Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards left his footprint in history not through his world record shattering jumps, but instead his sheer determination to fulfill his life’s dream, to be an Olympian.
For those of you who were actually alive in 1988 and remember Eddie Edwards’s famous jump that broke British records then I’ll save you some time, skip the rest of this review and just go see it. This movie provides insights into exactly what Eddie Edwards had to go through to be able to represent his country that you most likely did not get from watching it live.
For those of you who are younger than 28 or don’t remember Eddie the Eagle here’s the backstory. Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards was a British ski jumper making his rookie Olympic appearance in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. He was no where near the best jumper, and he never expected to be. He just wanted to compete and represent his country. The British Olympic Association forced Eddie to jump through hoops, which was brought on by the association changing the nonexistent requirement for a British ski jumper to compete at the Olympic games.
I had a few gripes with this film. The first and biggest issue for me was Taron Egerton’s expressions. For some reason his resting, or expressionless face looked like a sad pug, but looking back the actual Eddie Edwards makes a very similar face. So props to Taron Egerton for playing the character, but it does feel overdone and takes away from the experience. At multiple points during the movie I laughed during what is supposed to be a stressful or emotional scene because the face was just so comical.
Another thing that bothers me about the film is that I would not classify it as a drama, instead it should only be classified as a comedy because that’s what it was. It was a feel good movie about capturing your dream, not some edge-of-your seat suspense fest.
While all the technical aspects of the film are all hovering around average I have to complain about the predictability of the plot. Now I know what you are thinking ‘it’s a biographical film of course it’s predictable’ and I agree, however I went into this movie knowing nothing and was still able to predict every major plot point.
All that being said I would rate this movie at about 5/10 stars.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
If you are want to see a feel good movie about a goofy and lovable British Olympian then go ahead and see this movie, but be warned that it is more a comedy documentary than a dramatic piece.
If you are still on the fence after reading this Eddie the Eagle review check out the trailer below.