Eragon opens with a narration by Brom (Jeremy Irons) introducing us to the land of Alagaësia and its history, including the dragon riders. "But the riders grew arrogant, and began to fight among themselves for power. Sensing their weakness, a young rider named Galbatorix betrayed them, and in a single bloody battle, believed he had killed them all, riders and dragons alike. Since then, our land has been ruled by Galbatorix. He crushed all rebellion, including the freedom fighters known as the Varden." This is as much character development as you will see in this dull dragon discourse.
As the story begins, Arya (Sienna Guillory) is riding for her life with a blue stone, stolen from King Galbatorix (John Malkovich). When she is caught by the evil wizard Durza (Robert Carlyle), she somehow transports the stone to another place in the forest. How she got the stone and how she transports the stone are never explained. Perhaps the director thinks the viewer will be so caught up in the "action" that he will not ask.
When Eragon (Ed Speleers) finds the stone on a hunting trip, he takes it home. Of course it is a dragon egg, the last remaining dragon egg, and it hatches into a very cute beastie. Quickly, so quickly it grows from a small hatchling to a giant flying dragon, Saphira (voiced by Rachel Weisz). And this underscores the main problem with this movie. It moves so quickly that there is no character development, no time for nuance of plot. Many of the characters have so few lines that they come on stage and are gone before you know they were even there. What dialog there is comes across as wooden and stilted.Eragon can be compared to another recent movie with a monster's egg found by a youth that hatches: The Water Horse. Both aim at the youth market. Where Water Horse engaged with appealing characters and a cute plot, Eragon overflows with tedium. Silent Nessie easily wins over speaking Saphira.
When Eragon hooks up with Brom, it gets a little more interesting, but not much. With a confusing clutch of characters, many unnamed, Eragon fails to keep the viewer's attention. At one point Arya says to Eragon, "Time moves quickly" but not for this audience. Eragon seems to drag on and on, with action sequences that are simply dull. Though many of these scenes bring to mind Peter Jackson's terrific trilogy, try as it might to be a youthful Lord of the Rings, this is more like Bored of the Dragons.Eragon does raise a number of questions such as: how did Eragon learn his magic, why does John Malkovich never leave his dark war room and why does he only interact with Durza, why does Eragon smile so much, and why did so many good actors commit to this doozy of a project? One of the biggest questions is why was Ed Speleers cast as Eragon in his debut role, since he looks like a deer in the headlights through most of the film.
The one serious question and challenging issue that is raised in Eragon is "Why me?" A universal question raised by men and women when something unexpected and difficult, even tragic, occurs, Eragon asks this of Brom and of Saphira. "But you were chosen," says Brom. As a son does not choose his father, so a rider does not choose his dragon. The dragon waits for the right time and chooses the rider. Indeed, Saphira explains why she chose Eragon: "You choose a leader for his heart." When Eragon replies, "But I'm not without fear," Saphira retorts: "Without fear there cannot be courage."When we face tough times, and are tempted to ask "why me?" we can remember that as followers of Jesus, God has chosen us. We did not choose him, he chose us (John 15:16). He allows us to be in the positions and situations we face. And fearful as we might be, we can trust that we will lead with courageous hearts, with hearts of faith.
Copyright 2008, Martin Baggs
Keanu Reeves plays Thomas Anderson, a software geek by day and a hacker named Neo by night. And he is on a quest. When he mysteriously meets Trinity (Carrie Ann Moss), she cuts to his heart: "You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him, I was looking for an answer. It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did." To which Neo replies, "What is the Matrix?" This is his quest.
At the climax of this classic scene seen so many times, Morpheus offers Neo the ultimate choice -- the red pill or the blue pill. The blue pill takes you back to "normality," to humdrum existence, to the world of the "physical" senses. The red pill opens your eyes to the truth. "All I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more," Morpheus says. This choice is crucial to the plot development. The similar choice to accept Jesus or not is crucial to the development of our own personal plotlines. Unlike Morpheus, however, Jesus offers more than truth. Truth is certainly included in the package. But Jesus says to us, holding out the red and blue pills, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me" (John 14:6). He offers to us life, true life.
After Neo gets trained, learns multiple martial arts, and has met the Oracle, being told by her that he is not the One, there is a fateful trip into the Matrix where the group is betrayed by one of their own, Cypher. Like Judas betraying Jesus for money, Cypher has betrayed Morpheus, Neo and Trinity for a return to a "better" life, even if that one is in cyberspace. In the ensuing action sequence, Morpheus uses himself as a decoy to allow Neo and Trinity to escape. In so doing, he is captured.
