One boy’s dream for respect and prestige from his homeland takes him on a long distance journey where no englishman has been in decades. “Eddie the Eagle” is inspired by true events, and serves as a feel-good story about Michael “Eddie” Edwards (Taron Egerton), an unlikely but courageous British ski-jumper who never stopped believing in himself, even as an entire nation was counting him out. Through flashbacks of his loving Mother’s (Jo Hartley) unwavering support, Eddie doesn’t take no for an answer with each painful step to the gold medal. To get there, he seeks the help of a rebellious and charismatic coach named Bronson (played by Hugh Jackman), a man who once competed as a legendary ski-jumper himself. Eddie overcomes physical handicaps and takes on the establishment, winning the hearts of sports fans around the world by making an improbable and historic showing at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. “Eddie the Eagle” is rated PG-13 for partial nudity, light language, and smoking.

“Eddie the Eagle” is one of those sports biopics that comes off a little cliche at times, but no less enjoyable because of it. When compared to another sports movie that actually takes place at the very same Olympic games that Eddie competes at, you notice a lot of striking similarities that make out the structure of this film. The movie I am talking about is 1994’s “Cool Runnings”, and that same Jamaican bobsled team is even mentioned in this picture. Comparisons that I made were things like a sport that’s foreign to the protagonist’s homeland, the protagonist has zero experience in this sport, both films articulate the real dangers for each sport, a tense moment in friendship happens between the coach and his pupil because of past troubles that haunt said coach, and the real prize of the film being to compete above anything else. These are just a few of the similarities that I picked for the movie. Now, it would be easy for me to write this film off because of those movies, but “Eddie the Eagle” soars high on a heartfelt presentation that does wonders for its title character and the story that accompanies him.

Where the movie really finds itself is in the art direction and camera work for the great Matthew Vaughn. Vaughn worked with Egerton in 2015’s “The Kingsmen: Secret Service”, and it’s nice to see their magic shine on in a film that is much more toned down violently. The sport of high skiing has never really been given this kind of exposure, and Vaughn does a wonderful job communicating to the audience the kind of thrills and chills that the competitors feel before taking the plunge. There’s a lot of really tight, fast shots that takes the audience along on the journey with Eddie, thus granting the viewer at home a kind of POV shot that hurls the snow and cold right into their faces. There is also enough genius in the presentation of the jump itself to really cast doubt in Eddie’s chances when faced with such a terrifying height. The slow reveals of the crowd watching from ninety meters below peaks its way into view after Eddie steps foot at the highest peak. It’s a brilliant way of casting anxiety on the audience watching without making it overdone to a fault.

The musical score is an early favorite of mine for score of the year. Composer Matthew Margeson captures the real emotion of Eddie’s triumph, while offering an ear-gasmic pleasure of 80s synth pop that brings out the most of every inspiring conquest. Along the way, the film throws in recognizable tracks like “Jump” by Van Halen, as well as “You Make My Dreams Come True” by Hall and Oates. Both songs are a little obvious in their message to the certain scenes in the film, but they are certainly appropriate for a time and age where dreaming was still a welcome epidemic.

As for the performances, there is a lot of engaging charisma to go around. Taron Egerton continues his spell on Hollywood by giving his most moving of performances to date. There were times in the film where I genuinely forgot that Taron was playing Eddie, thus making his transformation that much more convincing. What surprised me most of all was at the heart of this moving performance was still some great comedic deliveries that were welcome breaths of relief for the pain and torture mentally and physically that this character was facing. His chemistry with Hugh Jackman eases the way through the second act, a favorite area of the film for this critic. Jackman is his usual brute, tough guy, but there’s something in Eddie that reminds him of himself before his arrogance took over. Soon he finds himself being inspired to do more with his life, and be the guidance to get Eddie to achieve his dreams. Christopher Walken is also in the film, but sadly is wasted with only two scenes in the film. For me, who really stole the film was the dual performances of Jo Hartley and Keith Allen as Eddie’s parents. Hartley is a sweetheart, and I found her comparable to my own Mother who always told me to never quit striving. Allen is Eddie’s reality check, always tearing him down to a fault. What made them both so fun to watch was their polar opposites on Eddie’s dreams that really made for some great interractions with Egerton.

Overall, “Eddie the Eagle” flies high above the overdone cliches that the genre sets for itself at least twice a year. It’s a well paced 100 minutes that embodies a sportsmanlike message. The movie proves to the audience that sometimes the journey is bigger than the material prizes. Competing is the greatest stand.

7/10