Monday, October 8, 2007

The Seeker: The Dark Rising

http://www.slashfilm.com/With the successful film versions of the "Harry Potter" and "Narnia" books, it's no surprise that similar works are getting the big screen treatment, and Susan Cooper's "The Dark Is Rising" sequence is the latest in the bunch. The Seeker is based upon the 5-book young adults fantasy series of novels The Dark is Rising, especially the second book in the series, which is also titled "The Dark is Rising.", a winner of the Newberry Honor and a runner-up to the Newberry Medal Award in 1974.

This classic theme of light versus dark pits a young 14-year-old boy against the forces of evil in a small English village. Will Stanton (Alexander Ludwig) is going through the normal challenges of adolescence, but unlike most of them, however, Will is very different. He is the last of the Old Ones beings, a vanishing group of people destined to fight the forces of evil known as The Dark, led by a figure called The Rider (Christopher Eccleston). Leading Will through his journey of discovery are a group of “Old Ones” led by Merriman (Ian McShane) and Frances Conroy,. They will help Will harness his powers so that he can travel through time and seek out 6 stones that will give him the power to knock The Rider down. With the world's nearly heading for obliteration by the enemies, the young teen has only five days to collect six symbolic signs that will reverse the advance of the dark forces. So better watch the movie and follow the fun and exciting adventure of Will as he searches through snake-infested tombs, sneaks past medieval pillagers and fights off fantastical creatures sent by The Rider to hamper his efforts to save the world from the hands of the dark ones.

The series of young-adult fantasy novels this flick is based upon long predate Harry Potter, they were written in the 1960s and 70's. Like Harry Potter, the main character in The Seeker is a teenage boy learning how to employ magical powers against evil. So naturally, critics are comparing it to the Potter movies. But i found that this first installment in a film fantasy series, could turn out to be the new Harry Potter. It has also a magic that drive the watcher's instinct of expecting more adventure by the main character. So better wait for its other installments. I'm sure the story gets even better and exiting in its next sequel as Will's adventure continues.

The movie is brought to you by 20th Century Fox and it was released last October 5th, 2007, hitting the big screen for more than 3000 theaters worldwide. It last for 98 minutes of fun adventure and some cool effects displayed in the movie that makes it very entertaining to watch.