Inspired by true events, Eddie the Eagle tells the story of Michael "Eddie" Edwards (Taron Egerton), the British underdog who became the only British ski-jumper at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. With the help of his coach, Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman), Eddie rises above everyone's expectations, charming the world and fulfilling his lifelong dream.
Sports movies are a very interesting genre, because no matter what year they come out, or what sport they portray, they all seem to tell the exact same story. Even writing the synopsis for this review was easy, because the basic outline of it applies to about fifty different films. At the same time, many sports films also manage to deliver a satisfying and especially uplifting experience, and Eddie the Eagle definitely achieves that.
The characters in the film are essentially right off a checklist; an underdog hero, an alcoholic former champion for a coach, an unsupportive parent with a very supportive parent, a rival team that thinks he'll go nowhere, the stuffy businessmen in suits who don't approve of his dream, etc. It's all there, and there's little to no effort to deviate from the most basic stereotypes. The only thing that was above average were the main characters; Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman both gave really good performances. Taron Egerton really got the feelings of determination and perseverance across. He definitely created a very sympathetic protagonist, and I was with him through every success and failure. Even though I knew that he would end up succeeding, I was still rooting for him all the way. Hugh Jackman showed off some fantastic comedic skills, and was the right balance of supportive and hesitant. Aside from them, the rest of the cast was fairly good, but no one really excelled. Cameos from actors like Jim Broadbent and Christopher Walken were fun, even if they were fairly underutilized.
The story hits every point that I expected it to in the exact order; the slow build-up, the successes, the failures, everyone watching him compete on TV and cheering. They even do the thing where the mentor character says a line, and then the main character says it later in a big emotional moment, as the ultimate declaration of confidence. The film never once deviates from the sports movie formula, and that was kind of a disappointment. There are montages, a big final, dramatic build-up to his final jump, with flashbacks of everything that people ever said against him. Mentioning these elements can't even be considered spoilers, because everything about the film is so predictable.
The film is pretty well-made, and some of the ski-jump sequences looked nothing short of beautiful. There was quite a bit of CGI, and it looked very shaky, probably because the budget just wasn't high enough to execute certain things properly. It certainly looked interesting, but it was also pretty distracting. Some of the music choices were strange as well; not necessarily bad, but the songs were just so well-known that they didn't carry the weight that they needed to. For example, "You Make My Dreams" by Hall and Oates is a great song, but it's the sort of song that would be in a parody of a training montage, not in a scene that's supposed to be taken seriously. They even use "Jump" by Van Halen, which made me say "oh, come on!" out loud (Get it? Because he's JUMPING). The rest of the soundtrack - outside of pop songs - was also fairly generic; everything sounded like the background music of an Olympics video game (which I guess makes sense).
Eddie the Eagle certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel in any way, but it does achieve everything that it sets out to do. It tells a compelling, entertaining and satisfying story, and as formulaic as it is, it does have its heartwarming moments. Every character arc and story beat is painfully predictable, but it doesn't detract from the film in any significant way. It's an average film that follows an average formula, and while there are some impressively filmed stunts and solid moments of humour, it never transcended my expectations. It was a very enjoyable experience, but I really never need to see this film again, or any sports movie, because I'm fairly sure I won't see any variations on the formula anytime soon.
Sports movies are a very interesting genre, because no matter what year they come out, or what sport they portray, they all seem to tell the exact same story. Even writing the synopsis for this review was easy, because the basic outline of it applies to about fifty different films. At the same time, many sports films also manage to deliver a satisfying and especially uplifting experience, and Eddie the Eagle definitely achieves that.
The characters in the film are essentially right off a checklist; an underdog hero, an alcoholic former champion for a coach, an unsupportive parent with a very supportive parent, a rival team that thinks he'll go nowhere, the stuffy businessmen in suits who don't approve of his dream, etc. It's all there, and there's little to no effort to deviate from the most basic stereotypes. The only thing that was above average were the main characters; Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman both gave really good performances. Taron Egerton really got the feelings of determination and perseverance across. He definitely created a very sympathetic protagonist, and I was with him through every success and failure. Even though I knew that he would end up succeeding, I was still rooting for him all the way. Hugh Jackman showed off some fantastic comedic skills, and was the right balance of supportive and hesitant. Aside from them, the rest of the cast was fairly good, but no one really excelled. Cameos from actors like Jim Broadbent and Christopher Walken were fun, even if they were fairly underutilized.
The story hits every point that I expected it to in the exact order; the slow build-up, the successes, the failures, everyone watching him compete on TV and cheering. They even do the thing where the mentor character says a line, and then the main character says it later in a big emotional moment, as the ultimate declaration of confidence. The film never once deviates from the sports movie formula, and that was kind of a disappointment. There are montages, a big final, dramatic build-up to his final jump, with flashbacks of everything that people ever said against him. Mentioning these elements can't even be considered spoilers, because everything about the film is so predictable.
The film is pretty well-made, and some of the ski-jump sequences looked nothing short of beautiful. There was quite a bit of CGI, and it looked very shaky, probably because the budget just wasn't high enough to execute certain things properly. It certainly looked interesting, but it was also pretty distracting. Some of the music choices were strange as well; not necessarily bad, but the songs were just so well-known that they didn't carry the weight that they needed to. For example, "You Make My Dreams" by Hall and Oates is a great song, but it's the sort of song that would be in a parody of a training montage, not in a scene that's supposed to be taken seriously. They even use "Jump" by Van Halen, which made me say "oh, come on!" out loud (Get it? Because he's JUMPING). The rest of the soundtrack - outside of pop songs - was also fairly generic; everything sounded like the background music of an Olympics video game (which I guess makes sense).
Eddie the Eagle certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel in any way, but it does achieve everything that it sets out to do. It tells a compelling, entertaining and satisfying story, and as formulaic as it is, it does have its heartwarming moments. Every character arc and story beat is painfully predictable, but it doesn't detract from the film in any significant way. It's an average film that follows an average formula, and while there are some impressively filmed stunts and solid moments of humour, it never transcended my expectations. It was a very enjoyable experience, but I really never need to see this film again, or any sports movie, because I'm fairly sure I won't see any variations on the formula anytime soon.
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