Eragon review WITH SPOILERS movies/tv

[[LaW]Maverick]

Ok...here we go:

 

 

For those of you that read the book:

 

-Roran leaves home for no other reason than he has come of age. The butcher doesn't even have a daughter, so there is no love interest for Roran.

 

-Brom does not give the story from the book of the history of the riders, instead it is abbreviated, and he is stopped by GUARDS in Carvahal (I can't remember how to spell the town)

 

-They cut out most of the time that Eragon was trying to figure out what the egg is (which is admittedly understandable)

 

-Horst is only mentioned in passing as he is told, "Be quiet Horst" at a table in town so a guard won't hear him

 

-Galbatorix is seen again and again in the movie giving commands to Durza...yeah, he doesn't appear at all in the novel

 

-Durza seems a big fairy compared to how he is described in the book

 

-Saphira is shown taking her first flight, then, in mid-air goes *poof* and is fully grown. She lands, says "I am Saphira, and the new age of the riders has begun." with some other equally corny and forced lines

 

-Eragon is uninjured from his first trip with Saphira

 

-Eragon's uncle (Forget his name) is dead when Eragon finds him, and the roof is pretty much the only thing collapsed of the house (they had to search through wreckage to find him in the book)

 

-Eragon is taught a spell that allows him to see through Saphira's eyes, and it works just fine right away

 

-They completely leave out the part of the book that takes place in the city where Eragon learns to read and Brom gets some help from his old friend

 

-The first town Brom and Eragon comes to is in one piece, not ravaged by Urgals, and he also meets Angela here (she mentions nothing of frogs)

 

-The werecat does not exist so there is no prophecy for Eragon knowing where to go when his strength fails and all that

 

-The Urgals are fat, bald men with blue tattoos (yeah they look like something out of Mad Max)

 

-The Razzak look like the demon from Constantine that is made up of bugs (the one that gets hit by the semi truck) and Brom manages to kill them easily (yes, Brom kills the Razzak)

 

-The Razzak have no mounts

 

-You don't meet Murtagh until Eragon attempts to rescue Arya at Durza's keep

 

-Eragon sneaks into Durza's keep wearing a robe that makes him look like Luke Skywalker entering Jaba's palace and Murtagh is some mysterious character following behind carying a large bow as if that doesn't make him stand out from all of the unarmed people around him

 

-Murtagh only uses a sword in the movie once, and when he does, it is Zar'roc, which he doesn't seem to mind

 

-Brom dies saving Eragon from a floating spear the Durza launches...which is just dumb for so many reasons

 

-Arya wakes up as soon as Durza is shot in the face and walks around all willy-nilly until later in the movie when Durza points his fingernail into something and she collapses poisoned...even then, she is not fully unconscious as she reaches out for Eragon's hand to hold when they get to the Varden

 

-Arya doesn't have pointed ears or resemble an elf in any other way. She does not fight with superhuman speed or strength.

 

-There aren't any dwarves

 

-Murtagh doesn't mind going to the Varden

 

-Murtagh's scar looks like a freaking tribal tatoo and is not disfiguring or even big

 

-Durza lures Eragon through a cheesy dream sequence to his keep through Arya

 

-We never find out that Brom's Dragon's name was Saphira

 

-Brom does not leave Eragon much of a choice to go the Varden, and in fact, once he finds out Eragon is a rider, TELLS Eragon that he is going to take him to the Varden. ERAGON'S decision to go to the Varden was both central in plot, AND character development.

 

-Galbatorix has several scenes....which is dumb...he is shown giving Durza instructions and getting angry like a stereotypical idiot

 

-Durza does NOT injure Eragon at all, so there is no debilitating scar which is the main plot-device in the rising action of Eldest

 

-There is no elf that comes to Eragon as he fights off Durza's consciousness telling him to go to the Elves

 

-Eragon doesn't have to fight off Durza's consciousness

 

-in fact there is more, I'm just sick of listing them....

