Honeyed Words: Era-going-going-gone!

Era-going-going-gone! · 18 December 2006

A few months ago, when I first saw the Eragon poster, I made a comment to the effect of “It looks pretty campy, but I’ll probably see it anyway.” I then proceeded to try to guess which fantasy stereotype each of the featured characters would be. I’m disappointed to say that I only got about fifty percent correct.

Eragon Movie Poster

Our hero, front and center, was obvious, as is his love interest as the only female in the picture. I also correctly pegged the Jeremy Irons character as the mentor, wise in the way of the world, and the obviously over uglified bad sorcerer with the pale face and stringy blood colored hair. The youth in the back, I had earmarked as the less fortunate, slightly sullen cousin or other distant relative, destined to work against our hero as he acted out his jealousy. Alas, I was wrong on that one. I also completely mixed up the evil king and the good rebel leader. Knowing nothing about the story before seeing the poster, I had labeled John Malkovich as the good guy in power and Djimon Hounsou as the minion of the evil sorcerer. Sadly to say, this exercise was a large chunk of the enjoyment I gained from the movie experience.

But first, just in case you’d like to save yourself the time of reading about all the bad points, let me say that the artists at Industrial Light & Magic and WETA Digital who rendered the dragon Saphria are amazing. If your sole purpose in seeing the movie is to watch a beautifully executed dragon come to life on the screen, you will not be disappointed. The only complaint I have about the visuals on Saphira is that they didn’t include enough scenes of her as a young dragon. The young character model was strikingly adorable, vicious as a young predator, curious and cuddly as a kitten, and the movie would have benefited from showcasing more of her. Now, on to everything else about the movie.

I empathize with the decision to include an epic narrative introduction as the first scene; it’s a device I have to stop myself from using quite often while writing the introduction to anything in my own stories. Film makers should know though that the power of their medium is in the ability to show the audience what we need to know, not tell us. The awkward narrative introduction overlaid on a flight scene bespoke the character of the film, both awkward and ineffective.

The times that the movie asked the viewer to suspend disbelief that was too ridiculous to be suspended are numerous. In just one sequence, we are asked to ignore our better judgment about good story telling and follow the vision of a world in which everything works out because it needs to work that way to advance the “plot.” First trouble comes to Eragon’s village. Instead of running away from it, like the rest of the sane villagers rushing towards us on the screen, Eragon pokes around, presumably to figure out what all the fuss is about. Honestly, are we expected to believe that he is that stupid? After returning to his farm, Saphira picks up Eragon for a breakneck bareback ride to rescue him from the coming raiders. Without straps or hand holds, Eragon manages to keep mounted on his first flight, despite Saphria’s powerful and sudden aerial moves, in obvious defiance of the laws of physics. Saphira flies far and wide, in an attempt to put as much distance between Eragon and the danger coming to visit his farm, yet when pressured to put him down conveniently drops Eragon in the haystack in his front yard.

The movie is chock full of plot holes and non sequiturs but my personal favorite is the scene in which Eragon storms the castle in order to rescue his lady-love, Arya. He’s just abandoned the wise and experienced Brom in the middle of the mountains, far far away, to fly by dragon-back to the bastion of evil and defeat the sorcerer, Durza. The past excerpt of the movie has dealt with the trying travels of Eragon and Brom as they work their way through the wilderness to reach the rebel forces. When Eragon leaves Brom stranded in the mountains with their two horses, logical viewers are thinking Eragon is toast. He’s brash, untrained, and under the influence of teen-age lust (toned down for a PG rating of course) and up against mature and powerful dark magic. Saphira balks at the proposition, obviously having coming to the same conclusion as us, but as the rider is the master in the relationship, she reluctantly flies Eragon to his doom.

Somehow, Eragon manages to sneak into the comically ill guarded room deep in the evil fortress where Arya is held captive. I’ll give the movie the benefit of the doubt and assume that the Durza allows Eragon to reach the center of the lair only to let him see Arya and experience the ultimate failure and humiliation of being personally defeated in front of her. Also, in the tradition of all genre bad guys, he needs the opportunity to monologue, thereby buying the hero time to make an amazing and unexpected comeback. The showdown starts predictably. Eragon is obviously no match for Durza, who laughs at Eragon’s attempts to defend himself. As the battle looks fit to end, Durza throws a lance straight for Eragon’s heart. Eragon stares at us while awaiting the strike, and some of us less gracious viewers are surely thinking at this point, “You got what you deserved you silly twit!” but Brom (Wait . . . Brom?!? Isn’t he in the mountains, far far away?) throws himself out of the shadows, taking the lance in his own chest, and throwing Durza off-balance enough for Eragon to shoot him in the forehead. A shadowed and unknown youth then guards Eragon’s retreat as Eragon assists both Arya and Brom out of the fortress. Brom dies soon after in a scene that doesn’t bear relating, but imparts to us the vital knowledge that Durza is not dead, as Eragon didn’t manage to piece his (not vampire) heart. I guess an arrow in the head will give even an evil sorcerer enough of a indisposition so that he feels no compunction to chase his arch-nemesis, even though he’s still in the neighborhood.

After viewers resign themselves to the numerous plot holes, they still have to deal with the story’s thinly veiled rip-offs of classic genre books and movies. I suggest to do what I did. As as a follow up to my poster guessing game, watch the movie for the beautiful animation, it’s well worth seeing on the big screen. Then, to distract yourself from the painful storyline, try to name the number of scenes and elements which owe their origins to other worlds, far far away. It’s a fun game that will keep you occupied for the movie, and as dual purpose entertainment, you can feel the price of the ticket is worth the lightening of your wallet.

Posted by fortrix