Inspirational Movie Monday Part Two!
“I’ve been kicked off every team before I even got a chance to prove myself.”
Here is the second inspirational movie monday review that I promised to make up for. And this movie is easier to recommend because of the ease of access on Netflix!
Eddie The Eagle was a film I saw the trailers for earlier this year and I wanted to see it, but it came out at a time where there were many more films that were higher up on my list to see and I didn’t get a chance to see it in theatres. But I was super excited when I saw it be added to Netflix.
Eddie The Eagle is a Biography, Comedy and Drama film about a man named Eddie Edwards whose dream was to compete in the olympics. He was a British underdog ski jumper that charmed the world in 1988 at the Winter Olympics.
Eddie The Eagle is directed by Dexter Fletcher. Fletcher is a actor/director I’m not familiar with. I’m going to forgo his acting filmography and just focus on his directing filmography. His directing filmography consists of Wild Bill (2011), and Sunshine on Leith (2013). I have not seen either one of these films, but after Eddie the Eagle I’d like to watch them. I like the way that this film was directed, It was interesting to see and follow Eddie as he was inspired to make it to the olympics. I thought however, that his directing was very textbook, and it wasn’t overly amazing. But it was definitely passable to tell the story.
The film is written by Sean Macaulay and Simon Kelton. This was Sean Macaulay and Simon Kelton’s first film that they wrote. I felt like the film was well written, the comedy was genuine and the drama was genuine and its always a task I find to really balance these two different genres in films. For a first film being written by these two people it was definitely passable, didn’t take many chances and just set out to tell this story.
The directing and writing of the film is fine. I don’t say this as a bad thing, it definitely could have done some different things, but I felt when the credits rolled that they did an alright job with the movie, its not going to win any awards, but you’re gonna have a good time watching it if you like these kinds of films.
Theres many different actors in this film, but I’m gonna just talk about the actors I actually know by name so we’re not here all day. The film stars Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, and Christopher Walken.
Taron Egerton plays Eddie Edwards. His filmography consists of Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Legend (2015), and an upcoming film called Sing (2016). I enjoyed his portrayal of Eddie a lot in this movie. I felt like he really encompassed the character and did a great job. I sense really great things in Taron’s future, he is still quite young and is now starting to get some bigger roles alongside some big named actors. I’m intrigued to see what he does next.
Hugh Jackman plays Bronson Peary. Jackman’s filmography consists of the X-Men films (2000, 2003, 2006, 2011, 2014, 2016), Swordfish (2001), Van Helsing (2004), The Fountain (2006), The Prestige (2006), Flushed Away (2006), Real Steel (2011), Les Miserables (2012), Prisoners (2013), and Chappie (2015). I really like Hugh Jackman, he always chooses interesting roles and somewhat out of the box roles, my favourite role that he has done so far is still Prisoners. That film blew my mind, and he was definitely robbed of an Oscar nomination. But I felt that he stole the show in Eddie The Eagle. He played Eddie’s coach, and he was just fantastic. Everytime he was on screen, it was really great. Hugh Jackman is always great to watch.
Finally Christopher Walken plays Warren Sharp. Walken’s filmography consists of Annie Hall (1977), The Sentinel (1977), The Deer Hunter (1978), The Dead Zone (1983), Batman Returns (1992), Wayne’s World 2 (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Rundown (2003), Man On Fire (2004), Wedding Crashers (2005), Seven Psychopaths (2012) and The Jungle Book (2016). Honestly its hard to really rate Walken’s role in this movie as he wasn’t in it that much, but what was there he was passable. This was no where near his best film, I still consider Man On Fire (2004) my favourite Walken film. I feel like at this stage of the game Walken doesn’t need to act, he just has to be there and he’s good to go. This felt a little phoned in to me, but it was fine.
My major flaw with the film, which doesn’t include Walken’s small acting role and phoned in acting was the CGI that was used in the film. You’re thinking man, this guy is insane to notice this, just watch the movie. This has to be said. As I’ve said before, I think it was in my Suicide Squad (2016) review when I was talking about CGI. Good CGI is CGI that a viewer barely notices or doesn’t even notice is there. Bad CGI is when you can tell its CGI and it just looks out of place and wonky. This film definitely had some bad CGI. There was a scene where Eddie falls after a ski jump and it just looked cartoony, which took me a bit out of the film and I actually laughed a bit at how terrible it looked. Its a minor gripe and most people wouldn’t notice it, but since it bothered me a little, I felt like it needed to be said.
This movie was the typical overcoming the obstacles and following your dreams type of movie. Eddie was told by many people, even his own father that he would never get to compete in the olympics and was wasting his time. It was a very by the numbers flick in that way, but I was still left inspired. No matter what, If I have a dream or an ambition or am inspired to do something, I will try my absolute best to achieve it, even if people don’t really agree with me, It gives me drive to accomplish it. It adds fuel to the fire to achieve it. I was that way with school, I actually had a couple people who didn’t think I would finish school or couldn’t (Let’s just say I don’t talk to those people anymore, anyone who doesn’t support you in your endeavours isn’t worth the time of day and have to stick their nose in your business to feel better about themselves). But I don’t hold a grudge against them, I actually thank them because them saying that I can’t do it, gave me the inner inspiration and the ambition to go back and finish. Not only did I finish, but I actually excelled at school.
This film is definitely inspiring and despite my issues with the questionable acting by Walken, the bad CGI and the “Fine” directing and writing, I would definitely watch this film again.
I would give Eddie The Eagle a 3.5/5.
It doesn’t break new ground, but it was fun to watch and I was definitely inspired.
Until Next Monday, Stay Inspired!
-Andrew