The Seeker: The Dark is Rising

Just a heads up, I have finished watching the first revamped series of Doctor Who. Eventually I'll get around to making some more posts in relation to that... And the Christmas special. And I've even started on the next series with David Tennant. Which I will eventually blog about as well. And I'm currently working on a post about comparing the 9th, 10th and 11th Doctors.

But for now, I'm up for watching the TV and not my laptop. So I scanned through the movies and found this one- The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising. I've watched it before and I've read the book it is VERY loosely based on... And it has Christopher Eccleston in it as well. xD

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Anyway... We start at an elementary/middle [?] school with our protagonist, a young boy named Will Stanton. School has just let out for the Christmas holiday break. It's kind of incomprehensible as to where they are actually moved from. He's quizzed by his friends about Britain... But he has no noticeable accent and the same goes for his family. While walking home with the siblings, a woman [Miss Greythorne] and her driver/butler [Merriman] remind them of the up coming party at the mansion. Everything is confirmed a go.

So the Stanton family is almost all gathered around for the holidays. Max [the second brother of the Dugger-eque family] has come home from university and will be taking Will's room as his own... Leaving the almost 14 year old boy [mentioning of his birthday tells us his age] to reside in the attic. Dinner comes along and things are pretty tense between father figure and Max.

The next day is Will's birthday and some strange men come and drop off a Christmas tree. They have this eerie thing about them where seem to know who Will is... And we go through some present giving. Flash forward to the night. We have a skype/web chat with Steven, the eldest Stanton son, who is in the Navy. And he has a special present for Will! He just knew it was for Will and it turns out to be a... belt? With some patterns and stuff on it. It's nice I guess...

And so it's bed time and Will is up in the cold attic. It starts to snow and while Will is happy [he wanted it to snow as part of his birthday wish], he has to close the skylight window. Of which he has a little problem.... Oooooo....

And off to the next day of adventuring! Will walks to the bus stop only to be stalked by some weird ass crows. Yes, crows. They are never a good sign for good things. However, the boy is saved by the bus driver being all "Yo, you comin'?"

Wandering the mall, Will looks for an awesome gift for his sister, seeing as she was the only one to remember his birthday [she got him a watch]. And he finds a really nice box thing... That has the same swirly things his belt had! After making his purchase, he is stopped by two mall cops who were not on segways which was incredibly disappointing. They say he may have walked out of somewhere without paying and want to talk to him in the back... But there is definitely something creepy about them. And... Right-o, they are asking him for the sign! What ever could that mean.... Anyway, he escapes and all that jazz.

Upon arriving home, he desperately wants to talk with his father. Who has no time for him because there is PHYSICS A FOOT! So the boy is yet again ignored [or in the case of this brothers, mocked] by family.

And we're off to the Christmas party held by Miss Greythorne. There is food and various things that children probably shouldn't play with. Those guys from early [the ones with the tree] are there and try and strike conversation with little Will. Again they are rebutted while Will wanders off while Miss Greythorne and Merriman have a conversation... About warriors and stuff. Apparently Will is one but he doesn't seem to know that. [Insert commercial break here]

Will is now wandering the dark and creepily fogged property. We have some horse hooves and a creepy wo/man riding with a cape and everything! And will runs like the Dickens! [always wanted to write that somewhere, by the way]. Finally, there is some verbage to go along with this nonsense. AND IT'S CHRISTOPHER ECCELSTON! He wants the sign! Whatever the f- that is. And Miss Greythorne and Merriman and those other two guys show up... And tell The Doctor the Rider that he cannot have the sign... And he disappears.

And suddenly we're walking through time... Dunno how, just know that they [the saving party and Will] are. And they arrive at the Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And we finally get some explanation.

They are all Old Ones. And Will is specifically the Sign Seeker. They are on the side of the Light. The Doctor The Rider is on the side of the Dark. The power of the Light was divided into 6 signs to keep it away from the Dark. And Will needs to find them and put them back together for the side of the Light and to get rid of the Dark once and for all [?]. Basically, if he doesn't do this, bad things will happen. He is the 7th son of the 7th son... Which is wrong because Will only has 5 brothers.

As Will wanders into his home, he's accosted by 2 of his brothers... And pushes them away with an amazing amount of strength that befuddles them all.

Naturally, any child's first reaction to things in today's world ends up with them on google. And so he prints out some stuff and asks his dad about light and dark and physics... And his dad says it's all rubbish! Some scary things happen in his attic and he twists his ankle.

Mommy dearest calls for a doctor... who turns out to be THE DOCTOR the Rider! And while Mommy is wander off to find a tape measure, Will and the Doctor Rider have a chat. Blah blah blah, the Old people didn't tell you everything, blah blah blah. You should really give me the signs, blah blah blah. Mom pops back out and all is ok.

Will goes looking through the attic again and finds a mysterious file... About Will... And Tom? Turns out he had a twin brother who mysteriously disappeared 2 weeks after they were born! Creepy. And damn those Old Ones for being right. Bastards. And Will goes looking at the signs he's already collected and has renewed his search for them!

He manages to transport himself back to the place of the Old Ones cause it's safe there. And that's where the book that knows all is kept and only Will can read it.  Turns out the signs are hidden throughout time and made of 6 different elements. Time to traverse and learn to use powers and all that jazz. Also turns out that belt Steve had gotten him is conveniently perfect for holding the signs.


