The
lowdown: 'The Seeker: The Dark is Rising' is based on
the second novel in Susan Cooper's fantasy
series, The Dark is Rising.
Will Stanton (Alexander Ludwig) seems to be an ordinary American teenager
whose family has moved to
a small English village. Will learns on his his 14th birthday that he has
a great
destiny. He is the seventh
son of a seventh son, and fated to be the Seeker, and given the task of
finding
six signs that will allow
the Light to defeat the Dark. Will is guided in his quest by four Old Ones,
servants
of the Light who have been
waiting for Will to reach his 14th birthday so he can start his quest.
These Old
Ones are Merriman Lyon (Ian
McShane), Miss Greythorne (Frances Conroy), Dawson (James Cosmo) and
Old George (Jim Piddock).
Naturally the forces of evil are also after the six signs, and Will must
constantly
outwit the Rider (Chistopher
Eccleston), a servant of the Dark who warns that the Dark will rise in
five days.
Will's emerging powers as
the last of the Old Ones include the ability to travel through time to
locate each
sign, and to pause time
while he collects each one. However, although his powers get stronger as
he finds
each sign, the Rider's powers
are also growing, and a final confrontation is inevitable. Meanwhile, Will
has
learnt from his father that
he has a twin brother, Tom, who mysteriously vanished when they were babies.
It turns out that Tom had
been kidnapped by the Rider, who mistakenly thought that Will was the older
twin,
and Tom was the Seeker.
Tom has been trapped in a glass sphere for the last 13 years, and naturally
part
of Will's quest involves
freeing his long-lost brother. Will must contend with many threats, such
as a deadly
blizzard and betrayal by
several people who are close to him. However, Will finds the last sign,
which turns
out to be himself, defeats
the Rider (who ends up trapped in a glass spheres) and releases Tom.
The
verdict: 'The
Seeker: The Dark is Rising' has been widely criticised by many fans of
the original novels
due to the many differences
in the film version, while many feel that it does not do justice to the
novel. There
are a number of key differences:
Will, for example, was two years younger in the novel and British rather
than
American. However, to be
fair to the film's writer's and producer, they did make some changes to
ensure that
the film did not too closely
resemble the Harry Potter mythology (the original novel had many plot points
that
were similar to Harry Potter,
but written over two decades earlier). This film is entertaining enough,
although it
much of it has been done
before, and it should appeal most to those who have not read Cooper's novels.
Video clips:
The Rider
4.8mb
A strange doctor
8.3mb
Cold and ice
10.8mb
The Dark is defeated
7.8mb |
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