Well, I finally got to see Eragon this weekend. I’d read both of the books and was really looking forward to the film. And while the movie has a lot of potential, I found myself a little disappointed by the final product.
But let me preface that by saying that as fantasy films go, Eragon is a mixed bag. There are some really good moments in the film, and some not so good, but the biggest flaw that I found was NOT in the acting, casting or the special effects (which were excellent) but in the overall pacing of the film.
How the producers expected to squeeze a 600-odd page book into a 1 hour 43 minute film is beyond me. Characters, who, in the book were major players, are only briefly introduced to us in the film, if they aren’t cut out entirely, as the script rushes on from one key scene to the next. The result is an awkward patchwork plot that feels more like the running of the bulls than a fantasy epic.
This is not to say that the film doesn’t have good moments, its just that the scenes flash by at so breakneck a pace that the audience doesn’t have time to enjoy them.
As far as casting goes, Edward Speelers as Eragon isn’t bad, although his hair is always just a little too perfect, his armour just a little too clean. If they had roughed the boy up a little and maybe not used so much hair spray, he could have been great, he can obviously act, and his interactions with the CGI dragon are impressive, but as it stands, he just looks too pretty. (The same goes for the choice of Sienna Guillory Sienna to play Arya: simply put, the girl looks more like she’s ready to walk down a fashion runway in Paris than face an entire hoard of urgals in battle. Again, a situation where the actress might have potential, if only her character’s look could have been improved.)
A bald John Malkovich as Galbatorix . . . where do I begin? I’ll just be civil and say he appears to be miscast. While that look might have worked for the actor who played Nosferatu in Shadow of the Vampire, it just doesn’t cut it here, and he’s not nearly maniacal enough for the role, alternating between moody and pouty. But I guess Malkovich himself isn’t entirely to blame. He’s really given some bummer lines, (“I suffer without my stone.”), and this contributes to his character’s ineffectiveness.
Hands down, Robert Carlyle as Durza is the best character in this film. Aside from great special effects makeup and a great look, Carlyle injects a real personality into the character, (“I expected you to be -- well, more...”) totally showing up Malkovich as the grumpy King. Strong performances also come from Rachael Weisz as the voice of Saphira, who does more with her voice than many actors do with their physical performances, and Jeremy Irons whose gruff tone and gentle mannerisms provide the perfect contrast for the character of Brom.
Garrett Hedlund as Murtagh is pretty convincing and one wonders why he wasn’t given the role of Eragon. Djimon Hounsou as Ajihad looks great, but his vocals are lacking, and sometimes his accent is a little hard to understand. But this is something that could have easily been fixed by a good dialogue coach, had the filmmakers made an effort to find one.
The urgals are laughable, looking more like disgrunteled ex-members of Dimmu Borgir than the dread army of an evil king, a far cry from the horned LOTR-type orcs depected in the books. (Maybe the filmmakers were afraid of copyright problems.)
So on the whole, you have a film that with a lot of potential that just manages to fall short of its aims, due almost entirely to the abrupt pacing and semi-lousy script. Add in more connecting scenes, or maybe some additional commentary from Jeremy Irons, and this film could have been great. If the filmmakers had paid as much attention to the script as they had to the CGI effects, we would have had an epic on a par with the LOTR films. Hopefully the DVD will contain deleted scenes, for as the film stands now, I have a really hard time imagining how they would handle a sequel. Overall I’d give it 7/10.
Copyright 2007 LadySoth.
THe Urgals:
And their alter egos:
Well, you never can be too careful. I've had my work stolen on other forums in the past, particulary fan art, and putting that little disclaimer does seem to help. It is, afterall, my work and putting "copyright" helps people remember that. 
