Ride the Eagle – Solid Drama
Director: Trent O’Donnell
Writer: Jake Johnson, Trent O’Donnell (Screenplay)
Starring: Jake Johnson, Susan Sarandon, D’Arcy Carden, J.K. Simmons, Luis Fernandez-Gil, Cleo King
Plot: Leif is left with a conditional inheritance when his estranged mother Honey dies. Before he can move into her picturesque Yosemite cabin, he has to complete her elaborate, and sometimes dubious, to-do list.
Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Ride the Eagle starts when Leif (Johnson) gets the news that his estranged mother Honey (Sarandon) has passed away, leaving him her cabin under one condition, he must complete a to-do list.
Leif heads up to the cabin to start the list, which will see him get some late life advice from his mother that will see him challenge his past, as he is struggling to face his future.
Thoughts on Ride the Eagle
Characters & Performances – Leif is the man who lives with his dog Nora, he is part of a band, but doesn’t seem to be achieving much in his life, finding himself feeling lost at times. When his mother dies, he gets left her cabin, with a series of challenges to get through, that will give him a chance to face his past, in hope of finding out more about his future. Jake Johnson does a great job carrying this film, bring his charm to the role, while having the serious side of the film down perfectly. When we go into the supporting roles, we get the recording from Honey, Lief’s mother, which is her trying to get a message across to him, a message she never got through in the real life. Audrey who is on the other end of a phone call for Leif, with the two remembering their old life together and Carl the neighbor that Leif finds himself in a rivalry with for no reason. The supporting cast does everything right without needing to do that much in the film.
Story – The story here follows a man that hasn’t seen his life go the way he had planned it, seemingly going nowhere, that will find his mother pass away needing to complete a series of challenge to inherit her cabin. This is a story that is filled with the idea that one person will get a final goodbye to an estranged family member, while finding his feet for the future. This has everything it needs to get the basic idea for this side of the story, but it does seem to only touch the surface of what drove them apart in the first place, while it does become clear, we don’t seem to get the major emotional impactful moment in the film that will leave us flawed with what has happened.
Themes – Ride the Eagle is a coming of age comedy drama looking at a family relationships with a journey that will see the son will have to make, the location is stunningly beautiful, away from the world, bringing the peace from the busy world.
Ride The Eagle will be available on Digital Download from 4th October
Final Thoughts – Ride the Eagle tries to draw on the heart strings of finding your place in the world.
