I’ve written before about how the Lord of Rings trilogy will be the set of movies that every other movie gets compared to for the next decade. It’s true. Lord of the Rings was just that good - great story, great characters, great acting, and great visuals. The downside to such a good film is that is pretty much ruined any future fantasy films.
Case in point is the new film Eragon, a fantasy film that involves all the same ideas as every other fantasy story, Lord of the Rings included. I watched the trailer today out of pure curiosity and noticed two very distinct things about it.
One, it doesn’t explain any plot or characters. You see some dragons, some knights, some sort of wizard and a witch. Without an explanation of of the story, the film appears to be really nothing more than a Rings rip-off. Some of the shots in the trailer are almost verbatim “borrowed” from Rings and anyone who has seen the Rings films will make the connection immediately.
Obviously we don’t know if Eragon will be a good or bad movie - as it’s not out yet - but after just watching the trailer I say to myself, “I’ve already seen this movie…three times even.” And that’s unfortunate.
Rings was so instrumental in the fantasy genre of film that I fear all fantasy films will crumble in its shadow. There were no flaws in Rings so there’s really no reason to see another fantasy film. What’s left to cover in the genre?
Reading the synopsis and watching the traliers it looks like a mash up of LOTR, Star wars (the gifted youngster who turns out to destroy them), and Ann McAffreys Dragon Riders of Pern series. The shot in trailer one at one minute and four seconds looks ripped from Star Wars, even the look on his face. The CGI Dragons look like they took the code from Dragonheart. Interesting casting but I’m going to call this one dead before arrival.
For what it is worth: I think this movie was made from a top selling book.
And that top-selling book probably ripped off Rings too.
Ahh…. the fine line between homage and theft.