Movies: 18454 | TV Series: 3282 | Added today: 0 | Storage: 65882 GB
- Forgot password?
- | Register
- | Support
- | FAQ
- | Help
Download, Watch online The Eagle Movie.
| Genres: | Advent |
| Starring: | Denis O'Hare, Channing Tatum, Paul Ritter, Douglas Henshall, Julian Lewis Jones, Lukács Bicskey, István Göz |
| Director(s): | Kevin Macdonald |
| Available Quality: | DivX, Hi Def, iPod, Hi Def, Hi Def |
| Country: | USA, UK |
| Year: | 2011 |
| IMDB Rating: | 6.2 |
In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila (Tatum) arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca (Bell), Marcus sets out across Hadrians Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia - to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his fathers memory, and retrieve the lost legions golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth.
 |
The Eagle (iPod) | Resolution: 480x208 px | Total Size: 340 Mb |
|
|
 |
The Eagle (Hi Def) | Resolution: 852x368 px | Total Size: 547 Mb |
|
|
 |
The Eagle (Hi Def) | Resolution: 1920x816 px | Total Size: 8129 Mb |
|
|
 |
The Eagle (Hi Def) | Resolution: 1280x544 px | Total Size: 5590 Mb |
|
|
 |
The Eagle (DivX) | Resolution: 720x304 px | Total Size: 1619 Mb |
|
Movie Photos: We have taken some photos of "The Eagle". They represent actual movie quality.
Visitor Reviews: (20)
patrick powell 16 May 2012
By no means a masterpiece but better than I expected
Well, now we know it: the Britons under Roman occupation were abedraggled lot, largely dressed in rags. Except for the Seal People,that is, whose warriors were covered in grey ash and favoured rathernatty leopard skin coats which would not have been out of place on thecatwalks of Milan. And whereas the other British natives followed nowhairstyle in particular, the fashion-conscious Seal People, who seemedto have lived on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, had verynatty Mohawk-style hair-dos. Actually, although it is easy to poke alittle fun at The Eagle, the story of a brave and honourable Romancenturion who sets out to re-establish his soldier father's honour, ithits the spot more often than it misses and given that we know preciouslittle of the customs and practices of the British tribes in 140AD, thefilm is imaginative and manages to convince. Scenes in a Roman fort arealso quite convincing. Some have criticised it for not being half assubtle as the novel on which it was based, to which I must respond as Ialways do that Kevin McDonald made a film which used the novel as rawmaterial. He wasn't trying to make a 'film of the book'. Channing Tatumis criticised for being wooden, but I feel that, too, is unfair. He isasked to portray a rather intense man who has something of a fixationin restoring his father's honour, almost, it would seem, to theexclusion of much else, and Tatum does that character justice. JamieBell, the only other character of much substance gives a very goodperformance and it will be interesting to see future films in which hestars. He has an interesting quality about him. Overall, The Eagle doeswell. It might have disappointed some because it is not a blockbusterand the CGI has been kept to a bare minimum. Others might have beendisappointed because there is, in truth, not much too the story. Butwhat it sets out to do, it does well and apart from the very occasional'ho-hum' moment - and it has to be admitted that the film's final linesand its final ten seconds are real clunkers, The Eagle is worthwhatever they are charging you for a ticket at your local fleapit.
