December 27, 2006

Eragon



This movie blows chunks! I might actually think about seeing Napoleon Dynamite again before seeing this pile of crap again.

This movie seemed to have it all, good actors, nice fantasy storyline, pretty good CGI…so what the hell happened? This is definitely a good example of a thing not being as good as the sum of its parts.

First of all, I had no idea that this wasn’t a complete movie, but instead just a part of a larger story. Seriously, no clue. It wasn’t until the end of the movie when I noticed the fundamental change in the movie score that just screamed out “THE MOVIE’S ABOUT OVER…PICK UP YOUR SHIT AND GET READY TO GO HOME!” I even whispered to my wife (a cardinal sin unless you’re watching a crappy movie, then it’s just a lesser evil) “I think the movie is almost over”. I left feeling very, very unsatisfied. I remember watching the firs Lord of the Rings movie and Episode IV of the Star Wars Saga. I knew going in that there were two more movies and they had a specific beginning and end…..and I wanted to see the next saga. I have no idea where Eragon left off. Is it the middle of the story, the first chapter of a seven parter, what?

I haven’t read the book, so I have no idea or basis of comparison to taint my feelings of the movie. It sucks on it’s own, without any help from me.

The whole movie seemed rather rushed, like they had a lot of crap to stuff in…..which made me not really care about the characters too much. If the director doesn’t care about the story why should I? If they needed 3 hours to tell the story then take 3 *^&^%@$ing hours to tell the story!

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that there was some bad editing going on in this movie. Not that the editing itself was poor (Technically speaking- I’ve seen that enough in movies), but that the content was edited poorly. I wonder if a longer “Director’s Cut” would do the job. Since the Director decides what gets chopped and what doesn’t, I’ll have to blame him.

I don’t know who the Director is and I don’t care beyond making sure I stay away from any of his future efforts. Ok, a quick google search and its: Stefen Fangmeier (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0266777/). My initial reaction is that maybe he should go back to being a Visual Effects Supervisor or maybe get some more chair-time as a 2nd unit Director.

This movie had so much promise……..such a sad way to go (I’m talking about the $30 I spent taking the Mrs. out to see this movie)

1 comment:

Self-Hating Shrew said...

I had no desire to see this movie in the first place, but now I doubt if I'll even watch it when it makes it to basic cable.

I don't get the appeal of Eragon or Harry Potter. When I was a child, I read Lord of the Rings and played D&D, and now those things are considered "too advanced" for children and are thrown away in favor of lackluster recreations.