The Dark Is Rising review

The forces of good and evil are at loggerheads once again in this identikit fantasy from Narnia chroniclers Walden Media. Instead of four special kids, we get just one: 11-year-old Will (Alexander Ludwig), who learns that he’s the last of a band of immortal warrior-guardians devoted to keeping the disciples of The Dark at bay. Amid repeated portents and enough squawking, grumpy birds to give Alfred Hitchcock wet dreams, our superpowered young hero sets off a time-hopping quest to save humanity. Goodie mentor Ian McShane is saddled with expo-chatter, while baddie Christopher Eccleston snarls away like someone spoiling for a fight outside a nightclub. There’s some spice in John Hodge’s script (based on the second in Susan Newberry’s five-book saga), but it’s cheap-looking, mostly cheerless stuff. Still manages to entertain more than Eragon, though…