Inspirational tale

Eddie the Eagle
STARRING: Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Christopher Walken
DIRECTOR: Dexter Fletcher
Genre: Biographical sports drama
Rating: PG
105 mins

I may be an Olympiad or two too young to have been around when Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards soared his way into the hearts of the British public, but the years did not diminish his fame in any way.

Every time the Winter Olympics comes round, his story is repeated on the news or in endless TV documentaries. Now, 28 years later, the British icon’s story of the 1988 Games in Calgary is told on the big screen in a movie big on heart and inspiration, but ultimately uses every cliché in the book to get there.

Edwards’ story is confusing and contradictory, in the sense that he was so spectacularly bad at what he did (at least relative to his Olympic counterparts) that he became a superstar in his own right and celebrated as the embodiment of the true Olympic underdog spirit.

Eddie the Eagle endeavours to tell his remarkable story in suitably inspiring and uplifting fashion, although this is done with a healthy sprinkling of ‘embellished’ elements and taking some liberties with the story.

In his second major role, Egerton swaps the smooth and handsome secret agent of Kingsman Secret Service for the grimacing and gurning Eddie, a youngster determined to realise his dream despite little in the way of sporting prowess. The actor, still a relative novice earning his trade, does a good job of balancing Eddie’s innocence and optimism with courage and determination.

Having tried and failed at several other sports, skiing became Eddie’s obsession, and through a combination of hard work and determination, he narrowly missed out on joining Great Britain’s downhill team. Unabashed, Edwards instead took to the air, making it his mission to become Team GB’s first Olympic ski jumper.

So far, the film is on track with real life events, until it takes its biggest diversion by packing Eddie off to a German training camp and teaming him with an entirely fictional trainer called Bronson Peary (Jackman). He’s the James Hunt of the slopes, a former hard-drinking, chain-smoking, womanising bad boy who, nevertheless, used to be at the very top of the mountain. Now, however, he spends his days ploughing snow for the new generation and his nights at the bottom of a bottle.

This is when the sports movie clichés and stereotypes start to snowball. Bronson is initially unimpressed with Eddie and repeatedly tells him to go home, but he eventually warms to the plucky upstart, agreeing to train him in unorthodox ways so that he can realise his dreams.

It wouldn’t be a sports movie without those sweet, sweet montages, and they’re in full flow here as Eddie learns to jump from increasingly steeper heights and earns his nickname due to some dodgy celebrations.

Of course, there needs to be some drama somewhere otherwise the film wouldn’t be able to sustain its near two-hour run time. So this comes from three major sources: the British Selection Committee who claim Edwards isn’t Olympic material and keeps setting the metaphorical qualification bar higher, his team-mates and Scandinavian competitors who view him as a joke, and his dad, Terry, who wants Eddie to give it all up and join the family’s plastering business.

These conflicts largely work, making it impossible not to root for ‘The Eagle’ as his big Olympic jump approaches. Where the film is less successful, however, is in trying to give Jackman’s character a similarly heroic journey of redemption. It’s a sub-plot which feels forced to give Bronson more of a character arc, but it isn’t given enough time to develop to truly resonate.

On the whole, though, director Dexter Fletcher does an excellent job of taking what is a predictable and familiar tale and injecting it with energy and charm. After all, making a movie about a hapless fellow repeatedly sliding down the same slope isn’t the easiest premise to work with.

Although I have a personal hatred of the ‘it’s not the winning that counts, it’s the taking part’ attitude (yeah, I’m that older guy at kids’ birthday parties who would dive for the chair and knock the young birthday girl out of the way during musical chairs as I couldn’t fathom losing), even I had to crack a smile during this film.

Eddie the Eagle is filled with humour and warmth, and is quintessentially British. We don’t half love an underdog, and Eddie is our inspirational underdog. Here, he finally gets the worldwide recognition he deserves.

Showing in Novo Cinemas, Cineco, Seef II, Dana Cineplex

Rating: 4/5