REVIEW: The Seeker: The Dark is Rising

Will Stanton (Alexander Ludwig) conjures fire to protect himself from the forces of darkness

The Seeker can’t seem to find a satisfying finale
Third act problems prevent “Seeker” from being a tight, youthful adventure

Rating: B-

“The Dark is Rising,” a “Harry Potter” like story of a young boy who discovers both powers beyond his wildest imaginings and a destiny to fight the forces of darkness in a sleepy London town, is brought to vivid life with a moody soundtrack and spooky visuals that keep this child’s fantasy feeling like anything but. The story, originally penned by author Susan Cooper, tells the tale of young Will Stanton, your average everyday kid living abroad with his parent and 7 siblings, who finds that on his 14th birthday he starts going through some changes. It’s not puberty that’s affecting our young protagonists but a heroic destiny to save the world. Apparently being the seventh son of a seventh son entitles young Will to special powers (controlling fire, super strength, time travel, just run of the mill type stuff). With the aid of Merriman Lyon (Ian McShane) and his band of magic immortals, it is Will’s destiny to find 6 sacred “signs” to defeat the forces of the “Dark”(evil) to ensure that the “Light”(good) prevails. As McShane seems to be quite adept at reminding us, about every third scene, Will is the “Seeker”, the destined warrior who is the only one capable of seeking (get it?) the “signs” necessary to save the world from the Dark, who apparently is in the human form of Christopher Eccleston (go figure). Throw in some “Home Alone” type family dysfunction, a dark brooding atmosphere, and some enjoyable performances from some well established British actors, and you got yourself two hours of entertainment.

Director David Cunningham seems to have magical powers of his own as he is able to pull a rather enjoyable performance out of newcomer Alexander Ludwig, our protagonist Will. He’s also able to conjure up a creepy world where police officer are really demons is disguise (but we already new that), and can turn themselves into a flock of ravenous crows at will (duh!). In its more intense moment, Cunningham keeping the editing sharp and faced paced without being too jumpy and the lighting feeling scary and chaotic without giving us epileptic seizures. He introduces us to the story as if we’ve missed the first 30 minutes of slow introduction, introducing all the characters and relationships, and gets right to the action, filling in the blanks along the way. This keeps things from stalling too much and the narrative is able to flow smoother and quicker without bogging us down with endless exposition. Unfortunately though he also gives us characters who don’t seem to question the absurdly bizarre things happening around them, like a 14 year old throwing his 2 older brothers 10 feet into the air (passing is off as “puberty”).

Like many films this summer, it suffers from “third-act-itus”, a dangerous affliction whereby the final act of the film is unable to end in a tight and satisfying conclusion. Instead the writing falls apart towards the end as the final confrontation between good and evil becomes cliché and predictable. The climax is a bit of an anti-climax as is doesn’t deliver on what the rest of the film built it up to be. However, this doesn’t stop the film from being generally entertaining; it just stops it from giving films franchises like “Harry Potter”, a run for their money. But thanks to movies like Harry Potter and Chronicles of Naria, the certainly isn’t the last brave attempt by studios to turn novelized pre-teen heroes into movie stars.