Merrick again...

Earlier this week, ERAGON almost made an 11 year old cry from disappointment (read about it HERE).

Here's Node-Z with an another less-than-enthusiastic look at the film.

had an opportunity to screen Eragon last night at my local theatre, and since I haven’t seen much on it in this forum yet, I thought I’d offer my half a cent...

Honestly, I hadn’t paid much attention to this movie until I was offered tickets; I’m aware of the books, but have never cracked the cover of any of them, and frankly, after seeing the movie, am not sure whether I should chase some of my curiosities by doing so, or should write this off as a flick for the fans only?

Before I skewer the movie, I have to admit that I was upbeat leaving the theatre, and the overall verdict was that I enjoyed myself. It’s a good natured film, and it definitely draws you into the moment after you get past some major flaws.

Eragon came off to me as a low budget geek flick, which is either a book hacked up into a script, with major sacrifices made in adaptation to save money and time, or just a very poorly conceived movie.

First: in the era of LOTR, or even the bloodless/sterile Narnia, if your skylines are obviously painted on, the director will need to be getting out the red pen and booking a plane for somewhere scenic to avoid criticism…that didn’t happen here. Especially in the beginning of the movie, where the mood reminds you of a scene from the Disney film Heidi, the mountainous terrain is not realistic enough to immerse you into the world the characters live in.

John Malkovich was atrocious. He seems to be chewing jerky with every spoken word, and I can’t forgive the filmmakers for this at all, given that it’s the same style he’s had in every movie I’ve ever seen him in.

For a couple positive notes, Jeremy Irons makes the movie; he’s the perfect fit for the character, and doesn’t leave you feeling as if you’re watching a B-movie on late night cable; that’s more than I can say for some others in the film. Also, the Shade turns out very well once we get to see him out of the castle walls. At first, the makeup was lost on me, and with it, the sense of a menacing villain wasn’t there. He looked like a knock off of LOTR’s Wormtongue while in the dark of the castle. However, daylight on that skin revealed a terrifying character, and that lighting lent a lot to the credibility of each scene he showed up in.

The “sacrifices” I mentioned are what make me wonder if I should give the books a try, or wait till a sequel arrives before completely writing this off. I don’t want to give anything substantial away here, but let’s just say that there are quite a number of characters that neither fall into the “extras” category, nor appear as core characters. There were a number of scenes that felt out of place, as if 90% of the plot about them was left on the cutting room floor. I can understand how it is necessary to introduce characters at specific times in a movie in order to set up later plotlines in the sequels, and if these plotlines/characters develop into something more later on in the series, the taste in my mouth regarding this film may change. For now, it all seems rather shabby.

Node-Z