(spoiler free)
So far in Taron Egerton’s feature film career he has played an upper class British army officer, a homosexual gangster and a chav turned secret agent. Egerton certainly hasn’t held anything back so far and it doesn’t look like that’s about to change as he adds famous Olympian to his wide variety of roles. Egerton is by far my favourite up and coming actor working today. His performances in ‘Testament of Youth’, ‘Legend’ & especially ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ are my evidence as to why he’s so good. So of course I was pretty excited for his latest project, ‘Eddie The Eagle’.
Let’s start with the performances. Egerton has constantly impressed me in everything he’s been in and ‘Eddie the Eagle’ is no different. Egerton becomes Eddie Edwards for this film, he nails all of the famous ski jumpers quirks and he is consistent throughout the whole film. The most important aspect of this performance was always going to be the likability though and Egerton comes across as effortless in this aspect, being the films hero before he’s really done much. Alongside Egerton we have Hugh Jackman who plays Bronson Peary, a fictional coach made up for the film. Jackman is another actor who I’m pretty fond off, who isn’t? He fits in perfectly to the story here, he has wonderful chemistry with Egerton and he has some really great moments. I feel that both Jackman’s and Egerton’s performances will be underrated due to the nature of the film but when really looked at both knock it our of the park here. Other names involved include Kieth Allen, Jim Broadbent & Christoper Walken. Everyone plays their characters perfectly here contributing to the over all atmosphere of the film. The characters may well be cliched but they are done so well that this really isn’t an issue, with likeable characters being more than likeable and the designated pricks doing their job very well all the cogs really fall into place to make ‘Eddie The Eagle’ the feel good film of the year.
Whilst I can’t say that I’ve ever had much of an interest in ski jumping I can say how much I enjoy the Olympics. I really think they are wonderful, I love seeing people push themselves to achieve such greatness, the support from fans and nations and the celebration of so many different things. This film captures this spirit of the Olympics perfectly and that combined with the fantastic central character and the main performances mean that this movie can only bring smiles to faces. I was certainly grinning ear to ear for the majority of the running time. If that wasn’t enough to guarantee you have a good time watching the film the soundtrack and score will make sure of it. The score combined the sense of ambition with the feel good vibes the film endlessly gives off mixed in with the scale of the events and the retro edge of the era. It fits together perfectly and any film that features a training montage to Hall and Oates ‘You Make My Dreams’ has to be good. Going back to the scale that the soundtrack embodies so well though, it’s worth mentioning how with each jump you really feel the height of them, especially as they grow in size you’ll feel the increase and when things don’t go according to plan you’ll feel the crashes too. The film isn’t perfect, but what film is? A couple of the jumps don’t look the best and as I’ve mentioned it’s quite cliched but who cares, some of our favourite movies are so cliched!
I can honestly say that I haven’t enjoyed a film as much as I enjoyed this one in a very long time. For me everything combined together effortlessly meaning that I really connected with the movie in the most effective way possible. ‘Eddie the Eagle’ captures the spirit of the Olympics wonderfully and as a result highlights the best that humanity has to offer. Thanks to the two central performances from Taron Egerton & Hugh Jackman the film is a success from start to finish. It’s unashamedly feel good and should make you soar out of your cinema seat with joy, I loved it.
Rating – 10/10
Question: Taron Egerton is rumored to be on the short list to play young Han Solo in a Star Wars prequel, do you want him to get the role?
Thanks for reading this review and please let me know what you thought about the movie! Leave a comment below or drop me a tweet over at @HCMovieReviews.
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