15 May 2012
The Eagle- For the Fangirls
Loosely based on Rosemary Sutcliff's novel The Eagle of the Ninth (The Roman Britain Trilogy), with its sweeping cinematography and the hauntingly atmospheric score by Atli Orvarsson, this movie set in Britain 140 AD starts as a slice-of-life military drama and quickly twists off into epic adventure. Though billed as some sort of soldier/daddy-worship epic, with nary a woman in sight, this movie unravels into an amazing bromance that seems more like a love story between two young men from different walks of life than anything else.Marcus(Channing Tatum) is forced out of his career as a soldier by battle wounds received while defending his first command post in distant Britain. The son of an infamous Roman commander who marched 5000 men into northern Britain and subsequently vanished, Marcus's dream of winning back his family's honor through soldierly deeds is summarily crushed by his discharge from service. Languishing in civilian life in his uncle's villa, Marcus' hatches a plan to win his family's honor back with the help of his Briton slave, Esca (Jamie Bell), by different means. Marcus will find the eagle standard of his father's lost legion by traveling into the hostile unconquered northern lands (Caledonia, or modern day Scotland) and Esca will lead the way. The tension and conflict between The Eagle's two main characters powers the movie along to its surprisingly up-beat conclusion.It is a rare treat to see a movie that takes place in pre-Christian Britain. The costuming is impeccable and the people are gritty, filthy and refreshingly normal looking: no magic Hollywood showers or supermodel background characters ruin the believability of the time and place this movie hearkens to. As far as visual storytelling goes, I was impressed that so many plot points, shifts in attitude, and changes in relationships were indicated by simple glances, a change in wardrobe or what a character happened to be holding in a scene, without any dialogue whatsoever. The strengths of this movie lie in its visual story telling, its pacing, and in the acting skills of its secondary characters. Jamie Bell gives an incredibly believable and understated performance as Esca. One of the most heart wrenching moments is the movie (and unquestionably the best acted monologue) is Esca's tale relating the fate of his family. There is no flowery verbage, no dramatic shouting, yet this simple soft-spoken monologue brought tears to my eyes. Tahir Rakhim's portrayal of the Seal Prince (a group of people entirely invented for this movie) was also done with staunch realism and believability. The inclusion of Gaelic dialogue was a pleasant surprise that helped emphasizes the social and cultural differences that existed between the people of the Britishs isle and the Roman invaders at that time. It was with the Roman actors that I felt a bit of a disconnect, finding the mannerisms and verbal ticks of Strong, O'Hare and Sutherland to be a little too modern, though Sutherland's up-beat performance was remarkably refereshing in an otherwise emotionally heavy movie.I'm very fond of this movie but will admit its most immediate faults. A common historical inaccuracy is perpetrated in the gladiator scene, with the thumbs-up/thumbs-down being reversed. I fear that this may be a mistake the movie industry never rectifies. And while the movie holds together beautifully up until the final battle with the Seal People, around then the dialogue gets clunky and loses some of is brusque magic. Guern's " I just have to tell you real quick yer dad wasn't a coward" speech as well as Marcus's pyre speech made me cringe a little. Both were very heavy-handed and awkwardly performed. Also, a rather large plot hole was torn open with the murder of the Seal Boy. Are we actually to believe that while chasing Marcus and Esca down on foot, the Seal Warriors carried this kid along just to kill him? After the boy is laid down in the water, he is never seen again. Guern receives a hero's send off, and the child Esca befriended is nowhere to be seen. I doubt the boy's murdered needed inclusion at all. If his death was only to induce Esca to fight, well...it was already fairly reasonable to believe that because of their bond, he would have fought with Marcus anyway.Overall, this movie is visually stunning and emotionally intense without being melodramatic (at least until that end bit), and so I happily recommend The Eagle to history buffs, fangirls and fangirls of history. It may not be perfect, but The Eagle has the rare ability to transport a viewer to another time and place for two hours. Give it your time, and you will certainly be amused.
estebangonzalez10 13 May 2012
A Journey I won't be taking again
¨How can a piece of metal mean so much to you? -The eagle is not apiece of metal. The eagle is Rome.¨ The Eagle is based on a historicalnovel written by Rosemary Sutcliff called The Eagle of the Ninth(1954). It's a fiction adventure novel, but it is based on some truefacts (The Ninth Legion really did disappear around the 2nd Century andthe Wall of Hadrian was built to protect the Romans from the Scottishtribes). Director Kevin Macdonald brings this novel to the big screen,and in my opinion it is one of his weakest films to date. I reallyenjoyed his previous two films: State of Play and The Last King ofScotland, but this one really disappointed me with its slow pace andlack of a good leading performance. One of the main issues in myopinion is that in his previous movies Macdonald got the casting right,but in The Eagle he was lacking that charismatic lead performance thatsay Forrest Whitaker gave in The Last King of Scotland. Jeremy Brock,who also worked with Macdonald in the past, adapted the screenplay forThe Eagle and since I never read The Eagle of the Ninth I can't say howfaithful this film is to the novel. My main critique of The Eaglerelies on the fact that I never really connected with the movie; thepace was really slow