In the world of Eragon,
the laws of physics are very similar to ours, with the exception of a few
magical elements. The movie is live action with cgi special effects added in to
create most of the non-believable and fantasy related components such as
Saphira, the dragon. Saphira and her rider Eragon, go through a wild and
dangerous journey together in order to meet up with the Varden, a group of
freedom fighters, and save their lands from the tyrannical dictatorship of
Galbatorix. Along the way they encounter friends, such as Arya and Brom, as
well as foes, such as the Raazac and Durza. The bad guys are more noticeably
outlandish and fantasy based, which really makes you feel more in tune with the
good guys and in comparison makes all the heroics seem even greater. In Eragon, exaggerating the magical feeling
in order to play up the heroics is really what all the physics are about.
One of the biggest and most noticeable examples is the
arrows that are shot in this world. Arrows shot in this movie always hit their
marks when shot at guards or big groups regardless of their affiliation. In
conjunction, arrows shot at the main good guys or main bad guys, may or may not
land. It seems that if someone is wearing uniformed armor, they were more
likely to be hit with an arrow. This really helps set apart the main characters
on a different level in comparison to the fillers. In the beginning of the
movie, the two guards accompanying Arya are both shot off of their horses
requiring only a single shot each. However Arya is not shot by arrows. Around
45 minutes into the movie Eragon shoots an Urgal square in the chest and not
only that, he also looses an arrow that wipes out a whole group of them. These
two scenes really heighten the strength and difference of Eragon and Arya.
After this scene, as Eragon and his companions fly away atop Saphira, many
guards shoot arrows at them but none of them hit, separating the masses skills
from that of the main characters. In regards to Galbatorix’s army, although
they don’t ever seem to hit Eragon, Saphira, Brom or Arya, around 1 hour and 26
minutes in, they loose arrows upon the Varden, all of which seem to hit. This
shows how much stronger the army is in comparison to the Varden creating a
sense that most of the Varden would be helpless if not for Eragon and Saphira.
Besides showing how great Eragon and Saphira are, the hit or
miss of arrows also serves to exaggerate how strong other characters are. Another
character, that is an unknown factor, is Murtagh. He seems to be a good guy,
but his past would indicate problems. At 1 hour and 4 minutes he shoots an
arrow aiming to kill a guard behind Eragon, which it does. At 1 hour and 25 minutes,
Murtagh aims again at killing Urgal soldiers that are attacking the Varden.
Again he is successful. Murtagh is shown to be a force to be reckoned with
within the movie and helps to exemplify how guards are most likely to be shot
and killed by an arrow.
Another character that reaps the benefits of the arrows
shooting of and by soldiers is Durza. About 1 hour and 4 minutes into the
movie, Eragon aims to kill Durza with an arrow to his head in order to save
Arya. The movie shows that Durza does indeed get shot in the forehead, and it
does indeed serve a purpose. Although the shot was not shown to increase
Eragon’s prowess with a bow and arrow, the scene signifies how powerful and
dangerous Durza could be, because the arrow to his forehead does not kill him,
much less faze him. Later in the movie, around 1 hour and 26 minutes in, many
soldiers of the Varden shoot a sea of arrows at Durza and the monstrousity that
he rides, however none of the arrows touch him or faze him in any way creating
another illusion that Durza is so mighty that he is impenetrable and
infallible.
Not only do the arrows intensify the dangerous factor of
Durza, the magical qualities that are inherent to their world also increase how
much we view of Durza’s potential strength. A huge difference between our world
and that of Eragon is that there is
the blatant presence of magic. The strongest of characters are able to channel
into unseen forces using words or hand gestures in order to manipulate objects,
things, or people. It seems too fantastical that energy and forces come from
nowhere, however to justify itself as a law in physics it is explained in the
movie that the energy to required to perform spells comes from the user’s body.
In this way, the use of magic exemplifies whoever has more energy or power.
Getting back to Durza, it can be seen how powerful he is with magic because in
the beginning of the movie he is able to set a ring of fire to trap Arya without
being phased while Eragon loses consciousness when setting just his arrow on
fire at 45 minutes in.
The physics of magic in this world allow things to appear, to
disappear, to move, to be constructed, to be destroyed, or really just anything
for that matter. Around 5 minutes into the movie, Arya teleports an object far
way in order to keep it out of Durza’s reach. 52 minutes into the movie, Eragon
is able to manipulate a tree into grabbing his enemy and swing him away. 1 hour
and 26 minutes into the movie, Durza recites a long phrase in the ancient
language in order to tap into very strong magical forces, which he uses to
collect large wild fires and compress them into a large billowing pillar of
dense smoke. Durza continues shaping and concentrating the smoke until it
becomes a huge monstrous dragon-like beast that rabidly roars and writhes. This
is also another blatant show of Durza’s potential strength and power and really
amplifies Eragon’s achievement when he is finally able to slay Durza.
Just as the other laws that apply to the movie seem to
enhance or make up how important and strong a character is, there is another
law of physics I have noticed within the movie that I believe is intended to
help strengthen the drama and importance of events or actions within scenes.
For some select scenes in the movie, time is out of place for actions,
especially when it comes to falling. On a whole, the movie seems pretty fast
paced with many time skips, but usually scenes are slow. A little before 23
minutes into the movie, Saphira is only but a small hatchling until she takes
to the skies and rises above the clouds only to return seconds later as a fully
grown dragon. Because Saphira needed to be reinforced with the image of a
mighty and fearsome dragon, her growth was sped up to an instant, although this
may also be attributed to magic. Around 30 minutes into the movie, Brom and
Eragon are riding away from the burning house on horses, it takes just a few
seconds for them to ride up a hill but within that time the whole house is
burnt and a heavy rain has appeared at the same time. Although unbelievable and
very offsetting to have such a noticeable time skip for the other events although
they traveled a believable distance within that time on horse, the events were
probably sped up to the point where viewing them at that time would provoke the
mood that was needed. At 1 hour and 30 minutes into the movie, when Eragon is
falling, he seems to be falling a little too fast and I assume that it is to
increase the action and suspense of the scene. In many other instances where
Eragon falls however, time seems to move slower. At 52 minutes in, both Saphira
and Eragon fall almost slow motion as do Brom and a minor bad character a bit
after. Saphira and Eragon once again fall slow motion around 1 hour and 30
minutes in after they have made contact with the ground and are bouncing into a
settle. About a minute after Eragon once again falls slowly as he lands upon
Saphira. Most of these slowly timed falls I assume are to increase anticipation
and unnerving drama and so that the audience has more time to process the
slight downfalls of the main characters so as not to display them as infallible.
Most of these physics, set into law by the director and
creator of this movie are there to greatly enhance the movie’s magical
qualities as well as the capabilities of the characters, allowing for more
unbelievable yet fascinating events. The dynamics of the arrows in this world
help set the important and powerful characters apart from the menial and weak
ones, the use of magic helps to compliment images of which characters are more
deadly and powerful, while the inconsistent time amplifies the drama and mood
within key moments. Although the laws of physics in this world do not adhere to
our own, they mostly help enhance the magical elements as well as the
characters and story and help to draw the audience into its world.
No comments:
Post a Comment