As the climax approaches, Neo must face off with the evil software agent Mr Smith (Hugo Weaving). No human has ever fought an agent and lived. But no one before has been Neo, no one has been the One. He faces Smith and both draw weapons, like old-time cowboys, but neither is killed. After shooting their full magazines, they resort to hand-fighting, and it is fast and furious. When Neo kills Smith it is over. Or is it? Agents can take over any human, since they are in the construct, and so Smith simply takes over another host and is "raised from the dead." At this Neo runs.
But he cannot run forever, and he finally runs out of space and time. Smith shoots him. Not once, but multiple times at point blank range. He is dead. Then in a pointed reference to Sleeping Beauty, Trinity, who loves Neo, kisses his dead lips in the real world, and unbelievably he comes back from the dead in both worlds. He is the One! He is truly resurrected, raised from the dead. In this new life, his new body in the Matrix has new powers, much like Jesus' resurrected body could walk through walls (John 20:26). He can now stop bullets dead. And with one diving leap, he enters Agent Smith's body and from the inside changes him, destroys him. He has finally won, but it took his death and resurrection to make this happen.
After rediscovering their chests of clothing and weapons in the ruins of Caer Paravel, they save the life of a dwarf, the crabby Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage, who appeared in 
With Peter taking the lead, and the animals and peoples of Narnia following him as their liege, he arrogantly plans a raid on the castle in Talmarine, where Prince Caspian's wicked uncle has his usurped the throne, rightfully belonging to the Prince. This first battle is exciting, but fraught with problems. Indeed, Susan (Anna Popplewell) asks Peter, "Who exactly are you doing this for, Peter?" It seems in his arrogance he has forgotten Aslan. He is looking for his own honor. His motives are mixed. And forgetting Aslan, forgetting Christ, is a recipe for disaster, in this case ominous defeat.
And it is little Lucy who finds Aslan, absent for too long in this movie. Aslan, powerful and dangerous, never tame, is the deliverer that Narnia needs. With his people in dire need, and Lucy looking in his large eyes, he re-breathes spiritual life into the trees, even the river, bringing restoration to the land. With forces of nature on the side of good, no evil can withstand the Narnians.
Reunited with his Taxi Driver director Martin Scorsese, De Niro gives a strong performance as a vengeance filled, bible-quoting psycopath. In some ways, Cady's character brings back shades of Travis Bickle: both are mentally unbalanced, both have an aggressive character, both want to effect justice on their own terms. De Niro was born for these powerful roles, and in recent movies he has settled, even sold-out, for the easy job (such as Stardust, Meet the Fockers, Shark Tale, etc).
With Cady free to do more or less what he wants, Bowden starts to unravel. Cady tells him to read the book of Job -- he is going to make him suffer as Job suffered. And then we learn the truth about Bowden -- he buried a crucial piece of evidence at Cady's trial. The raped girl was promiscuous. He hid this because he felt that she did not deserve what happened, and Cady deserved to be locked up for the act. He acted as judge and jury against his own client. And so the central question of the movie is made clear: is justice legitimate without truth? In locking up Cady with tainted evidence, was justice really served? The victim was marred, the culprit was imprisoned. Would it have been right to present evidence that would likely have meant Cady walked? What would we have done in Bowden's position?
Five years later, Dennis is still a loser, renting a basement flat and working as a security guard in a small lingerie store. He still loves Libby but can't get the courage to do anything about it. He settles for seeing her when he sees his son, Jake. But when he discovers Libby has a boyfriend, Whit (Hank Azaria), his jealousy is inflamed. What is worse, Whit is a successful hedge fund manager (i.e., well off financially), an American who runs marathons for fun and for charity!
On a whim, to win back his woman, Dennis decides to compete against Whit in the upcoming Nike River Run marathon. But Whit is a perpetual quitter, never finishing anything. As Libby says, "You can't even finish your sentence," to which Dennis replies, "Oh . . don't . . . don't . . . don't be . . . what's the word?"
Dennis' undisciplined approach to life. (He always leaves his house keys in the house.) The interactions between the two focus on the relationships with Libby and Jake, and set up the final act. 
Upon returning to the United States, he asks his personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) to call a press conference. Shadowed by his friendly and worldly-wise second-in-command Obadiah Stane (a bald Jeff Bridges), Stark begins by showing some unprecedented emotional vulnerability: "I never got to say goodbye to my father." Then he drops the proverbial bomb: "I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I had more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries." For a war-monger who profits from weapons and death, this is economic suicide.
The immediate focus for Stark is to seclude himself in his multi-million dollar mansion where he labors to recreate his suit. Not a true superhero with powers of his own, his man-made suit is his alter-ego. This gives him his power to fly, to crush, to survive bullets. With only a talking robot as lab partner, and Potts as his coffee-bearing companion, Stark throws himself into this task.