and I was waiting for the film to pick up at somepoint, but it never really did until the very end and by that time Iwanted the movie to be over. I kept on dozing off while watching thisfilm and was hugely disappointed with the pace. I wanted the film toend right after I had seen the first 15 minutes.The story takes place around 140 AD when Britain was being ruled by theRoman Empire. It's been twenty years since the Ninth Legion hasdisappeared in the Scottish highlands and lost the Golden Eagle, whichwas an emblem of honor for Rome. The loss of the emblem has been adisgrace for the Roman Empire. As a result of the defeat they had tobuild the Hadrian Wall in order to keep the barbarian tribes away. Nowa young centurion named Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) has been sent toone of the lasts forts in Britain. He happens to be the son of thedefeated Commander of the Ninth Legion, and dreams of someday restoringhis father's name. In order to do so, he will need to head north pastthe walls and into the uncharted highlands. The Romans are scared ofpassing the walls because they know these savages are dangerous. Afterexperiencing an injury in battle and retreating to his uncle's villa,Marcus is convinced he has to try to bring the Eagle back to theRomans. His Uncle Aquila (Donald Sutherland) tries to convince him notto, but Marcus is decided to take the risk. His only companion is aBriton slave who he has just saved named Esca (Jamie Bell). Escadespises the Romans, but he owes his life to Marcus and is foreverindebted to him as his slave. Esca is Marcus's only hope because heknows the world outside of the walls and can communicate with some ofthe tribes. Together they set out on an impossible mission to retrievethe golden Eagle and restore his father's honor.The story is actually pretty interesting, but I actually failed toconnect with the characters in the movie. The pace is really slow andthe performance from the cast was just average. I don't think this wasthe right role for Tatum; at least I didn't see him as a Romancenturion. The savages were also a bit over characterized. Mark Strongplays a villain once again and he is pretty convincing as Guern, one ofthe leaders of a savage tribe. The scenery is really beautiful, but asI said before I kept on dozing off due to the pace and lack of action.The chemistry between the two lead characters was OK, but I felt therecould have been more done with their relationship. These two guys comefrom totally different backgrounds, they have opposing views of theworld, but somehow they manage to get over their differences and we seehow these two men who should be enemies end up becoming friends. JamieBell was pretty convincing in his portrayal of the Briton slave. He'scome a long way from his Billy Elliot days. There is not much more Ican say about this movie, it just drags for long periods of times. Theaction scenes are well choreographed, but they are too few and farspread apart. It is more of a road trip between two differentindividuals who come together along the journey. The problem is thatit's a journey I wouldn't want to be taking again.http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/
PWNYCNY 12 May 2012
With conquest comes responsibilities.
When Hollywood attempts to depict an historical era, the results can beunintentionally laughable if not shamelessly simplistic. This moviemanages, though not by much, to avoid these pitfalls, resulting in anengaging though not particularly surprising story. The movie's premiseactually seems to borrow much from another tried and true genre, thecowboy and Indian movie, also known as the western. Indeed, at times italmost seems that this movie IS a western, with the Romans being thecalvary and the Brits or Scots or Celts or whoever the natives are,being, well, Native Americans. Indeed, while watching this movie onecannot help but recall Custer's last stand, in which an entire armyunit is destroyed. Debacles of that type just did not happen to theRomans. The movie also raises other questions relating to the clash ofcultures and who exactly are the bad guys. The Romans may seem morecivilized, but appearances can be deceiving. After all, they DIDinvade, so it's understandable that the natives would not be happy,just like the Natives in America were not happy either. What's thepoint of imperialism anyway? Is it worth the effort? This movie givesthe audience cause to ask these questions and for this reason alone themovie is worth watching. It's not a great movie but at least it makessome points.One aspect of the movie was somewhat disconcerting. The cause of allthe fuss, the eagle, didn't seem impressive-looking enough to fightover. Frankly, and no disrespect intended, it looked like a cheap pieceof shlock that could be found in any curio shop in anywhere in theworld.
Lew Bartholomew 12 May 2012
Wonderfully produced film
I held off watching this film as, like westerns of my youth, the wholegladiator/crusader themes have saturated the market for a time. I amglad I waited as I could actually sit down and enjoy this film. Somesay the accents were off, the acting stiff. I saw nothing that wasoverly out of place (including Sutherland's Canadian accent). If theyhad wanted authenticity, they would have all been speaking Latin.I am a retired director so watching any film is a bit difficult for meto sit back and let the film take me to another place. Usually I willsubconsciously pick it apart as an armchair quarterback. Not so withthis film. I enjoyed this film from the credits to credits. I won't goon about the plot. It is basically about the struggle between ourperceptions of our parents and reality, the conflicts of people fromdifferent cultures, trust and betrayal...basically all the struggles weall face in modern life.Of particular pleasure was the cinematography and sound...littlenuances not found in a lot of films today.A great piece of work. Not perfect perhaps, but a buddy film muchbetter than I had expected.
