Eddie The Eagle

This review may contain spoilers!

This film is inspirational and filled me with joy. I would give Eddie The Eagle a 9/10.

Sometimes you need a light film that keeps things simple and knows how to make it's audience feel good, Eddie The Eagle has this tone in spades. I was honestly hooked throughout the run of this entire film because I was invested in Eddie's journey to the Olympics; at first I thought the pacing was down to how funny the film was but by the end of the film I realised how much I really had connected with the main character and his journey. The cinematography in this film is spectacular, the camera is particularly good at showing the immense scale of some of the jumps that are made in this film. The editing for this film is also really well done, everything feels quite natural and visually the film has a great flow to it. The score for this film is also really powerful to go alongside some of those incredibly jaw-dropping scenes, however it's the soundtrack that I think will really stick in your mind after watching this film.

Tom Costello and Jack Costello, who played 10 Year Old Eddie and 15 Year Old Eddie respectively, gave us a great introduction into the title role of this film; they had the exact same witticisms as Egerton in their performances. Jo Hartley, who played Janette, was quite a likable role in this film; the support and faith she had in Eddie made her a true pleasure to watch. Keith Allen, who played Terry, was great at playing the gruff and distant father figure in this film; Allen did such a great job at portraying these qualities that the reconciliation between him and Eddie was made all the better by the end of the film. Taron Egerton, who played Eddie Edwards, was a great protagonist for this film; Egerton is very good at portraying inherently comedic characters but he also performs roles that you can connect with. Tim McInnerny, who played Dustin Target, was one of the few good antagonistic performers in this film; McInnerny is great at presenting a snobby role that rallies very strongly against Eddie in this film. Edvin Endre, who played Matti Nykanen, was a really interesting minor role in this film; the elevator scene he shares with Egerton at the end of the film is extremely profound. Iris Berben, who played Petra, had a great presence in this film and was quite a tease to say the least; Berben had some great line delivery and certainly made her mark on the film. Jim Broadbent, who played BBC Commentator, had the perfect voice to portray a commentating role; the key to his performance was eloquent description which he presented perfectly. Christopher Walken, who played Warren Sharp, had a fantastic presence in this film despite having only two scenes and one voice-over; Walken built an incredible rapport with Jackman in the scene they shared together and it was one of my favourites of the film.

However the best performance came from Hugh Jackman, who played Bronson Peary. Jackman is really good at playing characters with a hard exterior that eventually gives way to quite a caring persona in films. In this particular feature you see him as being quite indifferent and almost downtrodden at first, by the end of the film he's become a very exuberant and earnest coach which was some great and well performed character development. I loved the chemistry he had with Egerton, they bounced off of one another very naturally.

This film suffers from something that underdog biopic films suffer from: a sense of safety. Eddie takes several bad crashes in this film but you know for a fact that by the end of this film he'll succeed and so the film is robbed a bit; it never really feels like Eddie is in true danger. This film also has some minor offbeats, particularly moments of comedy that didn't feel natural to the story.

Mark Benton, who played Richmond The BOA Official, was an antagonist in this film that lacked screen presence; his performance was constantly being eclipsed by McInnerny. Mads Sjogard Pettersen, who played Erik Moberg, was an antagonist that never had any menace to him; his confrontation with Jackman didn't even feel like a big deal. Marc Benjamin, who played Lars Holbin, felt quite unnecessary in this film; he acted as antagonist and bystander in several scenes but his role never seemed to have much purpose. Rune Temte, who played Bjorn The Norwegian Coach, felt like a cartoon villain; his performance was very over the top and didn't seem at all grounded in reality. Daniel Ings, who played Zach, was a very rushed antagonist that was swiftly inserted into the last act of the film; Ings' motivation for antagonising Eddie was never really made very clear and so he became one of the weaker characters of the cast.