Dir. Stefan Fangmeier
Writ. Peter Buchman
Act. Edward Speleers, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich

This movie was disappointing on so many levels. I can't believe that the producers were willing to release this movie as the finished product knowing that it would be compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and having the film be so poor. The fault lies directly with them for hiring a director who has never been a director before and a writer with hardly any experience.

Eragon is the story of a farm boy named Eragon, played by Edward Speleers, who fines a stone that turns out to be a Dragon's Egg. The egg hatches and the Dragon becomes his. With the help of Brom, played by Jeremy Irons (Casanova,) Eragon discovers that he was predestined to be a Dragon Ryder and help save the world against the evil King Galbatroix, played by John Malkovich (Art School Confidential,) and his army of evil things.

Here's the problem, Director Stefen Fangmeier has only been a special effects man since 1991 and has not directed a movie ever. Now he has been nominated for an Academy Award three times, for special effects, but this does not mean he will be a good director for a special effects movie. His inexperience is painfully obvious when his cast blows over every line, every beat, and every important moment in the scene. Some of these actors are no slouches either, Malkovich has been nominated for an Academy Award twice and Irons has won one. But they were given no direction and it shows. Any death to a character that should have been important was meaningless. It was a poor effort by Fangmeier and a bad decision by the producers.

The writing was also weak and that is because the producers hired a guy, Peter Buchman, whose only other credit is Jurassic Park III. Anybody familiar with this movie knows how weak the plot and story was in that movie. Even the Buchman had a book to go off of, he does not make the story exciting, and provides no depth for any of these characters. I mean Brom dies and it is no big deal and that is not good.

The acting was ok but what could they do with this script and no direction. Speleers did ok even though he had never been in a movie or anything for that matter.

Overall, this movie is very much a wait to see on DVD, if that. This is from what I have read a trilogy and there are some interesting stories I would like to see. However, the producers need to grab a new director and scriptwriter or the third installment will never see the light of day. If they are smart, if Peter Jackson is indeed not doing a Lord of the Rings prequel a.k.a The Hobbit, then they should pay him as much as possible to get him to do this next movie. The story is fascinating and could be very enjoyable in the hands of somebody who has talent in the medium.

Brian - the Naked Gun