 

 

 

For those of you who did not read the book:

 

-the acting was horrible...I mean, it was bad

 

-Eragon, the main character, is portrayed as a yuppie pretty boy that whines throughout 90% of the movie even when he is being "brave"

 

-The catch phrases (i.e. "you're 1 part brave and 3 parts the fool") are forced in at moments where they don't necessarily need to be, and are obviously contrived and not even that good

 

-There are several plot-holes and no transition whatsoever between scenes.

----Brom gets into Durza's keep no problem and only appears just in time to dive in front of a spear aimed at Eragon...he's not wearing a disguise or anything

----Murtagh sneaks into a guarded keep in a robe, but is brandishing a LARGE long-bow as he does so...that's not obvious or anything

----the big-hearted Eragon doesn't seem to care when he sees a caravan being ravaged by Urgals (bad guys), and instead of diving into the battle headfirst (as his character would do as portrayed in the movie), he ends up happily sparring with Brom a few seconds later, meanwhile the caravan is right down the road

----there are more major plot-holes that I am leaving out, but I will move on for now as I can't remember them off the top of my head

 

-Galbotorix (the big bad guy) is portrayed in the same exact way any tyrant king is portrayed in any cheap B-movie fantasy movie ("I'm getting angry/you failed me for the last time/don't fail me again/kill them/grrr")

 

-Durza even pulls the whole kill the guy who screwed up and promote the guy behind him routine that was originally coined in Star Wars (at least as far as movies go)

 

-A guy that can create a smoke-dragon from nothing at all then ride on it, shoot fireballs from his finger tips, level buildings with the flick of his writs, take an arrow between the eyes just to pop up again later, create a fiery sword from thin air, and is just an all around bad mammajamma loses the fight to a whining, yuppie pretty-boy...yeah...that's exactly why the fight with Durza in the book is more like Eragon just happens to hit Durza just right when Durza wasn't ready and luckily killed him. That, and it happens fast. There is no chance what-so-ever that Eragon would have won in the book or movie in a stand up fight against Durza.

 

-remember how I said there are no transitions between scenes...it's more annoying than you think. Picture this, one second the main character is wrestling with his cousin in the hay. Father comes in and says "Come on boys" motioning for them to get to work or go with him. Literally a second later without so much as a fade-in or out Eragon is up in his room knocking on the big blue egg. Now imagine that happening with action scenes and major story events....it's terrible

 

-a lot of people said that Hayden Christiansen (however it's spelled) was a bad actor....yeah, he looks like Shakespear's finest next to the people in this movie

 

-due to the fact that the producers or whoever decided to change so many things that were in the book, the plot does not hold together well at all, and does not really progress logically. For instance: the Varden are said to live in a remote area that Galbotorix hasn't quite got his hold on yet (it's Surda, but I don't think they mention that in the movie) right? There are even soldiers in the tiny town of Carvahal (there shouldn't be, but that's if you've read the book)! Everyone in the town seems to hate Galbotorix and resent the soldiers because they come and forcefully recruit able-bodied young men (their children). Now, if Surda and the Varden were only a little ways away..a days journey or two..wouldn't you leave your town and go live there? Well, in the movie, there is not vast desert to cross or days in the wilderness...nope...getting the Varden seems pretty dern easy to me. So if it's that easy, why doesn't everyone do it? It's stupid, and a perfect example of why the plot doesn't progress logically. Logically, everyone would leave for Surda to escape the misery plaguing their town. There is NEVER a happy face in Carvahal, Eragon's home town, throughout the whole of the movie.

 

-at the end of the movie, Galbatorix (the big bad tyrant king) pulls back a curtain to reveal the head of his black dragon in what had to be the corniest ending to any movie I have seen in a looooong time

 

All in all, I gave it 1 star out of 10....it sucked, and I know there is stuff I'm leaving out, but it's just escaping me at the moment

[Thief_Lord]

Wow, I really was looking forward to this movie but now it eems that I am sickened by it.

 

I probably will go and see persuit of Happiness instead of Eragon.

 

Thanks for the Heads up..... (how the heck can they not injure Eragon, what will happen in the eldest movie?)

