~The ERAGON Movie Discussion Thread~ May your swords stay sharp!

I've just noticed that nobody has thought of making a thread for the new fantasy movie coming out December 15, Eragon. The story is originally from a book by Christopher Paolini, that tells the story of a young farm boy finding a dragon egg. He ends up having to become one of the legendary Dragon Riders, in order to save his country from a evil Emperor.

A unknown actor Edward Speleers is playing Eragon, Jeremy Irons is playing Brom, Djimon Hounsou is playing Ajihad and John Malkovich is playing King Galbatorix, just to name a few.

 

Haven't really heard much about the film. I surely didn't know it was coming that soon.

Should be worth seeing. Not really familiar with the books either but I guess they're super big. I'm not usually one for sword and sorcerer movies but I'll probably see this just so I don't have to read the books

 

I'm kind of interested in seeing this one, if only because of the way the books slowly gained attention and grew over time. Should be neat to see what they do with it!

 

I'm actually looking forward to this trilogy. I think that the genre like the sword and sandal is becoming overkill. First LOTR and HP. Now Narnia and Eragon. It seems more fantastical than LOTR and if it can secure a PG-13 rating, I'll feel safe with this one.

 

ILM is doing the special effects for this film so we can expect to see top-knotch visual effects too.

 

I loved the book, and so I'm really excited to see the movie. I know that all movies don't follow the books verbatum, but I hope they stay fairly true to the books.

Eragon while a very original story, actually shares some similarities with other favorite stories. Eragon is a farm boy and his uncle died and that starts him off on his adventures. His mentor is a wise old man named Brom who was once a dragon rider and then starts teaching Eragon. Sounds like A New Hope.Eragon is also full with elves, dwarves and dragons, rhe world is similar in some ways to Middle Earth in LOTR. All in all I can't wait to see the movie, I feel it's definately going to be a treat.

 

I've heard the Eragon/SW comparisons before.

Wasn't it written by a 14 year old?

 

He was 15 when he started writing the book, 19 when it got published.

 

Wow I'm far behind. I didn't realize the author was so young. But what is better than basing a fantasy movie on the idea of somebody young.

 

I would not call it a very original story since it shares many simalarities with ANH and LOTR.

 

By that token ANH and LOTR aren't exactly original either.

Its all archetypes and what not. Its the stories they've been telling since time immortal. That's part of the reason they all resonate with us.

 

Below is a user from IMDB showing how similar Eragon is to Star Wars.

"Over the summer i read Eldest. As i got deeper and deeper into it, a thought occoured. The story line of this book is pretty damn similar to Starwars.

Think about it: You have the riders, a people who brought justice to Alagesia using their magic.
You have Jedi, a people who brought peace and justice to the republic, using the force.

Then there is a powerful rider who wipes out the rest with his acomplice, and creates a new empire for himself to rule over (King G. and Morzan
Then there is a powerful rider who wipes out the rest with his acomplice, and creates a new empire for himself to rule over (Darth Sidious and Darth Vader

There is a secret restance against the empire (Varden)
There is a secret restance against the empire (Rebels)

Then a new hope is discovered when one of the last dragon eggs hatches for Eragon
Then a new hope is discovered when Ben Kenobi meets Luke and gives him his fathers lightsaber

Brom reveals his past to Eragon, explaning that he was once a rider and gives him his fathers sword (that isnt revealed in the first book, but it IS is fathers sword)
Ben reveals his past to Luke, explaning that he was once a jedi

Eragons parents are murdered
Lukes uncle and aunt are murdered

Brom and Eragon set off on a quest to train to become a rider and reach the Varden
Obi-Wan and Luke set off on a quest to train to become a jedi and reach the rebels

Brom dies
Obi-wan dies

Eragon finds the varden, joins them, and successfully defends an attack sent by the empire
Luke finds the rebels, joins them, and successfully leads an attack on the empire, and destroies deathstar

Eragon then goes to the elves to comlpete his traning and finds out another rider exists
Luke then goes to the degobah system to complete his traning and finds out another jedi exists (yoda)

Eragon finnishes his traning and is officially a rider
Luke doesn't completely finnish his traning, but he is bacically a jedi

Then, in an epic battle, Eragon finds out that Mortag is his brother, and Morzan is his father.
Then, in an epic battle, Luke finds out that Darth Vader is his father, and later that Lea is his sister"-From user on IMDB

 

No one doubts that.

Ever since it came out the parallels have been there. The point is that those parallels exist in any number of movies, books, etc. They are the themes of myth. Or as Campbell called it "The Hero's Journey".

Try it with Achilles or Odysseus or Beowulf and see if you don't get similar results

 

I think its simalarities with Star Wars are a little too much and it also has many simalarities with LOTR like the Elves coming to Alagaesia in silver ships as opposed to the Elves coming in white ships to Middle-Earth. Don't get me wrong I hope Eragon the movie does well and I am excited to see it but I'm also just pointing out its many simalarities with other works of Fantasy.

 

Ugh, I despise this trilogy with a passion.

You can all keep bringing up the Hero's Journey (which I love and respect, btw, I've read Thousand Faces), but those are just steps, storytelling's most basic and core formula. It doesn't dictate to the storyteller how to go about the Hero's Journey in his work.

The way how Paolini goes about writing Eragon's journey is far, far too similar to how Lucas wrote Luke's.

It's not the what, it's the how.

//end rant

 

I hope they don't screw up the book

 

I'm afraid I have to agree. I gave the first book a hundred and twenty pages then I returned it. Interesting rehash of a concept but poor execution.


PS: Weirdly enough the people who I have talked to that liked the books have never seen 'Star Wars'....

 

Eragons parents are murdered
Lukes uncle and aunt are murdered

not true Eragon's uncle i killed which is more similiar. despite the similarities The series is very good

 

Its very good but its similarity to ANH is startling. I thought Irons was playing Galbatorix for some reason. Well enough that he doesnt. Hes been down the evil wizard path.

 

i am reading this now, have about 120 pages left or so.
I agree that the first 150-200 pages were a little slow and i will be the first to admit that there are many similarities to SW, LOTR, even harry potter.

But i stuck it out, and the stroy got much much better and exciting. Im still not sure what the difference between the Razock and Urgals are, but ill figure it out.

Anyways, i am actually looking forward to this movie. Im glad to hear ILM is working on it, as we can expect a beautiful looking Saphira.

Any word as to who will play Mortagh?

 

Trailer is supposed to be tomorrow. Theatrical tagged to Invinicible.

 

the more i hear about this film the more interesting it sounds

 

It borrows so much from SW, LOTR and Beowulf-esque mythology that it throws it right at you, you can do the most difficult parallels. Regardless, I'll still see it.

 

Trailer Update:

Seems it's going to be pushed back. They're not ready to reveal Saphira's CG likeness just yet. Maybe September???

 

at first I thought you ment the movie would not come out till next september, I almost had a heart attack