Based on the real life story of Eddie Edwards efforts to qualify for and compete at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary this underdog tale has a feel good factor even if a lot of liberties are taken with the actual story of the real life Edwards. Eddie (Taron Egerton) has spent his whole life dreaming of one day becoming an Olympian despite all and sundry telling him he is not good enough and he’ll never make it. But Eddie is made of sterner stuff than that and isn’t going to allow a few naysayers put him off so despite one failed attempt after another he eventually finds a calling in the world of ski jumping and heads off to Germany to train. It is here that he bumps into Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman) a washed up alcoholic but a one-time top level jumper who left it all behind due to his rock and roll attitude to the sport. Of course Edwards wears him down through a mixture of tenacity and pity and it’s not long before he reluctantly agrees to give tips but only in order to ensure Edwards does not kill himself. But even finding an ally is not enough for Edwards as he has to battle against his fellow ski jumpers who see him as a joke as do the British Olympic council who do their best to ensure he does not make the team.

Egerton does a good job in portraying the plucky, never say die attitude to the screen with a mixture of determination and childlike innocence which makes it hard not to want him to succeed but it’s Jackman who steals the show as he looks like he is having great fun acting like Wolverine, without the claws of course, through the literal ups and downs of Edwards journey and it wouldn’t be an underdog tale unless Jackmans character also learned from the experience and finds both a friend and confident in Edwards.

Director Dexter Fletcher does a good job in keeping you interested even if you know nothing about the sport. Although sometimes the sentimentality gets a bit thick and some of the CGI is a little suspect because everyone seems to be having a good time on screen it doesn’t matter. Credit goes to some of the camera work during the actual ski jumping moments which does a good job in showing just how dangerous the sport actually is.

With echoes of the similar fairy-tale story of Cool Running, which incidentally occurred at the same event there is nothing new here but there is still enough to make the movie worth a watch even if it doesn’t reach the heights the protagonist himself needed to scale.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5.5 Out Of 10