 

-TL

[[LaW]Maverick]

Wow, I really was looking forward to this movie but now it eems that I am sickened by it.

 

I probably will go and see persuit of Happiness instead of Eragon.

 

Thanks for the Heads up..... (how the heck can they not injure Eragon, what will happen in the eldest movie?)

 

-TL

 

was thinking the same thing...man I wish I would have made a matine at least

[Playaa]

so how is it as a movie then? for someone who knows absolutely nothing about how the storyline SHOULD be?

[[LaW]Maverick]

Pretty atrocious. I'm trying to think of an example that compares......

 

 

Did you see Bloodrayne?

 

or...ummm...Battlefield Earth?

 

or...Snakes on a Plane?

 

Snakes on a Plane is a great example. See, you have a movie that is obviously bad to the point where it actually (whether it meant to or not) made fun of other bad movies. It was contrived, and used every gimmic in the genre in a hollow attempt at entertainment without thought.

 

That is Eragon to a T.

 

Examples:

 

Galbatorix, the big bad king, was more like a cartoon character out of Heman. He acted a whole lot like Lord Greyskull. His lines were terribly forced, corny, and unimaginative. I've only seen the movie once and could probably talk right along with him without a thought throughout the entire movie. What he says is just that blatantly obvious. Think of every cliche villan saying from "You've failed me for the last time." or "No one can threaten my rule," etc., delivered in the same tone and in the same context every time, and you've got Galbotorix's entire character model.

 

Eragon, the hero...well, he's a big fairy. "I can fight, I've trained with my brother Roran!" "Let me fight!" "Whaaa...I want some cookies.' I mean really. The hero of the story is supposed to have some trepedations, but Eragon's hair is always flawless, he's never really dirty, and he sure as hell doesn't look like a farmer as he is supposed to. He doesn't look like he's done a day's labor in his life.

 

Roran, Eragon's cousin (who is like a close brother) leaves. Eragon is suppose to love his cousin and be upset about him leaving...he says he is in the movie at least. Then, five seconds later (my complaint of no transitions) he's just fine and never really mentions Roran again (except to say he trained by him)

 

Uh...the bad guys look like a rip-off of Mad Max (the Urgals do anyway) if you would just throw some mohawks in.

 

As I meintioned in my above review, the hero, that is portrayed in the movie as whiney, half-trained pretty boy wins in a straight out fight against someone who can manifest fiery swords from nothing and ride on the back of a monster made of shadows. That's like....an ant vs. Starscream. (a little Transformers metaphor for ya'). That's dumb. Had the producers wanted to maintain any credible suspension of disbelief, they would have had Eragon at least trick Durza, or get lucky as he does in the book. Yes, Eragon is supposed to be ballsy and a bad mamma jamma, but in the movie he's not really portrayed as much, and you could be the best fighter on Earth (that is human) and you'd still get reamed by Durza in any kind of head-on fight. Durza can level entire cities with the flick of his wrist, and he IS portrayed as incredibly powerful in the movie.

 

Just about 99% of the movie is straight cliche. There is even a scene where Eragon, wearing a brown tunic over a white shirt of some kind, stands outside of his home on a plain looking at the sun as it sets. (for those of you that don't get that, it's from Star Wars IV: A New Hope). It's as if the producers just took bits and pieces from other more successful fantasy MOVIES (not books) and threw them all together and crossed their fingers hoping to miraculously turn out something good. Yeah, it didn't work.

 

It is the most predictable movie I have ever seen. At lest at the moment, I can't think of a single movie (not even horror movies) that was more predictable...and that just takes a lot of the fun out of the story. The book was somewhat predictable, but kept the reader interested by throwing in subtle twists and imaginatively unexpected events along the way. The movie excluded every single such event. They were in there for a reason.

 

Anyway, I hope that helps a bit. I've gotta get back to work, much as I would love to continue to tear this depressing spectacle of a film down for you.

