By Sabrina Cognata

This movie is a pile of ... well, you know.  Here’s the problem, it’s based on a book.  In the book they took the time to explain how everything is tied together and in that way the book works and makes complete sense.  Then Hollywood got wind of this book and threw it in the lap of some schmuck screenwriter and told him to get it together for film.  Somewhere in this process the integrity of the story ends up being compromised (surprise, surprise) and what you end up with is a something that looks like it was thrown together last minute with tons of special effects to make up for the fact that it was lame as hell.  The premise of the movie is not all that bad it’s just poorly executed.  I know some eighth graders that could tell a better story. 

That being said, The Seeker is the story of Will Stanton, a hyper awkward 14-year-old boy that has to save the world from the Dark using his magical powers to defend and save the Light.  If you had to reread that last sentence I will forgive you, but basically this is the age old tale of Light versus Dark. 

On Will’s 14th birthday a group called the Old Ones (Ian McShane, Frances Conroy) takes him aside and tells him that he’s the 7th son of a 7th son and it is up to him to find & collect six signs to defend the & save the integrity of the light.  Will must bend time in order to collect the first five signs, but the sixth sign we’re told is something he will not find in the past because it is with him all along. 

As Will hunts through time for these signs he will be chased by the Rider (Christpher Eccleston).  The Rider’s power will increase exponentially each day for five days and on the sixth day his power will reach its maximum. The Old Ones tell Will to trust no one and depend on the nature of his abilities to help him save the world, his family & moreover himself. 


Will then begins to hunt through time systematically collecting the signs up until the very last moment on the 5th day when he is confronted with the massive power of the Dark & hope is nearly lost.  The Rider tells him all hope is lost and to hand over the signs he’s already collected.  In this moment, Will realizes that he’s the 6th sign, it’s his soul and his free will to give it up to use against the Dark that makes him an all powerful being of Light. 

Due to the creative process, Will’s story becomes a journey about American teen angst, finding your place & fitting in.  Meanwhile, the origins of the Arthurian Legend are compromised & therefore lost. Truly the saving grace of this film comes in the form of the Old Ones.  Mrs. Greythorn & Merriman Lyon (Frances Conroy & Ian McShane) are the backbones of this movie.  The real problem is the fact that a movie like this is hacked to death in such an incredible way before the actors are even involved that the movie becomes a total disappointment by the time it hits screens.  Because of this the story actually makes less sense as ideas are thrown at the audience without the justification of history or logic tied in and ideas just sort of hang there and become silly and misunderstood.