By
Mitch Emerson
October 8, 2007 - 12:00
|
A young man, Will
Stanton, discovers he is the last of a group of immortals dedicated
to fighting dark forces of evil. Traveling back and forth through
time, Will uncovers a series of clues, some dating back to biblical
times, that lead him to a showdown with forces of unimaginable power.
-Yahoo! Movies
Seeker: The
Dark is Rising tries to grab onto Harry Potters fanbase and fails
miserably. Adapted without consultation from Susan Cooper, Seeker has
way too much crammed into it and at the same time explains the bare
minimum to keep the story moving. One example – Will is tasked to
collect six signs in order to stop the Dark. Now unless I dozed off,
it was never explained what these signs were or what they were to be
used for. He just runs around looking for this swirly design and lo
and behold, there is the sign. There are many other faults, too many
to list here.
An ensemble cast
ranging from nobodies to “haven't we seen that guy in something?”
do what they can with the material, but aren't quite up to the task
of carrying a film like this. Alexander Ludwig, as Will Stanton,
carries most of the weight here and holds up well, reminding me a bit
of Zachary Ty Bryan from
Home Improvement.
Heroes fans
may recognize Christopher Eccleston, who played Claude, the recluse,
who taught Peter Petrelli how to become invisible. He plays The
Rider, the main villain in the story and if you ask me, he was
scarier as Claude, a good guy, than as The Rider in
Seeker.
There is even a Professor McGonagall clone in Frances Conroy's Miss
Greythorne. Sad to say most of the other cast members blandly blend
into the background.
There seems to be
a rush of fantasy movies this fall and
Seeker: The Dark is Rising
will just fall into the cracks as another mediocre attempt at
adapting a large epic-type novel into an hour and a half movie. My
advice, stay home and watch Harry Potter again.
For more info
visit the site at http://www.seekthesigns.com/
Keep reading,
Mitch Emerson
mitch@comicbookbin.com
ComicBookBin
