I got this one via Netflix well over a month ago. It has been sitting around because Caitlin and I were put off by the scenes/snippets leading up to the main menu. Those scenes alone prepared me for this endeavor, so nothing came as much of a surprise.

This movie is pretty bad. It doesn’t even seem to hide the fact that it’s a cheap ripoff of that little epic written many years ago by Mr. Tolkien. Surely, nobody would know those stories and draw serious parallels between them and this. Well, I am aware of the Rings, and I couldn’t help but draw those parallels throughout this film:

• Evil archenemy. Galbatorix = Sauron. CHECK!
• Dark sorcerer who performs the deeds of the archenemy. Durza = Saruman. CHECK!
• Archer helper dude. Murtagh = Legolas. CHECK!
• Good looking chick who can fight. Arya = Arwen. CHECK!
• ”Last stand” city for all humankind built in to a mountain. Farthen Dyr = Minas Tirith. CHECK!
• Person draped in all white clothing while riding a white horse. CHECK!
• Not-so-special hero from a generic past. Eragon = Frodo. CHECK!

The big difference is the big series everybody knows about had a great budget, great actors, and  great director. This had none of that. It was very clearly a cheap knockoff. It wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t manage to finish watching, but it was bad enough that I checked my e-mail regularly.

Grade: C-