12 May 2012
Excellent!!!
This review is from: The Eagle (Amazon Instant Video) I will be brief, so not to spoil anything. This movie was great! I was going to wait until I could get it in the "Red Envelope" in my mailbox but was glad I went with buying it from Amazon for my Roku player instead. Great story very well written & acted. (PS I do not write a lot of reviews so just doing this is a 5 star nod)
10 May 2012
Great Cinematography, but Poor History
Overall, I really enjoyed what seemed to me to be the authentically artistic (but not historical) character of the movie. Mostly that meant not including standard movie cliches, and having an inspiring story, a complicated plot with no true good guys or bad guys, and good action. By cliches, I mean specifically that I really appreciated the lack of a gratuitous sex scene, and the lack of a scene where the good guy is almost beaten, kneels on the ground, the bad guy swings, and at the last second the good guy jerks up and kills the bad guy. The fighting in this movie is actually good. But I deducted two stars because of the historical problems. While there is an ancient Roman Republican tradition of Roman fighting prowess, and this movie suggests a great conflict between that republican martial tradition and the developing bureaucratic and soft elites under the empire, this movie doesn't do anything to portray the natives of the Island of Britain in an historically accurate way. The setting of the movie is in the 2nd century AD, but Gaelic-speaking Scots-Irish didn't arrive in Scotland from Ireland to establish the Dal Riata until the 5th century. In the 2nd century here were no Gaelic-speakers in what is now Scotland, and there never have been any in central Britain where "Gaelic" speaking supposedly Esca came from. His tribe, the Brigantes, spoke an ancient ancestor of the Welsh/Cornish languages, a completely different branch of the Celtic language family from Gaelic. The people north of Hadrian's Wall were the Picts, and we have no idea what type of language they spoke - The strongest hypothesis is that it wasn't Indo-European at all, just like Basque & Etruscan were not Indo-European. It's extremely unlikely that Esca could have spoken with the people north of Hadrian's Wall, and there's a 0% chance that either he or they were speaking Gaelic.Come on. Can script-writers and movie producers check Wikipedia? Could they at least hire a linguist and an historian to both do some fact checking if the movie people didn't want to take a couple hours to read up online about the actual cultural and linguistic landscape of the time period and area that is the movie's setting?
FanPerspective 09 May 2012
In true form an epic journey, but one that goes deeper into the characters and their journey of discovery; a journey of honor and hope.
Twenty years after the Ninth Legion disappears in the mountains ofScotland, centurion Marcus Aquila, son of the legion's commander, comesto Rome to solve the mystery of the disappearance and restore honor tohis family's name. Accompanied by his British slave, Esca, he embarksinto the unknown territories of Caledonia in search of the legion'slost golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth - crossing paths with asavage tribal group along the way. Adapted from the novel by RosemarySutcliff, director Kevin Macdonald really has you lost in this2,000-year-old time period with gorgeous cinematography, well designedcostumes and on location sets. The camera work is just phenomenal, veryrarely using steady cam and instead putting you right into the grit ofthe entire journey. Yes, there are battles as you'd expect from agladitorial-type epic, but the story goes much deeper; it's the storyof two very strong-willed individuals who go on this journey ofdiscovery; a journey of honor and hope. They really find themselves onthis journey. The casting of this film was wonderful with ChanningTatum and Jamie Bell leading the way with spectacular raw performances,especially Tatum who delivers an incredible emotionally powerfulperformance. The fight sequences were epic and brilliantlychoreographed, especially the final battle that takes place in ashallow region of a river; just very visually pleasing while thrustingyou right into the midst of the action. There is also a tribal ritualsequence with the Seal people that was just so stunning to watch forhow real it felt... their makeup done in such a way that we've neverreally seen done in a film that gives them this very gritty look thatmakes them really feel so indigenous to the area they're in. I thinkone of the best aspects of the film is that Macdonald didn't want thereto be any CGI unless it was absolutely necessary, which gave the filmsuch an interesting feel. It takes you out of the typical blockbusterbattles with like 5,000 soldiers and proves that just a battle betweenseveral hundred people can be just as intensely intimidating. It justhad a great feel to it and it had a very powerful story with greatwriting by Jeremy Brock.
