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The Eagle

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The Eagle (2011)

February. 11,2011
|
6.2
|
PG-13
| Adventure Drama
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In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila 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, Marcus sets out across Hadrian's Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia - to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and retrieve the lost legion's golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth.

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Reviews

Marketic
2011/02/11

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

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Humbersi
2011/02/12

The first must-see film of the year.

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Kirandeep Yoder
2011/02/13

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

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Quiet Muffin
2011/02/14

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

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t-viktor212
2011/02/15

This movie, as said in credits, is based on the Children Novel by Rosemary Sutcliff, yet with some mayor plot changes.First of all, I must say this is so far the most realistic roman-era movie I've seen, even more real than the gladiator. If you want to learn roman history, just go watch it. You get a battle with roman strategic formations, a realistic villa, also you can see a roman road just as they truly were, higher-leveled respect to the ground, without forgetting hadrian's wall. So, even with some mistakes it's enough realistic.Another thing is the visuals. Very good, these Scottish landscapes (must say that england scenes were filmed in Hungary thoug) really catch you. Even that "shaky camera" effect they used in hunger games makes it quite well instead here.The real problem, that made me take off 2 marks to this, was the fact that you see children being killed. In my opinion that's the very worst thing to include in a movie, together with violence on women, I don't find it acceptable at all.Overall, an enough good movie, good acting and must underline the well-included Celtic music score.

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Wuchak
2011/02/16

Marcus (Channing Tatum), a Roman discharged from the army due to injuries, enlists the aid of a Briton slave, Esca (Jamie Bell), to go into the Pictish wilderness north of Hadrian's Wall to apprehend the gold eagle standard that was lost when the ninth legion went missing twenty years earlier circa 120 AD. Marcus' motivations are to save his family's honor, but will Esca remain a faithful slave or slit Marcus' throat at the first opportunity? Donald Sutherland has a significant side role as Marcus' uncle. "The Eagle" (2011) is reminiscent of films like "Centurion" (2010), "Black Death" (2010) and "Black Robe" (1991). It lacks the greatness of the latter two, but it's almost on par with first one. As a matter of fact, "The Eagle" is the unofficial sequel to that film (more on this below). "Black Death" has deeper, more interesting themes while "Black Robe" is in a league of its own as far as gritty realism goes.Where "The Eagle" shines is the authentic Scottish locations, the beautiful cinematography, and the mysteriousness of going into the unknown, as well as the depictions of the various warrior tribes and the quality score. Unfortunately, the story is only moderately compelling and the relationship between Marcus and Esca isn't that interesting. Furthermore, there are no women, except meaningless side characters in the distance; the other three films noted above, as well as "King Arthur," didn't make this mistake.Also, there is a roll-your-eyes sequence in the last act where some tribesmen (and a boy) on foot are able to keep up with two guys on horses over the course of a couple days. Why sure! Still, if you like any of the other four movies noted above "The Eagle" is a must.Be sure to catch the aforementioned "Centurion" because it chronicles the fate of the ninth legion and Marcus' father two decades before the events of "The Eagle" take place (even though it's just cinematic conjecture, of course). Although "The Eagle" has a way better first act and more gritty realism, "Centurion" is more conventionally entertaining, contains important female characters and has a better final act. The film runs 114 minutes.GRADE: B

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juneebuggy
2011/02/17

This was pretty good, a swords & sandals epic which is slightly different than others I've seen, using the story of the famed lost ninth legion and showing a piece of Scottish History I'd never even contemplated in that the early (early) Highlanders are portrayed as living like indigenous north American tribes. Not sure if this is accurate but the "Seal people" wear cool blue makeup (early Braveheart?) and are fierce fighters. Anyways.Channing Tatum is decent enough as Roman centurion Marcus -I've definitely seen him do worse in a couple romances and he's involved in some good battle scenes early on. I liked the story arc with British slave 'Esca'(Jamie Bell) and how the slave becomes the master as they forge over Hadrian's Wall on their mission to find "The Eagle" which went missing 20 years earlier. Donald Sutherlands whimsical character seemed out of place, more like he was just portraying who he felt like, without direction, and while as a whole I did enjoy this, the final scene, in the last 30 seconds of the movie was just terrible, as Marcus and Esca suddenly get all buddy-buddy comedic, it felt tagged on and ridiculous. 8/9/14

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U. H. S.
2011/02/18

Warning - contains spoilers concerning the original book and the movie plot:I loved and still love the book of Rosemary Sutcliff, because its details of the plots:the introduction-plot of how Aquila was even quite deeply befriended with the British people around the Roman fort, how the situation was able to change so that they became enemies in fight... how he found the former friend's family dead after a fight and how sad that was for him... etc.the frame-plot about Cottia and Esca and Wolf- how watching Cottia had a main influence why Aquila himself decided to buy Esca, how Esca was important for getting the wolf cub named Wolf - then the part, how the connection between Aquila and Cottia started by the help of the wolf cub ... and after the return of Aquila it started to blossom the main story - the story about the Eagle, the idea of the mission, the main idea that Aquila would travel as Medic for Eyes so that he would be welcome - and how he even got working medicine by the aid of the medic who was a friend of the uncle... How Aquila decided to let Esca free BEFORE they left so that Esca joined him as equal man, not as slave ... etc. etc.And then I had to watch the movie:All important parts except the action-parts cut away or changed completely - and even the action parts changed so much that it all completely changed the drawn characters of Esca and Aquila and even other persons - it nearly made a kind of Rambo out of out of Aquila... and so of course this movie as well perverted the story plot in the North - nearly all natives constructed as evil monsters - far different than in the book where the ambivalence was a main point.Therefore - this could have become a great story of a movie, but it was perverted into a flat Action-C-Movie at the cost of all important side- plots and even at the cost of main aspects of the main plot:Even the end was changed into the complete opposite: Whilst in the book the eagle's wings had to stay at the northern tribe and therefore it was pointed out as impossible to re-establish the Ninth with an eagle-torso which had lost its wings, but nevertheless Aquila AND Esca get rewarded both (but secretly) - Well, in the movie of course the War-Heroes rescued the eagle COMPLETELY and then they even openly babble about rebuilding the Ninth Legion - robbing the story the last aspect of its real historical context... WHAT THE ****?-> I was close to give 2 points, but it went worse and worse... so only 1 point possible.

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