Movie Review: The Seeker

My brother is in town! We met up Friday night for pizza and movie. Both of us were excited to see The Seeker. I read the Dark is Rising as a child, and I really liked it.

The movie was pretty good. Lots of cool special effects, especially when an evil security guard bursts into a flock of Ravens.

There are some pretty scary/intense moments too.

My favorite was the Old Lady guardian (Old One actually, but calling someone Old Lady Old One just sounds redundant.) You have to admire a woman who, hanging upside down and covered in snakes, calmly remarks "Could you please hurry. This is highly unpleasant."

There were some plot issues. They don't mention that Will is the seventh son of a seventh son until halfway through the movie, and it's a central plot point. There's a part where the Rider sends an attack of cold and water against the manor, and everyone's freezing and/or drowning and you find yourself wondering, "Why doesn't Will just use his fire powers to make everyone warm and/or dry?"

This question is never answered.

My other main beef was with the casting of the Rider. This character is supposed to be darkness personified. The very embodiment of evil. And they cast a guy who looks like he should be teaching seventh grade math.

The Riders guide to acting evil:

1. Don't emote. Most of the time your in a mask anyway. So all you really have to master is the evil eyebrow tilt.

2. Don't use any inflection when you speak. Ever. This lead to a fun game of "Talk like the Rider" when Jon and I left the theater.

Other than that it was pretty good. Some good lessons, some good action, some creepy "The Birds" attack action with clouds of ravens.

Good times.