Nooooo. Too long, complex and boring. Too many “gay” dude friendships. Eric liked gun battles, war movies, and some sci-fi movies (not Star Wars wtf lol). Dylan might’ve seen the flick with other friends. I wouldn’t doubt it if he breezed through all the dang books in late elementary school or middle school. But I don’t really think that genre was his thing, tbh. He certainly wouldn’t discuss Tolkien around The Reb. This is my feeling about it, obviously.
I think the thing about Eric is that he didn’t want battles fought by magic or intangible, mythical faith-belief systems like Magic or The Force innately wielded by Wizards or Jedi. He preferred gritty combat where humans relied on their own skills, abilities, and firepower. Aliens is a good example of this with the Marines.