By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
Inspired by true events, “Eddie the Eagle” is the inspirational story of how Michael “Eddie” Edwards (Taron Egerton) becomes a world-record holding British ski jumper at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
Burdened as a child by a knee brace, enthusiastic Eddie displays an alarming lack of athletic prowess, yet he’s determined to compete in the Olympics. After he realizes he’s woefully incompetent at every track-and-field event he attempts, he learns to ski.
Brusquely dismissed from Great Britain’s downhill team, Eddie tries ski-jumping instead. A gullible novice, he journeys to Garmisch, Germany, where he’s ridiculed by Finnish and Norwegian jumpers who have been training since they were six years old.
But then Eddie meets Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman), a drunken, depressed, disillusioned one-time U.S. ski-jumping star, now working as a snow-plow driver. Peary astutely perceives Eddie’s innate bravery and tenacity so, albeit reluctantly, he decides to coach him, if only to prevent Eddie from recklessly killing himself.
In Pierre de Coubertin’s true Olympic tradition, Eddie doesn’t care about winning; he just wants to participate and do his best.
Scripted in the classic underdog formula by Sean Macaulay and Simon Kelton, it’s heavy-handedly directed by Dexter Fletcher, who over-emphasizes Taron Egerton’s (“Kingsman: The Secret Service,” “Legend”) quirky dorkiness.
Eddie’s predictably supportive mum (Jo Hartley) and disapproving, working-class dad (Keith Allen) are superficially sketched, although Jim Broadbent nails his role as a patrician British broadcaster.
FYI: The characters played by Hugh Jackman and Christopher Walken are entirely fictional; the real Eddie Edwards trained with coaches in Lake Placid, New York.
The dramatic Alpine vistas are superbly photographed by George Richmond, and the concept evokes memories of “Cool Runnings” (1993), another poignant, archetypal, misfit tale that was based on the Jamaican bobsled team at the same 1988 Winter Games in Calgary.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Eddie the Eagle” soars in with a sentimental 7, an uplifting, feel-good film.
Perfectly timed to coincide with Hollywood’s outreach for racial diversity, “Race” profiles America’s greatest track and field athlete, Jesse Owens, winner of four Gold Medals at the 1936 Olympics, where he’s faced with Adolf Hitler’s vision of Ayran supremacy.
Son of a sharecropper/grandson of a slave, Owens’ (Stephan James) story opens in Cleveland, Ohio, as he prepares to enroll at Ohio State. Having been told that Jesse is a natural, Coach Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) asks, “Can you win? What I mean by that: can you work?”
Work – and win – he does. So it’s off to Berlin, as the Amateur Athletic Union’s president Jeremiah Mahoney (William Hurt) urges an American boycott to protest Hitler’s racist regime, in opposition to International Olympic Committee Chairman Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons), who insists politics has no place in the Olympics.
There’s no black or white when you’re running, only fast and slow, Owens says: “For those 10 seconds, you’re free.”
Germany’s champion Carl “Lutz” Long (David Kross) graciously gives Owens advice, noting his loathing of the Nazi agenda, and controversial German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten) films a two-part documentary “Olympia.”
Conventionally written by Joe Shrapnel & Anna Waterhouse and directed by Stephen Hopkins, the title not only signifies Owens’ sport but also his African-American heritage that forces Owens and his wife (Shanice Banton) to ride in a freight elevator to a banquet held in his honor at New York’s then-segregated Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
In 1990, when President George H.W. Bush posthumously presented the Congressional Gold Medal to Owens, who died in 1980, he acknowledged: “It was an unrivaled athletic triumph. But more than that, it really was a triumph for all humanity.”
On the Granger Gauge, “Race” sprints to an inspirational 7, a noble effort.
The Biblical story of the Resurrection is given a new twist in “Risen,” the tale of a Roman military tribune, Clavius (Joseph Fiennes), and his aide, Lucius (Tom Felton), who must try to explain what happened to Jesus (called by his Hebrew name: Yeshua) in the interim following his crucifixion when his cadaver mysteriously disappears from a sealed, guarded cave.
Plagued by rumors of a risen Messiah and an imminent uprising in Jerusalem, wily Roman prefect Pontius Pilate (Peter Firth) orders Clavius to assemble and question suspects, including terrified Apostles Peter (Stewart Scudamore), Bartholomew (Stephen Hagan) and Simon ((Joe Manjon).
Mary Magdalene (Maria Botto) chides Clavius, saying: “You look for something you will never find.”
Cynical Clavius’ beliefs are transformed not only by what he learns but also a celestial encounter with the risen Yeshua (Maori actor Cliff Curtis), who performs a series of Biblically-documented miracles.
Unconventionally scripted by Paul Aiello and director Kevin Reynolds (“Waterworld,” “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”), it unfolds like a theological police procedural, filmed in Spain and Malta to resemble the grimy frontier of ancient Judea.
While Biblical scholars may take issue with the way they have altered the revered narrative, a conservative group called the Faith Driven Consumer, which condemned “Noah” and “Exodus,” calls this a creative and engaging detective story.
On the Granger Gauge, “Risen” is a restrained, respectfully spiritual 6, timed for a faith-based audience during the Lenten season that culminates with Easter Sunday.
( Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
