A movie came out in 1993 staring John Candy and Doug E. Doug called Cool Runnings. It was about the Jamaican bobsled team that competed in the 1988 winter Olympics in Calgary. While the movie was mostly fictional, it was inspired by true events. Little did I know (because I was five during the Calgary winter Olympics) that there was another first at those very same games. Eddie the Eagle is a movie about Eddie Edwards who became Britain’s first Olympic ski jumper since 1929 and how he got there. This was the second Olympic movie to come out in February but it was totally different from Race. So how’d it do? Here’s my review:
Eddie the Eagle is exactly the kind of movie you think it is. Let me borrow the buzzwords of the Radio Times. They said it was a “Feel-Good, Crowd-Pleasing, Triumph.” And you know what? They were right. Let’s be honest. You know what kind of movie it is because you’ve seen it before. You’ve seen it in the form of Cool Runnings. True, Eddie The Eagle is a tad more serious but it’s cut from the same cloth. There are Olympic movies like Miracle and Prefontaine that are serious that may have a funny moment or two. There are comedies like, again, Cool Runnings and Blades of Glory (kind of). And finally, there’s Eddie The Eagle that manages to fall right in the middle. There were quite a few funny moments with a nice mixture of slapstick, awkward laughs, and witty one-liners but never once did the movie make fun of the sport or the Olympics. While the British Olympic Association were antagonists in the movie, they were never clowns and the Olympics themselves were treated with a sense of awe. Eddie Edwards is historically viewed as kind of a joke even though he took the sport seriously and the movie is sure to make that point.
Taron Egerton of Kingsman fame stars as Eddie and he was fantastic. I didn’t even realize it was him when I first saw the trailer. I had pulled up the IMDB page and noticed he was in it so I thought “Oh, I wondered who he played.” Lo and behold, he was the lovable Eddie. Egerton is still fairly new in the movie world and Kingsman: The Secret Service was his first big role and his next was Eddie The Eagle. I didn’t see Legend so I can’t say how good he was there, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say he was good. The best part of Egerton in Eddie The Eagle was that he was believable. I truly cared about what happened to Eddie. His victories were my victories and his defeats were mine. Jo Hartley (This Is England) and Keith Allen (BBC’s Robin Hood) did a fantastic job as his mother and father and even though they were stereotypical characters, I was still able to believe in their story despite the all too familiar character tropes.
Hugh Jackman… Yup.. Wolverine himself was in this movie and it felt like he was combining Wolverine with Charlie Kenton, his character from Real Steel. This wasn’t really a bad thing, the character worked. The only problem was that he was overshadowed by Egerton’s fantastic portrayal of Eddie. There were a couple of the more dramatic scenes where I really felt for Bronson Peary (Jackman) and sympathized with him, but those moments of empathy were short lived. But isn’t that the way it goes? You can’t have a supporting character outshine the protagonist, no matter how famous he is.
Eddie The Eagle had some fantastic scenes and one has stayed with me now about week after seeing it. I can’t tell you much about the scene since this is a spoiler free review, but what I can say is that the scene focuses on the spirit of the Olympics and athletics in general. I think too many people have lost sight of that. When you watch the movie, be sure to pay close attention to a scene that takes place in an elevator. That scene is the best one in the whole movie.
The only gripe I had was that the CG looked pretty bad at certain spots. Not The Hobbit level of bad, but bad enough that it took me out of the movie. Of course they weren’t going to let Egerton actually ski jump, but did they really need to do a lame green screen close up? Even with that downside, Eddie The Eagle is a good movie and its worth a watch. If you’re in the mood for a feel-good movie, then go see Eddie The Eagle in theaters. If I wasn’t quite able to convince you then wait to stream it or buy it on sale. As long as you go into it ready to watch a standard inspiring Olympic movie, then you’ll leave with a smile on your face.
Eddie The Eagle gets an 8 out of 11