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an emotional connection, and
with good reason. The director
of this would-be epic has spent
his entire career in special
effects, but he shows no aptitude
for inspiring very much sympathy
toward his human characters.
First time director Stefan Fangmeier's
previous work has been as a
visual effects supervisor, often
for Industrial Light and Magic,
on projects like Lemony Snicket,
Signs, A Perfect Storm
and Casper.
With Eragon, he attempts
the feat accomplished by Peter
Jackson but the result is more
reminiscent of Ewe Boll, the
slapdash director of last year's
low budget Bloodrayne,
only pitched for a grammar school
audience.
Only children of that age are
likely not to notice or care
about the awkward and boring
exposition, the vapid cardboard
characters, or about the unavoidable
and unflattering comparision
to Tolkien, Lucas, McCaffrey
and C.S. Lewis.
The writer of Eragon's source
material is Christopher Paolini,
who wrote the novel during his
mid to late teens. His parents'
publishing company printed the
book's first edition, and Paolini
admirably set about selling
it and raising awareness about
it in every way he could. He
caught lightning in a bottle
when it was discovered by Knopf
Publishing and reprinted with
national distribution.
Whereas Tolkien and Lewis were
university educated scholars
with decades of studying classical
mythology behind them, Paolini
wrote Eragon as a boy with years
of watching Star Wars and reading
Lord of the Rings behind him.
The comparison is painfully
apparent, especially in the
shockingly shallow film version
of his tale.
Fans of the book will notice
painfully how most of the narrative
and many of the characters have
been stripped away. For those
new to the story, the realization
that John Malkovich's entire
performance looks and sounds
like it was filmed on a soundstage
in between lunch and dinner
will be painful enough.
In the role of the dragon-riding
hero Eragon, first time film
actor Edward Speleers is made
to look like a singer in a boy
band rather than the peasant
class farm boy he is meant to
be. Jeremy Irons as Brom the
mentor and Robert Carlyle as
Durza the undead sorcerer do
the best they can under the
circumstances, while the rest
of the cast are little more
than unexplained extras.
As the villains, the evil king's
army are a sad lot, looking
like a horde of fat, balding
couch potatoes and the evil
King Galbatorix, played by Malkovich,
never has a chance to do much
except throw sibilant hissy
fits.
In Eragon, the CG characters
both good and evil are the most
fun to watch. Eragon's dragon
Saphira (who roars ferociously,
but communicates telepathically
in the gentle voice of actress
Rachel Weisz) is an often thrilling
and entertaining character,
while the unhuman Ra'zac are
chilling to behold though underused.
Eragon (2006)
Directed by Stefan Fangmeier
Screenplay by Peter Buchman
Stars:
Edward Speleers ....... Eragon
Jeremy Irons ........ .......Brom
John Malkovich ............King
Galbatorix
Djimon Hounsou ....... Ajihad
Sienna Guillory ...........
Arya
Chris Egan ..................
Roran
Robert Carlyle .............
Durza
Garrett Hedlund .......... Murtagh
Rachel Weisz ..............
the voice of Saphira
Rated PG for fantasy violence,
intense battle sequences,
and some frightening images..
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