 

Good luck, and if you see it, let me know if you agree

[[LaW]Maverick]

"10 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-

Eragon 2006, 16 December 2006

1/10

Author: coco200066 from United States

 

We went to see this movie last night based on the fact that our Brother In Law read the book and loved it. Also because of the well known and very seasoned actors that where in it. We expected great things however watching this movie was awful. The well known, seasoned actors seemed so out of place in this awful, awful production of a movie. Every scene seemed to come right out of another well known movie, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Legend, The last of the Mohicans, just to name a few. We half expected the main character of this movie to run into the cast of Lord of the rings in parts, it was just that bad.

 

And as for the costumes, they where like something out of Bollywood, tacky and over the top for this particular setting and time. How Djimon Hounsou could stand to wear the outfit he did is beyond me! The make up and costumes where something else throughout!

 

If I can give anyone anything for Christmas this year, it will be the knowledge of how badly this movie sucks!!!

 

Don't waste your money. If the kids have to see it, so be it, otherwise don't bother, or wait for the DVD! For those that have to go see it at the movies, my sympathies are with you! "

 

---that is just one random review of someone that did not read the book from IMDB (I read a few until I cam across one that said they didn't read the book)

 

Just thought I'd give you a random sampling of a second opinion

[ShadowDog]

i have not read the novels, i came into this movie just thinking that the plot sounded sweet.. and by golly (yes i said it) THAT WAS THE WORST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN! and i have watched some TERRIBLE movies... basicly they RUSHED everything soooo fast.. they traveled across the entire world in 2 seconds.. constantly.. it was rediculous, and the dude's horse was faster than the dragon and later Saphira even says: theres no horse faster than a dragon.. both me and my girl looked at eachother and said: except for that dude's horse.

 

Worst Movie Ever.. I hope they NEVER allow that director to do another movie again.

[alvin]

I agree, it was a horrible movie. It was just mind blowing how bad it was. I went to see The Pursuit of Happiness right after and it was an ok movie but 100x better than Eragon. I basically... left Eragon thinking it was a waste of money and walked into the Pursuit of Happiness room to make up for it.

[Shadowman]

After taking my little sisters to see this movie during winter vacation, I'm sure its safe to say I want to tear my eyeballs out of my skull so that I may never see anyone from that movie in anything ever again. That movie destroyed my optimistic view on movies and the whole of humanity. It even shattered my love of dragons and fire, as the movie managed to make every single movie-moment and creature look like an incest-bred dumb dead cousin.

 

I've never seen a worse movie in my life. The Sci-Fi Channel movies abot teens fighting sabretooth tigers and giant octopuses are oscar-quality movies compared to the crap that is "Eragon The MOvie". Please Lord kill me now.

[[LaW]Maverick]

After taking my little sisters to see this movie during winter vacation, I'm sure its safe to say I want to tear my eyeballs out of my skull so that I may never see anyone from that movie in anything ever again. That movie destroyed my optimistic view on movies and the whole of humanity. It even shattered my love of dragons and fire, as the movie managed to make every single movie-moment and creature look like an incest-bred dumb dead cousin.

 

I've never seen a worse movie in my life. The Sci-Fi Channel movies abot teens fighting sabretooth tigers and giant octopuses are oscar-quality movies compared to the crap that is "Eragon The MOvie". Please Lord kill me now.

 

LOL I agree whole-heartedly

 

It's good to see it wasn't just me reading the book first that ruined it...I mean, I saw absolutely zero saving grace to that movie....

 

The actor who played Brom was a great actor (in other movies), and he tried to keep it interesting, but that movie needed a WHOLE lot more than one good actor

 

*PooF* I am Saphira, it's a new age of dragons! *laughs histarically as he can't even think of an 80's movie that was cornier than that*

[Peckles]

This...was terrible...I've only read about half the book so far, but I've read all of Eldest (perhaps not the best route, but that's a moot point). It's far swifter to point out the good parts, so here goes.

 

Hmm...Well...uhh...I thought the sword was kinda cool...*jabs pen in the air* fa-tang! fa-tang! I R DRAGON GUY! FEAR ME!! *tosses luscious hair*

 

I'd use my thumbs to explain what I thought of the movie, but if they were to go as low as I would have them go, I might hurt the Chinese.