He gives us a new heart, a heart of flesh (Ezek 36:26). And with this heart comes a mision -- to love others, to carry this good news, the gospel, to a cold but needy world (Acts 1:8). Are we living as missional people in this uncaring world?
invincible. But he is no inventive genius. And his scientist employees cannot match the intellect of Tony Stark. So Stane reverts to out-and-out theft and cold-blooded killing. Stealing Stark's heart, he creates his own mega-monster, Iron Monger. This inevitably sets up the final confrontation between Iron Man and Iron Monger, a classic good versus evil confrontation. And after this confrontation is over, the final press conference provides one of the most terrific closing lines in recent movie history, one the left the audience cheering.
Back in New York, Andy is an accountant or senior manager in a real estate firm. Dressed in tailored suits, and living in a posh house, he seems to be successful. But appearances can be deceiving. Underneath he is an embezzler and a drug-addict. He is emotionally estranged from Gina, though they share the same house and bed. At one point, he confesses to his drug-dealer that he feels disconnected, his whole is less than the sum of his parts.
Since both Andy and Hank are in dire financial needs, Hank devises a scheme to net them quick cash -- rob a jewelry store. The twist is, that the store is a mom and pop store, not a large chain, and it is their mom and pop's store. Easy in, steal the jewels, the folks get the insurance, and Andy sells the loot to a fence for 20 cents on the dollar. No one gets hurt. That's the plan.
As the non-linear story unwinds, we see the build-up to the robbery intertwined with the consequences of the botched job. Hank looks to Andy. Andy looks to preserve himself. As the movie progresses, little things crop up to bring the two deeper and deeper into trouble. As this happens, Andy's sin blossoms. What started with drug abuse and stealing, led to robbery and homicide. It finally leads to cold-blooded murder.
Everything changes when Lars orders Bianca to be delivered to his door. He believes she is real, though wheelchair bound. Now that he has a "girlfriend" he emerges from his shell and interacts with his family. The scene when he introduces Bianca to Gus and Karin is a classic of jaw-dropped shock.
, "And you." This is hitting one of Gus's own insecurities: he does not want to be a laughing stock for the community.
If acceptance and love is one area Lars needs to develop, the other is in shedding his childhood (symbolized here by the baby blanket he still carries around with him) and becoming a man. He asks Gus, "How'd you know . . . that you were a man?" Gus answers, "Well, it's not like you're one thing or the other, okay? There's still a kid inside but you grow up when you decide to do right, okay, and not what's right for you, what's right for everybody, even when it hurts." Moving into manhood, especially for Lars, is a choice to act. This corresponds to the apostle Paul's own advice, "When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me" (1 Cor. 13:11).
Ford is perfect in the role of detective, and is Philip Marlowe-esque. In fact, given a brown fedora he could be Marlowe (except Ford wore that hat in Indiana Jones).
s moody and atmospheric (most of it was shot at night in the rain, with smoke-machines producing the smoke that is ubiquitous). Deckard, is a whiskey-drinking loner with a hidden chip on his shoulder. And there is a complex storyline around several criminals (replicant killers in this case).
Another of the replicants, Pris (Daryl Hannah looking like a freak), says "I think therefore I am." Referring, of course, to the saying by Rene Descartes, this is a foundational element of philosophy: if someone is wondering whether or not he exists, that is in and of itself proof that he does exist. So, is thought the definition of humanity? No. It is proof of existence but not necessarily of human existence. Angels think, and therefore are, but are not human.
four-years expectancy of a Nexus-6 replicant. His quest is to get this from Tyrell, his maker. And in him, and in his interactions with Tyrell, we find echoes of biblical Christianity. "It's not an easy thing to meet your maker," he says to Tyrell. Tyrell, in turn, refers to Roy as his prodigal son. But if Tyrell is the maker, the creator, the "Father," Roy pierces his hand in a pointed reference to Christ. He is the powerful and superior Son. And in the climactic scenes, Roy carries a white dove, perhaps symbolic of the Holy Spirit (at least symbolic of spirit). There is an un-holy Trinity. Just as all the replicants are man-made, and all of the urban scenery is man-made, we see a human creator, a man-made savior, and a free-spirit dove.
In the violent climax, Deckard faces off against Batty knowing he is less than the replicant in power and strength, even intelligence. In an abandoned theater, they clash unforgettably. Finally, hanging by one hand from a steel rafter the other broken, and dangling hundreds of feet from the ground, Deckard is saved by Batty, who cries out, "Kin!" Awaiting obvious execution (retirement?), Deckard puzzles over why he does not die.