joey-shepard11 05 May 2012
Different but still great
I loved this movie. I thought the acting was great, the "heroes", andthe plot. I throughly enjoyed the lack of romance that usually pops upin movies such as this. I love the Testudo, I think most people knowabout it but I love the rescue act and how perfectly it was executed. Iknow a lot of people were judging it but I think it was a great way toshow roman battle strategy without it being a massive war...like Troyor something equally extravagant. I've seen some people complainingabout the accents but me personally, i have no idea what a Roman accentsounds like and it wouldn't make much of a difference to me if they hadused an accent, and further more how many historical movies have youseen that the heroes have "American" accents? A lot...almost all ofthem. The few times that Esca talks I can hear an accent but he's alsobeen a slave in Rome for over seven years, that could lighten hisaccent considerably. One of my favorite things about this movie is thatits not a romance, how many romance movies has Channing Tatum been in?Its almost refreshing to see him play this dramatically differentcharacter then what we are used to. He's gone from the "dream" man to aRoman soldier who would die if it meant honoring Rome. I love to seehim differently. Plus I think people are just way to picky. Over all Igive this a 10 because I'm a sucker for fight scenes, hunks, andbattles of honor.
05 May 2012
Great Cinematography, but Poor History
Overall, I really enjoyed what seemed to me to be the authentically artistic (but not historical) character of the movie. Mostly that meant not including standard movie cliches, and having an inspiring story, a complicated plot with no true good guys or bad guys, and good action. By cliches, I mean specifically that I really appreciated the lack of a gratuitous sex scene, and the lack of a scene where the good guy is almost beaten, kneels on the ground, the bad guy swings, and at the last second the good guy jerks up and kills the bad guy. The fighting in this movie is actually good.But I deducted two stars because of the historical problems. While there is an ancient Roman Republican tradition of Roman fighting prowess, and this movie suggests a great conflict between that republican martial tradition and the developing bureaucratic and soft elites under the empire, this movie doesn't do anything to portray the natives of the Island of Britain in an historically accurate way. The setting of the movie is in the 2nd century AD, but Gaelic-speaking Scots-Irish didn't arrive in Scotland from Ireland to establish the Dal Riata until the 5th century. In the 2nd century here were no Gaelic-speakers in what is now Scotland, and there never have been any in central Britain where supposedly "Gaelic" speaking Esca came from. His tribe, the Brigantes, spoke an ancient ancestor of the Welsh/Cornish languages, a completely different branch of the Celtic language family from Gaelic. The people north of Hadrian's Wall were the Picts, and we have no idea what type of language they spoke - The strongest hypothesis is that it wasn't Indo-European at all, just like Basque & Etruscan are/were not Indo-European. It's extremely unlikely that Esca could have spoken with the people north of Hadrian's Wall, and there's a 0% chance that either he or they were speaking Gaelic.Come on. Can script-writers and movie producers check Wikipedia? Could they at least hire a linguist and an historian to both do some fact checking if the movie people didn't want to take a couple hours to read up online about the actual cultural and linguistic landscape of the time period and area that is the movie's setting?
05 May 2012
Gladiatior+Lord of the Rings= Great Movie
A great epic movie that you shouldn't miss. It starts off epicly and never stops being epic. So go see a fun movie that you will enjoy if you saw Gladiator or Lord of the Rings.
Calin Oltean 04 May 2012
Cant believe I saw this
Fist of, excuse my English, im trying my best. Second I doubt very muchthis movie have accurate historical truth in it. Third I don't know whynobody is talking about the message of this movie.In this movie the "good" guys seem to be the son of a legion leader whowants his family honor back(by recovering a stupid eagle, big EGO) anda slave whos family was killed by the father of the first goodguy?!??!? The "bad" guys are the people who defend their land againsttheir enemy(Excuse me but if you are coming into my house with a swordI will cut your head off). Of course the northen tribes have great qualities(running faster thenhorses) but they somehow fail?!?!?, and the good guys(an egotisticalidiot and a traitor) can kill each like hercules(although they looklike they eat at mcdonals all their lifes).Awful movie.
socrates99 03 May 2012
Channing Tatum makes this movie revolve around him
I can relate to this story, a son of a soldier tries to restore thefamily name by returning the figure of an eagle to its rightful place,Roman Britain. It's unknown how his father lost it north of the HadrianWall but it was his duty to protect it like the honor of Rome itself,and he failed.As Ebert points out, there isn't much to glean from this film as toactual tactics, but they get across the feeling of all out warfarequite well. But to me the real treat of this film is not the imaginingof Roman Britain, but the steadfast attitude and resolve of the hero,Marcus, played almost effortlessly by Channing Tatum. The trick is toinstill in the men in the audience the feeling of being there, seekingto restore the family name despite the odds, and Channing is quite goodat that. You pick it up from him somehow and that's amazing consideringhow far we are from Roman times. I would quibble about the portrayal of the barbarians, but all in allquite an enjoyable film.