 

Bleh.

[Brillow_Head]

I saw the movie first. I went in not expecting anything.

 

I came away with the following impressions:

 

1) They rushed everything.

2) There was NO charater development in either Eragon, Saphira, and Murtah, even at the end Eragon seemed like a green bumbler that got lucky.

3) Some characters seemed very unnatural (ie Galbatorix, Brom as an old man but he was better when he was a teacher, Eragon's brother...etc)

4) The dungeon rescue scene was complete and uter poo...I thought it half baked to introduce a love intrest.

5) The introduced the Varden and the only thing I thought of was...wow...they are extreemly tackey.

 

However I thought about the story and thought that it had incredible potential and they might have stood a chance if they had 3+ hours to develope the story,a better wardrobe, and a less forced storyline (bad writting). So the movie inspired me to pick up the book. I'm on page 300 of 500 pages and at this point I felt like I watched a movie about a dragon and a dude with the same names..but that's where the similarity ends.

 

The book reads very well and developement is nice and slow. Nothing is rushed, the characters are rich and complex. I could go on and on...

 

The problem is this....the author of the book used himself as the basis for the protagonist...a 15-16 year old boy who by luck or destiny finds a dragon. And because Eragon and the author are the same he is writting Eragon how he would want to progress. He gets smarter, he gets stronger and faster, he weilds deadly magic with practice. Sure he has his fumble moments...but overall he want to be seen as a rising hero.

 

Now enter hollywood and the era we live in. Gone are the days of Connan and Van Damme and all the big beefy guys who are just awesome from the start of the movie through the end. Nowadays we have Neo and Frodo...the little guys who get the crud kicked out of them until something clicks and THEN they are all that and a bag of potato chips. So that is what they did to Eragon...made him a weenie until the very end.

 

Booo Hollywood...Horay Book!

[[LaW]Maverick]

I'm glad you picked up the book, they are both very very good

 

And ya' know...I have a degree in English, AND I'm a professional writer...lol, so yeah, if that adds weight to inspire someone to read the book...go do it! It's good!

 

Anyway, I had to add one comment....

 

I thought the movie Eragon was a big weenie all the way through....though his hair stayed in place nicely

[ShadowDog]

okay so that movie was set up for a sequel... i hope it is never ever made.

[Allanon]

[rant]Thank you Stefen Fangmeier (Director) for ruining another masterpiece with your terrible directing and talent. Please leave these greaet novels to be portrayed by people such as Peter Jackson not yourself, oh and btw don't worry Uwe Boll is waiting over in room #2 to begin filming Eldest: The Whiny White Boy Who Couldn't Do Anything [/rant]

 

It's really sad to see another one of these great tales turned into mud by a director who thinks that lots of action and a blending of other sci-fi/fantasy films will save it. I just hope that if a Sword of Shannara or Elfstones of Shannara film is ever made, it turns out better.

[Xterminator]

i didnt' watch it myself but my brother said it was so bad that he stopped halfway through the movie and deleted it.

[Brillow_Head]

Holy hairy monkey! Wife bought me the second book for Valentines Day and all I gotta say is that Hollywood botched up the chance to have a sequel that is ANYTHING like the second book. The second book is by far better than the first. I'm dying to read the next book.

 

Christopher Paolini....WRITE FASTER!!!!

Edited March 5, 2007 by Brillow_Head

[YoMamma]

1.5 of 4 stars.

This was just bad. I wouldnt say it was one of the worst movies of the year because I have seen worse, but it still sucked.

The story was rushed to the point where you didn't really care for any of the characters. The first half of the movie, they show the love between Eragon and his brother/uncle, but then when Eragon's brother goes off to 'fight along with the badguys,' you never see him again? I guess maybe in the second story he might show up? I dont know because I didnt read the book. Why did they spend so much time introducing a character that will not even be used later in the film. Either way, this was just one example of many where they leave you wondering 'why?'

Speaking of 'why,' I ask myself: Why did I watch this movie?