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The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising¹ is based on Susan Cooper's 1973 novel, the second in the series also called The Dark is Rising. The movie tells the story of Will Stanton (Alexander Ludwig), who on his fourteenth birthday learns that he is an Old One, one of the guardians of the Light. Will's especial quest is to find the six Signs of the Light and use them to defeat the powers of Dark, personified by the Black Rider (Christopher Eccleston). Will's fellow Old Ones, Merriman Lyon (Ian McShane), Mr. Dawson (James Cosmo), George (Jim Piddock), and Miss Greythorne (Frances Conroy), cannot help with his quest, other than as guardians along the way. Unfortunately for Will, the Black Rider is more powerful than all four of his guardians combined.
In the novel, upon which the movie is only loosely based, Will comes into his power on his eleventh birthday; no doubt the scriptwriter changed Will's age -- and made him American, rather than English -- to avoid too many comparisons with Harry Potter. One also assumes that the change of nationality was to provide some "fish out of water" tension, but if so, it completely failed, as very little mention was made of it. In fact, there was more tension from Will's sudden ascension to power and responsibility than his nationality.
Unfortunately, Will spends much of the movie being a whiny brat -- or angst-puppy in LJ parlance. He whines about finding the Signs in time; over the girl that he has a crush on, but who is going out with his elder brother; over being kicked out of his bedroom by yet another elder brother moving back home. He doesn't get along well with the other Old Ones, and the one time he attempts to talk to Merriman, he gets a lecture rather than the hoped-for advice. Granted, he doesn't get the training in his new abilities that he should. Instead, he's shoved into a dangerous quest he's not prepared for, which is enough to make even an adult, let alone a fourteen-year-old, cranky.
Probably the best thing about the movie -- if you're a geek like I am -- is that the Black Rider's mundane guise is that of the village doctor. Christopher Eccleston, who plays the Rider, was, of course, the first actor to play the part of the Doctor in the new Doctor Who. A couple of lines about time are also thrown in his general direction. Unfortunately, Eccleston doesn't bring the same intensity to the Black Rider as he did to the Doctor, so except for the pun, his appearance is a disappointment. In fact, I would have liked to have seen his role and Ian McShane's (Merriman Lyon) reversed.
It's probably best to approach the movie as a "reimagining" of Susan Cooper's original novel, since that really appears to have been the case. Rather than just updating the story to include such things as computers, cell phones and iPods, the story is completely rewritten with very little remaining of the novel. Even something as basic as the six Signs of the Light have been changed. All of the depth of the original movie has been replaced by surface glitz. Will finds a sign in a Viking burial ship? Okay, let's throw in a battle with Vikings -- and a kitten! Yeah! About the only thing that remains from the novel is the menace of the rooks.
While there is no doubt that children who have not been exposed to the novel will probably enjoy the movie, I daresay that most of the audience will be familiar with it and, like me, will be disappointed.
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¹ Although it is my understanding that the movie's title was changed twice from The Dark is Rising to The Seeker: The Dark is Rising to, finally, just The Seeker, all the advertising material in the theater and the print itself referred to the film by the second title.
In the novel, upon which the movie is only loosely based, Will comes into his power on his eleventh birthday; no doubt the scriptwriter changed Will's age -- and made him American, rather than English -- to avoid too many comparisons with Harry Potter. One also assumes that the change of nationality was to provide some "fish out of water" tension, but if so, it completely failed, as very little mention was made of it. In fact, there was more tension from Will's sudden ascension to power and responsibility than his nationality.
Unfortunately, Will spends much of the movie being a whiny brat -- or angst-puppy in LJ parlance. He whines about finding the Signs in time; over the girl that he has a crush on, but who is going out with his elder brother; over being kicked out of his bedroom by yet another elder brother moving back home. He doesn't get along well with the other Old Ones, and the one time he attempts to talk to Merriman, he gets a lecture rather than the hoped-for advice. Granted, he doesn't get the training in his new abilities that he should. Instead, he's shoved into a dangerous quest he's not prepared for, which is enough to make even an adult, let alone a fourteen-year-old, cranky.
Probably the best thing about the movie -- if you're a geek like I am -- is that the Black Rider's mundane guise is that of the village doctor. Christopher Eccleston, who plays the Rider, was, of course, the first actor to play the part of the Doctor in the new Doctor Who. A couple of lines about time are also thrown in his general direction. Unfortunately, Eccleston doesn't bring the same intensity to the Black Rider as he did to the Doctor, so except for the pun, his appearance is a disappointment. In fact, I would have liked to have seen his role and Ian McShane's (Merriman Lyon) reversed.
It's probably best to approach the movie as a "reimagining" of Susan Cooper's original novel, since that really appears to have been the case. Rather than just updating the story to include such things as computers, cell phones and iPods, the story is completely rewritten with very little remaining of the novel. Even something as basic as the six Signs of the Light have been changed. All of the depth of the original movie has been replaced by surface glitz. Will finds a sign in a Viking burial ship? Okay, let's throw in a battle with Vikings -- and a kitten! Yeah! About the only thing that remains from the novel is the menace of the rooks.
While there is no doubt that children who have not been exposed to the novel will probably enjoy the movie, I daresay that most of the audience will be familiar with it and, like me, will be disappointed.
---
¹ Although it is my understanding that the movie's title was changed twice from The Dark is Rising to The Seeker: The Dark is Rising to, finally, just The Seeker, all the advertising material in the theater and the print itself referred to the film by the second title.