03 May 2012
Understated to a Flaw
THE EAGLE is based on quasi-historic events written by Rosemary Sutcliff in her novel 'The Eagle of the Ninth' and adapted for the screen by Jeremy Brock. In the hands of director Kevin Macdonald the re-enactment of the Roman wars in Britain become more a study of relationships and moral duty and that is probably the reason the film comes across as a rather quiet, contemplative piece rather than an epic. That is not a bad decision and were it not for the lack of a strong actor in the lead role, it likely would have been a theatrical success. The story begins in 140 AD in Rome where young Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum), the son of the soldier who allowed the Eagle symbol of Roman victory to be lost in a battle in Britain in 120 AD, becomes a centurion: he asks to be stationed in Britain where he promises his father's departed spirit that he will restore honor to his family by regaining the eagle. Though advised against such a futile mission (the Roman legion south of Hadrian's wall has been unsuccessful in conquering the Britons), Marcus is determined. He is more a devoted son and humanist: he prevents the killing of a young Briton, Esca (Jamie Bell), in the gladiator arena and to repay the debt of saving his life Esca agrees to be Marcus' slave despite the fact that he loathes Rome and Marcus for the damages Romans inflicted on his people. The two men set out to Britain where Marcus assumes command of the tired and disenchanted Roman legion, but with the support of Lutorius (Denis O'Hare) and because of wise decisions about strategy his legionnaires grow to respect him. Marcus' courage results in his being injured in a confrontation with the rogue warriors and he is transported to a hospital with Esca at his side. At the hospital he is tended by his uncle Aquila (Donald Sutherland) who assures his return to health and informs him that Rome has honored his bravery in battle and has rewarded him with an honorable discharge. But Marcus is determined to restore his father's good name and sets off to the north with Esca to gain the eagle. On the way Marcus and Esca become close and Esca provides leadership abilities when the two confront the Seal People lead by the Seal Prince (Tahar Rahim). In a turn of events the Seals capture Marcus and Esca and to save Marcus' life, Esca tells the Seals that Marcus is his slave - a reversal of roles that indicates the relationship between these two men. Once the eagle is discovered and recovered Marcus and Esca flee, Marcus gives Esca his freedom but Esca stays with his new friend, encountering the last of the lost Ninth including Guern (Mark Strong) and Marcus is reassured of his father's bravery and valor and the story speeds along to the expected end. The film is shot in Scotland and Hungary and the scenery is the star as captured by Anthony Dod Mantle. The original musical score is by Atli Ãrvarsson and adds considerably to the atmosphere of this rather dark film. Jamie Bell is excellent as Esca, finessing the transition from hateful slave to respectful freed friend. Channing Tatum is rather monotoned and monotonous as Marcus, a role that would have been better suited in the hands of a well-schooled actor rather than an Abercrombie & Fitch model. But the director makes the most of Tatum's presence and the story is not impaired by his presence: it is just not enhanced by it. THE EAGLE fares well on DVD with subtitles provided for the Gaelic conversations with the Seals. It may not be a great movie, but it is fairly solid entertainment. Grady Harp, June 11
01 May 2012
More like a bad fantasy novel
I love Roman era films, but this movie was absolutely awful. The acting, especially from the main characters, was stiff and wooden, and I didn't buy most of the performances. Even Donald Sutherland comes off badly. And what the heck is up with the costumes? It's bizarre to me that they would go to the trouble of having the Picts speak actual Gaelic and then dress them up like Mohican Indians. With bones in their hair? Are you serious?! The costume designer should be shot for that alone. They may as well have made them orcs! Pass on this unless you are dying for a Roman action flick and have nothing better to do.
