Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

Eragon (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Last night, I decided to take a break from all the website stuff and rent a movie. Whaddaya know, a sunday night and I’m going to take a break from work.

I didn’t have anything in mind, I just wanted something “good” so I browsed through the stuff and of course Eragon was there, just staring me in the face so I picked it up thinking “I have put it off long enough”.

I have had a little bit of trepidation about this movie because I just knew it wasn’t going to be something that really jazzed me - It’s no Lord of the Rings but then again what is?

Well anyway, the movie didn’t disappoint me in the fact that it did disappoint me. Pretty much exactly what I expected. Just another story about a farm boy that finds out he has a destiny to save the world. Of course he has magic powers that he has to learn how to control too. This movie just doesn’t bring anything new to the genre of fantasy. Everything is old hat. Here’s some major points (they are going to sound very familiar in that they have all been done before).

• Farm boy has destiny
• Farm boy refuses destiny briefly but takes up the challenge
• Unknown to him farm boy has magic powers
• Farm boy uses his new found magic powers and almost gets himself killed
• Farm boy finds wise mentor to teach him the ways of the force errr… magic
• Farm boy lives with uncle who gets killed by bad guys - (hmm… Luke Skywalker?)
• Farm boy’s parents are a mystery - Again with the Luke Skywalker? Betcha 20 bucks in the next movie the bad guy turns up to be Farm boys father (I’m your father luke!)

Okay, you must be getting the picture by now. There is nothing original in the movie. And for me, and my passion for fantasy and medieval things I was quite disappointed. There wasn’t even any real conflict and I almost laughed at one point in the movie - let me explain.

Joseph Campbell delineated the steps that a hero must take in order to achieve his fulfillment. This is well known by writers and by film makers. And one of the steps is the refusal of the call. This is where “farm boy” says: ” Hey, I am just an average person. I can’t do this! - No way!” And typically there is conflict and soul searching while the potential hero comes around to facing his destiny. He finds the courage to go for it. And this is something that is not lightly done. It takes time, work and thought to bring our hero onto his destined path.

But, in this movie this step lasted exactly 30 seconds. Eragon, when faced with his future, tells his mentor that he is just a farm boy and he can’t do any of this. His mentor gives him a two sentence speech and low and behold Eragon changes his mind and is ready to conquer the world. - very disappointing and I almost laughed.

Okie, I have panned this movie enough and here is what I say. The dragon is beautiful, some of the dragon riding scenes are fun, and there is some light yet fun action. This is simply a fantasy movie that doesn’t try to be anything else. If you are looking for a world to inspire you like LOTR, or something to evoke courage and passion like 300 then this movie isn’t that. If you just want to watch a movie on a sunday night to unwind from all the work without having to think then this is it.

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