Now off to church and guess who is sitting behind Will and his family... THE DOCTOR the Rider and a mystery lady. We go off into a robust song of Joy to the World when Will sees a sign of the sign! Will moved the Old One groupies and himself to the time of the sign was placed. Naturally, the rider follows... with his elderly mother...? Who is not that at all but really a bunch of snakes... much like Bathilda Bagshot from HP 7. Will seems to be having problems finding the sign cause he's not focusing like Harry Potter during Occlumency lessons. He finally uses his powers and is almost to the sign when a snake comes out of no where. AND HE'S SAVED BY THE SKELETON NEAR THE SIGN! CREEPY OR WHAT?!

And upon finding the sign, Will and the rest end up back in the now-a-day church. Turns out the skeleton who helped was a Stanton too... Tom Stanton. Will learns that this ancestor had actually made the signs and that the 6th sign was never hidden and other things. Nothing particularly breath taking.

Strangely, we go to a scene of Will's father... Who is ripping up documents and finally holds up one of interest titled "Light and Dark" a Thesis by John Stanton. *gasp shock* And he chucks it in the trash.

We watch The Doctor the Rider talk to a servant or something. Basically says "Do what I want you to do and you will be rewarded." Um... Ok....

Back to the Stanton household, dinner is just finishing up and James brings home a strange girl. Who shows Will some magically pixie dust that shapes into the sign symbol! What what?! And she says she isn't an Old One... Maybe the decibel of the Rider? We go to a wandering James who runs across the Rider. Oooo, no good can come of that.

And back to Will who is showing off to the random girl in the dining room. And he tries to figure out what they relationship is.. But being 14, he has no clue about... Well, anything. When James interrupts and he and the girl wander off.

This leaves Will with confusion and thoughts. And he realizes just how messed up everything is and he tries to convince Merriman of this. To no avail. So to get out some teenage angst, he sets off a large fire with his magicky stuff. Intense. And his sister conveniently pops out to witness this. She's all sorts of worried that her brother may have a missing hinge or something.

And crap, Will sees a sign and brings his sister along for the ride! Looks like they are in the middle of a battle and it isn't pretty. He finds the sign rather quickly in a shield that one man picks up and uses. Just as he's about to make a run with the shield, his sister's kitten [which she picked up when they first got there] mews and almost gets Will killed. Thankfully, he gets the sign and transports back to the present.

He sends his sister on her way when Merriman basically says he can listen and try to understand... Try being a key word there. Will naturally expresses his emotions in a group of grunts and moans and basically like a 14 year old boy. Typical.

Back to The Doctor the Rider who bemoans the fact that the boy is still getting signs AKA there is a problem. Servant isn't doing enough damn it.

The following day shows us a terrible snow storm. Bad stuff happens and we fall to night. Will and Max wander to the market to find some food... And Max says some weird stuff. Something has happened to him... Seems like The Doctor the Rider has gotten to him! Oh noes! And they transport back in time to maybe Cowboy and Indians?! Max fights Will demanding he get the sign. Will wins and K.O.s Max, who remembers nothing when he wakes up.

The Doctor The Rider and some of the Old Ones meet in a place in town [whether be pub or maybe convenience store]. And shit goes down.

We go back to the Stanton clan who is trying to brave out the winter storm with the last of their supplies. Thankfully, Miss Greythorne has offered shelter to those in the Village. So they will wander there in order stay alive.

We go off to a little heart to heart between Will and his father. Turns out his father was working on the Light and Dark thesis when Tom disappeared. He blamed himself but Will doesn't blame him. Exactly as I said, heart to heart.

Up at the Manor, Will talks to Merriman and will finds out George [one of the Old Ones that faced The Doctor the Rider a little earlier] is gone. But then again, he wasn't really important anyway.

After a night's sleep, Will wakes up to find everyone frozen and icicles precariously dangling above. The Doctor The Rider does some scare tactics and threatens Will's family for the signs. Thankfully [or maybe not], no one is hurt. The servant shows up and it is revealed that it is the strange girl from earlier. Predictable.. And she does it so she will never age. Boring.

Our strange girl wanders back into the house and finds Will. She talks about trust and all sorts of jabber about how he needs to give her the signs. Bad move kid. Bad move. He almost hands them over before she throws a temper tantrum and Will kind of sees her for what she is [trollop]. And suddenly, he sees another sign and bam, throws it at the glass window thing that has the sign. With this newly acquired sign, Will and the Old Ones transport to the safe house/thing.

But the Dark is rising! And the safe hold of the past is no longer safe. While inside, Will can hear is family calling for him on the other side. Foolishly, he lets the Dark in and it's time for the final battle!

Will and The Doctor the Rider chat and we find out the Dark had Tom all along! Dunno if he got the wrong twin or what but... Meh. And another problem arises, Will only has 5 of the 6 signs! He's no match for The Doctor the Rider. But Merriman believes Will will find it in time... And he's right because Will is the last sign! And we go into his own little speech:

I am Will Stanton. The seventh son of a seventh son. I have read the book. I have walked through time. I have gathered 5 signs. The 6th could not be found because it was not hidden from me. I am the 6th sign. And I have restored the power of the Light.

And some movie magic puts The Doctor the Rider in the shiny ball that he one had Tom in. And that's kind of it for that... George is miraculously not dead and Tom has appeared! Dunno how he's gonna explain that to the family but... Yeah. And the sun shines on a new day [that doesn't have any snow anywhere].

And that's the end. Kind of leaves you with a "WTF just happened?" feeling. And I hope they aren't making a sequel. They kind of closed it up and honestly, it was a pretty terrible movie. And very disappointing.

As a young child, I loved The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper [though I'll admit, I skipped the first one]. So to watch it get so brutally ripped apart is definitely disheartening. This is even worse than any of the Harry Potter films. It actually makes me appreciate the HP films that much more because... Well, they could have turned out like this. So thank you Warner Brothers for not letting Harry Potter get as screwed up as this!