donnarogers4433-278-100055 30 April 2012
The Eagle
I'm a history buff and I found this movie to be very interesting. Thestory is based on a true fact(the Ninth Legion along with 5000 mendisappeared in the Highlands without a trace). I liked the way it waspresented. No foul language in this movie. It contained some verybeautiful scenery from Scotland and Romania or Hungary. I liked thefriendship forged by Marcus, a Roman, and Esca, a slave. They clickedas master/slave and developed respect for each other. I have watched itmany times on cable and never fail to see something I missed the lasttime I watched it. I also caught the change in horses and thought theyacquired them from the Rogue Warriors they encountered. My sisterrealized the horses changed before that encounter. The introduction ofthe Seal people was an interesting addition. I thought the Picts werethe ones who painted themselves blue to scare their enemies. Also likedMark Strong's performance as Gern. He has a very commanding voice.Would like to see him in more films. It is a definite addition to mymovie collection, when it becomes available. Channing Tatum and JamieBell were great in this movie. I think both of them will have longcareers in the movies. Would like to see them in other films together.Loved the ending.
30 April 2012
Good but could have been better !
This is a good historical flick with stunning scenery, great costumes and good actors, it's very loosely based on the Rosemary Sutcliffe novel and the movie could have been better if it followed the novel more closely as some characters from the book dont feature in the film. The movie also features a hollywood style happy ending and I dont understand why the Seal Folk look like Red Indians, this is not the image I got of them from the book.The film has it's flaws but it's good entertainment and it is not tainted with the political correctness of last years Centurion which the U.K film council inflicted on us.
29 April 2012
Nice film
I won't say much except to add this: True, it is a fictional story (written by a woman) that really entertains and luckily does not have a love interest or a chariot (car) chase in it. The worst of Hollywood seems to have been avoided (thank goodness). The scenery was wonderful and it shows that they really tried to be historically accurate. My wife and I really enjoyed it.
Rick James 25 April 2012
Homoerotic love fest at its best
To jump to the ending: what else occurs to you as our protagonist andhis buddy-in-arms stride from the Roman Senate and they discuss whatthey will do with the rest of their life (together)? It's pretty cornybut about as explicit as you can get and keep a PG-13 rating. It workedfor Hadrian who built that wall, after all.I never got past Tatum's southern twang, not exactly what you expectfrom a Roman officer unless maybe he's from Sicily or at least Catania.Don't they bother to use dialect coaches in action/adventure thrillers?The action scenes are shot from so close as not show any true gore,fair enough. I don't relish seeing anybody's head chopped off, which isnot really necessary. Others have commented on the inauthenticity ofthe language that was not spoken in the British isles at the time, butit might as well have been Zoroastrian so long as it's unintelligibleto 99.9% of the audience. The fort is apparently pretty authentic, andthe battle tactics, too. As for the medical practices and lifestyle,you have to remember it was originally a romance novel.The scenery in Scotland is breathtaking, but it stretches credulity tobelieve that this slightly effete, cultured young slave could havestarted out among the barbaric Seal People, and his initial hatred forour Roman hero is not very convincing. On the other hand, he has to bea good sexual fantasy for viewers who imagine what he and his hunkyRoman master are doing off-screen. The sight of a lean, defined,blue-eyed young man almost having his throat slit by a rough Romangladiator really turns them on. The deus-ex-machina of the former Romandeserters is pretty far-fetched, since even the legend was that the 9thLegion was exterminated.Finally, since Budapest is said to be the European porn capital, youhave to wonder how may of the extras and bit players are superannuatedporn stars. They probably have pretty good production facilities there,from what I can tell from their output.
24 April 2012
a roman era drama NOT a action movie
The main point of this movie is that it is a drama abuot the relationship of two men who are enemies and yet become friends. This is NOT a roman era action movie. There are a few battle scenes. But the main complaints about this movie is that it's not a action movie. Well it's NOT a action movie. so there you have it. the blu ray looks great as you would expect from a new movie, and it has some good extras like a alternate ending and deleted scenes. The acting is fine. Now the truth of hadrians wall is far more complex than this movie as in fact it became just a line in which trade was done over and attacks on it became non existant , but perhaps at the beginning it was a hot spot. Anyways all the one star reviews wanted action and they got this buddy movie instead , still I liked the idea of the lost legion. This never happened though in the uk. It did happen in germany. Although early on the romans lost many people. But by 120 ad pretty much everyone living in roman boundries thought of themselves as part of the empire to a large extent. If you want more action though , this is not your movie. But if you want a good historical drama that's really about the two lead men bonding (this could take place in any century) then you'll like this one.