonrider put this tone in his or her voice that made it sound like some kind of doomed thing. It just happened to often and ended up loosing its importance. By the third time I wanted to tell the screen: “We get it, it’s important!”

 

Message to moviemakers! Fight scenes and close-ups don’t mix! You can expect the audience to get a reaction from the audience during a fight scene if they can’t see what’s going on.

 

I got as much out of watching this film as “Harry Potter”, I was entertained, but it will never end up in my collection.

 

isil80 also said that the book is better. I’ll have to take her word for it as the film didn’t really inspire me to want to pick up the book anytime soon.

Comments

[miss-nightowl.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I have absolutely no idea what this movie is about, but I´ve agreed to go and see it nonetheless.
I don´t really expect to be over the moon about it though.

[roguem.livejournal.com]

Fekk du sett den? Kva syns du?

Den er jo retta mot LOTR og Harry Potter fans med tanke på innholdet, men eg syns ikkje den holdt seg godt nok.

[va-ronin.livejournal.com]

Yea I was all set to see it until two trusted sources said it was only so-so. I guess now with your review that makes it three trusted sources. One of my BIGGEST movie pet-peeves is a fight scene that's filmed horribly.

[roguem.livejournal.com]

So you stayed away?
I didn't expect much... if the trailer got you exited there might be something there for you. The trailer didn't impress me.

The fight scenes weren't horrible. There were just some parts of them where they had close ups and it was impossible to see who was getting the most hits in.

[fresco-senorita.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that this film isn't doing so hot. It seemed to have a huge reaction from everyone. Now I'm not sure I want to see it in theatres. I think I might just download it.

[roguem.livejournal.com]

Well I was never that hyped to see it, and the trailer confirmed that for me. I'm sure there are people who will like it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/ladywolf_/]

Jeg likte den.. I mine øyne var feilen at den var for kort, og at de virket litt som de hadde hastet seg gjennom storyen.. Jeg har hatt lyst til å lese bøkene en stund, og kommer nok til å gjøre det, men det er ikke så mye filmens fortjeneste som det faktumet at jeg sluker fantasy og eventyr bøker.

Hvis de lager en baby saphira bamse så skal jeg ha en... :) skjønneste..

[roguem.livejournal.com]

Eg følte og at dei kjørte igjennom historien veldig fort. For meg føles det og som om handliga skjedde i løpet av ei veke, eg reknar med at det er fleire månader i boka.

Eg liker veldig godt fantasy eg og, men så er det jo og det at eg er blitt meir kritisk til ting etter film skulen. Litt kjipt.
Ikkje at eg trur eg hadde vert overbegeistra for denne filmen uansett.

Den var bare herlig.

[roguem.livejournal.com]

Star Wars too? Hadn't thought about that. Thought considering Eragon was left with his uncle I'm thinking the parent will pop up again at some point.
I have no clue, haven't read the books, but I guess when a 15 year old writes them he's bound to get inspiration from other big things.

I didn't think he was horrible, but he wasn't great either. I kind of suck at judging that stuff unless it's blatantly obvious. As for now I can't really see a shining carrere in his future.

[tygerx.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen it yet, but will go back to this when I do. I'm sure I will soon cuz my dragon obsessed friend is dying to see it!

[roguem.livejournal.com]

Let me know what you think.
We tend to agree, so am curious.

[tygerx.livejournal.com]

I did read your review and seems I enjoyed it more than you did, lol. Although I do know what you mean when you said their emphasis on 'dragon rider' got annoying. I didn't have much expectations with it so I just took as a fun popcorn movie I guess. ;) My friend read the books so she told me how they changed a few things.

[roguem.livejournal.com]

Think my review came across as more negative than I intended.
It was a popcorn movie, and I did enjoy bits of it.
I do suspect my education has made me more critical that I would have been before.

[tygerx.livejournal.com]

No worries.. I had a friend who was a film major and he tended to critique films more than most too. When you're more involved in the process it's hard not to!

[roguem.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've tried to let go of the movie student within, but sometimes it's hard.