The Eagle: Covering much the same territory as the recent “Centurion”, “The Eagle” is about the alleged disappearance of the Roman IX Legion in northern Britain in 2nd century AD, providing a what-if scenario to fill in some of the many conflicting holes in historical record. Here, the eagle standard of the IX is lost at the time the legion disappears (this would be the eagle of the title). Channing Tatum is Marcus Flavius Aquila, son of the commander of the IX at the time of its disappearance, and a newly-minted centurion posted to Britain. He has returned to reclaim his family’s tarnished honor and soon finds himself in battle against the native Britons. However, fate does not smile on Aquila, and he is discharged from the Roman legion short of his goal. Aquila and his body-slave Eska (Jamie Bell) head north of Hadrian‘s Wall, into the untamed wilds of Britain in search of the Eagle standard, beset by hostile tribes, and at odds with the terrain and weather. A miscast Donald Sutherland and a barely-there Mark Strong are here in support. Director Kevin McDonald is usually solid as a rock, and while this film is watchable, it is not a great movie. Like the VERY similar “Centurion”, it degenerates into a chase picture. The choice of accents is odd - the default accent is American (even Mark Strong‘s accent is American), with the Britons speaking Scottish Gaelic. I guess I’ve just become too inured to hearing British accents for Romans in film. Some of the dialogue is just bad - everything that comes out of Donald Sutherland’s mouth should have been rewritten. Also, for being a film about violent war, it’s not that explicit, except when it comes to the treatment of children, one of whom vividly catches a thrown sword in the back while another gets his throat cut (it still only comes in at PG-13). If you’re not a stickler for historical detail (the crew did as well as they could; nobody has a dictionary for Pictish lying around), it is a watchable time-waster. Woodchuck sez, “Worth a look.”
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