I was in the mood for a guilty pleasure and The Eagle is just that. I must admit that I liked it far better than I expected. I even liked it quite a bit. It’s not historically accurate and you have to oversee the way “the barbarians” are depicted, the good versus evil vibe is quite heavy-handed but still, I enjoyed it for various reasons.
First of all The Eagle is visually compelling. The images are beautiful and I liked the atmosphere they created a lot. The other reason why I liked the movie was the main character, Marcus Flavius Aquila (Channing Tatum). Tatum isn’t a very good actor but he does well when he has to play an introverted, wounded man.
In 120 A.D. Flavius Aquila, Marcus Flavius Aquila’s father, led the 9th Legion, 5000 Roman elite soldiers, far into Britannia, beyond the border of the Roman Empire. The Legion never returned and the emblem, the eagle, was stolen.
20 years later Marcus Flavius Aquila is sent to Britannia as Centurion of the remotest outpost near Hadrian’s wall. The soldiers under his command are not very keen on a man whose father disappeared. They think he means trouble but he is doing surprisingly well. We are introduced to a deeply religious man who is a very skilled and courageous soldier and a just commander. Unfortunately he’s gravely wounded in his first battle and sent to his uncle (Donald Sutherland) to recover. He gets an honorable discharge as his wound will not allow him to return to the life of a soldier. This is hard for him as being a soldier is all he knows and on top of that his secret hope was to restore his father’s honour.
When he watches some games with his uncle and sees a slave losing a fight against a gladiator he saves the slave’s life. While Esca, the slave, hates everything Marcus represents he still swears to be loyal. Marcus sees an opportunity to go beyond the wall, guided by someone who comes from there and speaks the language. He hopes to find out what happened to his father and maybe bring back the eagle.
Their quest is taking them far into enemy territory. The task is as difficult as it is dangerous.
A lot has been said about the bromance element in this movie. I’ve never really understood that term anyway. For me this was the story of an adventure and how two unlikely men become close friends. Call it “bromance” if you must.
As I said already, I liked this quite a bit. I thought it was well filmed and suspenseful. I spent two pleasant hours with this movie and wouldn’t mind watching it again. It’s not as good as Gladiator or King Arthur but personally I liked it better than Centurion and much much better than The Last Legion which is really not good. Watch it if you like movies set during the Roman Empire.
If you want to watch more movies set during the Roman Empire here’s my list: War Movies Set During the Roman Empire.
All About War Movies 
[…] (UK/US 2011) directed by Kevin Macdonald, starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland (here is my review) Share this:TwitterDiggStumbleUponRedditPinterestTumblrLike this:LikeBe the first to like […]
Got all excited there for a minute as I thought you were talking about the 1925 film The Eagle starring Rudolf Valentino. See I am currently watching the almost 7 hrs long 1916 French serial Les Vampires, so my mind is in silent film at the moment.
Haven’t heard of this film though. I might just rent it for a Friday night.
It’s a Friday night, post work-week kind of movie.
I haven’t watched a lot of silent movies lately. The last was Murnau’s Nosferatu. It’s excellent.
I have a thing for silent film. After all, that’s where it began, right?
Yes, it is but I don’t watch them very often. I think the silent horror films are great, really scary. But I also like the dramatic make-up and theatrics in general.
I have a special feeling for this movie because it was the first movie I reviewed in a theater. I had to go back and read my review and it turns out I did not like it mainly because of the lack of accuracy in depicting the Roman military. It also has many implausible aspects. That does not mean it might not appeal to many as a guilty pleasure. I will readily admit I am not normal and if Hollywood made movies to please me, it would lose a lot of money.
BTW I think Centurion is the best of the trio. But that might be because of the hot chicks. Apparently you prefer Channing Tatum and I prefer Olga Kurylenko. When it comes to movies I guess we lean toward actors/actresses we want to sleep with. Just a theory.
Nope, sorry, bad theory.
I liked that for a change it wasn’t gory and nobody felt the urge to include any female characters, i.e. idiotical romance. I think that was a great decision, of course, people were then so startled that they had to come up with the bromance thingy… And especially those who pretend to like no-romance have to prefer Centurion because of the women. Lol.
I agree on the bromance stuff. I did not see that. I think Tatum is too much in love with himself, although his saving the life of a coward could be explained as sexual desire, I suppose.
Did you test my theory with “King Arthur”?
I don’t find the actors in King Arthur attractive. Theory doesn’t work.
@ Allaboutwarmovies: Have you viewed “Memorial Day”?
http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Memorial-Day/70233179?trkid=5966279
Here’s the synopsis:
“When 13-year-old Kyle finds his grandfather’s World War II-era Army footlocker, the old vet agrees to tell the lad the combat history behind some of the objects in the trunk. The tales he tells foreshadows Kyle’s own combat experiences years later.”
In terms of accuracy, the movie was, so far as I could tell, top-notch, especially the tactical movement in the Iraq war sequences. The “heart” of the movie, also, was very much in the right place……
Thanks for mentioning it. I haven’t seen it yet. Sounds like a good idea. I hope I can watch it soon.
I agree about the visuals. I found the story kind of silly, but it was a genuinely gorgeous film, and I found myself wishing that the actors would disappear, since they were not as interesting as the visuals. Kind of like Revolution.
That’s exactly how I felt. I think it won me over because I didn’t expect it to be so gorgeous.
The story is sort of silly, yes but I still liked Tatum’s character.