Review of Eragon (2006) by Joseph C — 18 Nov 2012

Believe it or not, I am a fan of the book "Eragon." Some people claim that it's a rip off of Star Wars, but what ISN'T a "rip off" of Star Wars? George Lucas simply took the Hero's Journey and put it in space; to complain about Christopher Paolini using archetypes is to complain about fiction itself.

That said, I'm aware that the book has flaws. It's not as well-written as "Harry Potter", the world isn't as well-developed as "Lord of the Rings", and (being a book) it lacks the spectacle of "Star Wars." That said, the book is rather imaginative in parts, and I think most critics were rather unfair to the book based on their experiences with this movie.

I do try to keep an open mind when it comes to adaptations. Not every adaptation is going to be completely faithful to the source material; I know that. Sometimes the adaptation exceeds the source material, such as the musical version of "Les Miserables." So even though I may hate a movie for destroying something I love ("The Lightning Thief" comes to mind), I do try to judge it based on quality alone.

This film sucks. I have no doubt that Edward Speelers is a perfectly nice kid, and I'd love to see him with a good screenplay in front of him, but... Come on. You call that a performance? I will say this, he's every bit as good as Mark Hamill was in Star Wars. (Just so you know, I believe with every fiber of my being that Mark Hamill is one of the worst things to happen to Star Wars, right up there with Jar Jar Binks and fucking Nien Nub).

For a fantasy film, it's not very fantastic. The film is just very drab, with a lot of dull colors and lackluster creature designs. The action is bland, and never exciting.

There are some good aspects. Garrett Hedlund isn't terrible as Murtaugh, although he has little to do. Robert Carlyle has a lot of fun hamming it up as Durza the Shade, and he elevates the film whenever he's on screen. Similarly, Jeremy Irons is actually quite good as Brom.

The few good elements make the movie strangely watchable, and it's a lot of fun to riff on MST3K style. It's strangely worth owning, even though it's awful.