Within most heartfelt movies, the main protagonist somehow always comes out on top, and that is no different from sport movies. Most instances being that the person won the championship or the team defeats the top ranked team. However, in Eddie the Eagle, directed by Dexter Fletcher, this doesn’t seem to be the case; rather, he places last.
Even though this part became a shock to me—myself expecting Michael Edward (Eddie) to win gold—the humor and passion throughout inspired me. This inspiration began right from the start. Edwards had walking difficulties at an early age, then had a dream and didn’t let anything step in the way of that.
I thought it was quite interesting how he got involved with ski jumping. Rather than that being the focus the entire time, Edwards jumped around from sport to sport to hopefully live out his Olympic glory. However, he would fail every time. When he picked up skiing, he was actually quite good, which suprised me—mainly being that I am a skier and instructor—it can be a hard sport to just pick up. Even though he had some complications with the British Olympic officials, this didn’t stop him, and he ended up moving to ski jumping.
As the movie goes on, we see him trying to self-train himself. Although a bit successful, this overall doesn’t end well but allows him to meet his future trainer, Bronson Peary. Peary would help him, in his own weird ways, get him to the Olympics.
One aspect, however, that I quite enjoyed throughout was the humor. With Taron Egerton as Edwards and Hugh Jackman as Peary, this combo brought fire and spunk to it that not a lot of people could add. I loved the bickering and the representation of the two polar opposite personalities that overall allowed for both of the characters to grow throughout the movie.
Not only the humor but the overall message truly inspired me. Although this type of message seems to be popular throughout most sport movies, how Fletcher and his team were able to do it in a way to show that even if you don’t win or come out on top, you still can succeed left me in awe. It is more so the mindset that you go into things, and what you can take out of that situation is how you will grow as a person.
In all, this movie at times seemed a bit corny or your typical sports movie, but truly embraced at the end that not everyone is able to come out on top. It is the focus of what you do afterward, which can gravely impact not only yourself but also others. Just like how Edwards’s dad finally, in the end, believed and supported his son by showing up to the airport wearing a jumper that says, “I’m Eddie’s Dad.”
