As a Southern-Californian, snow might as well come from a different world. We receive at the most, a few flurries in the winter, but even then, it needs to be on a full moon on a leap year if it's not Tuesday. That said, we can still provide a wealth of athletes in sports that are played in the winter. Both local ice hockey teams, the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings, have won the Stanley Cup and are seen as some of the best hockey teams in America. Shaun White, famous snowboarder, hails from San Diego and Michelle Kwan, the figure skater, is from the L.A. area.
The lesson here is that a champion can come from anywhere. A good movie that provides this example is Cool Runnings from Disney. This portrays the country of Jamaica creating a bobsled team for the 1988 Winter Olympics. Though goofy and clearly not a realistic representation of what happened, the movie was upbeat about one following their dreams to become an Olympic athlete. What's interesting that today's movie was set during the same 1988 Olympics. Eddie the Eagle looks at an aspiring ski jumper as he tries to go fro the gold.
Ever since he was a young boy, Eddie Edwards has wanted to go to the Olympics, yet has little athletic skill. He tries his hand at several sports until he sees skiing as his best shot. As an adult, Eddie (played by Taron Egerton) seems to be doing well, he's not selected to join the British downhill skiing team due to his odd technique and just simply not being one of the best. He then sees that the country has not had a ski jumper in a long time, and decides to take advantage of that empty spot to secure a spot.
He packs his bags for Germany at the official training facility where his attempts to mingle with the other ski jumpers are met with laughter. While trying out the hills, he comes across alcoholic snow groomer Bronson Peary (played by Hugh Jackman). Eddie finds out that he used to be a part of the American Olympic team under the coaching of Warren Sharp (played by Christopher Walken). He takes pity and agrees to give Eddie the proper coaching. Eddie manages to win a local match that qualifies him to join the Olympic team. While the odds of winning are low, he's happy to be chasing his dream.
Eddie the Eagle sounds like your run of the mill sport biography and
basically is
but it's also self aware of that and has fun with itself. I can't think of another movie where ski jumping is portrayed and it looks really cool on a cinematic scale. The sport's high flying action allows for some impressive shots to prove that it was not computer generated.
Like Cool Runnings, it's also clearly not using the same story, given how silly a lot of the scenes flow. While it's not laugh out loud hilarious, it makes up by being just as upbeat as the latter. Taron Egerton is proving his worth as an actor, managing to be the perfect athlete and dweeb in one crazy experiment. You know his character is out of their element, but Taron makes him very likable. Hugh Jackman does well as his coach, more or less throwing in a lot of his charm and ability to play off the comedic writing to his advantage. Hugh gains cool points for his shot of ski jumping with a cigarette in his mouth.
Going into Eddie the Eagle, you really need to be in the right mood for it to hit you in the right spot.
I'll give this eight and a half ski jumpers out of ten. Those that want a gripping story of an athlete should look someplace else. But for those that want something upbeat like Cool Runnings and Rudy, then Eddie the Eagle should please you well enough. Despite the premise, this is no downhill crash; it's a flier that knows where to land.
Eddie the Eagle
2015
Action / Adventure / Biography / Comedy / Drama / Family / History / Sport
Eddie the Eagle
2015
Action / Adventure / Biography / Comedy / Drama / Family / History / Sport
Plot summary
Eddie the Eagle is a feel-good story inspired by true events, about Michael "Eddie" Edwards (Taron Egerton),an unlikely but courageous British ski-jumper who never stopped believing in himself--even as an entire nation was counting him out. With the help of a rebellious and charismatic coach (Hugh Jackman),Eddie takes on the establishment and wins the hearts of sports fans around the world by making an improbable and historic showing at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. From producers of Kingsman: The Secret Service, Eddie the Eagle stars Taron Egerton as Eddie, the loveable underdog with a never say die attitude.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
Eddie the Eagle is no downhill crash; it flies with upbeat spirit and lands with a comedic tone.
Feel-good inspirational film.
If ever there was a feel-good movie, this is it! Based on a true story, this film is suspenseful, dramatic and hilarious all in one, resulting in an insanely entertaining feature. Taron Egerton is brilliant as hero Eddie Edwards. He conveys emotion so well that you feel every feeling, every failure and every triumph. He is perfect as the nerd, likable hero and champion. Hugh Jackman is perfectly cast as a has-been champion who unwillingly becomes Eddie's coach. His 'Bo Derek' scene is fabulously hilarious and brilliantly acted.
functional underdog sports movie
Eddie Edwards (Taron Egerton) has always wanted to be in the Olympics but he's terribly clumsy. His father tries to teach him a trade but he has an idea when he sees a local artificial ski hill. Despite working hard to ski, he's still not good enough to try out for the '88 Olympics British team in Calgary. He sees ski jumping on TV but the British has no training facilities. He decides to go to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The real skiers laugh at him. He convinces former-star-turn-drunken-snow-groomer Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman) to help.
It's an underdog sports movie. It's not always funny. It's actually a little scary to remember how dangerous it was for Eddie the Eagle. It's half-persistence and half-madness. It's fine that this is filled with classic clichés. That's what clichés are for. It's touching but I need more outright jokes. Eddie could be a funnier character. This is a little movie that hits the heartstrings real hard.