So I just saw "The Eagle" last night. For those of you who don't know, it's about the son of the commander of a Roman Legion which disappeared in ancient Britain, and his attempt to find out what happened to them and their golden standard, The Eagle, and to regain is family honor. Fairly similar to the recent movie "Centurion," although technically this takes place 20 years later, and the main character here is not a member of the "9th Legion" (for which there are incomplete historical records, ie disappeared off the books with no explanation) but the son of one of the missing men.

My hopes were not high for this movie. I'm a fan of the Sword and Sandal genre (Gladiator, Troy) but there's a lot of crap out there. Also, the movie stars Channing Tatum, who I've only seen in movies that look pretty terrible. All that said, the movie was pretty good. The first half is almost all action, it's a little lacking in gore but is otherwise very well choreographed and filmed. The director set up some really interesting scenes, and you go from an extreme close up of a face or some moss on a stone to wide open plains and mountains. The dialogue could have been better, but it also could have been much, much worse.

The movie also has Jamie Bell (who was the sketchy British guy in Jumper, but was also in Defiance) as well Donald Sutherland (young professor in Animal House, friendly old guy in everything else) who both do a pretty good job in supporting roles. Even Tatum wasn't as bad as I expected, he can be a bit a wooden at times, but that seems to match his character, the stoic Roman soldier who deals with the shame of his father's death and the defeat of Romans by "barbarians." There's also an appearance of a tribal chief who is acted by a guy who played a cruel priest in Arthur, another movie about Roman soldiers in Britain, thought that was funny.

Comparisons to Centurion are unavoidable, as they tell essentially the same story (Romans lost in barbarian Britain) but the end result is actually favorable for The Eagle. I like some of the actors from Centurion better (Michael Fassbender, from 300 and Inglorious Basterds) and the action tended to be more "visceral" as that movie had an R rating, to The Eagle's PG 13. That said, the blood in Centurion was all CGI, which looks stupid, and there were several awkward characters, such as the female "hunter" and the random love interest.

Anyways, I actually quite liked the Eagle, and while I'm not sure if I'd buy it or see it again in theatres, I could see watching it every once in a while when I need a good sword fight movie. The ending could have been handled better, but other than that it was a good action flick that was very well made, and avoided some of the groan inducing cliches or mistakes that other similar films make, and any blemishes that it does have are made up for by a well written story, interesting characters, and solid fights. B+.

I just saw it a few hours ago. I agree, the ending was done half-assedly, but overall it was ok. I'd give it a solid B.

Not sure if your aware of this but the Centurion was the prequil. The Centurion was the story regarding how the legion, its general, and the 5,000 men disapeared. The Eagle was the story about the generals son who went north of the wall looking for the Eagle and seeking to restore his families honor AFTER the events of the Centurion. So they do not tell the same story, its a continuation of the story.

But other than that I agree, very good movie and I give it a B+ as well.

How closely did it stick to the plot of "The Eagle of the Ninth"? Maybe that was the reason for the bad ending.

My main issues were the end and the unbelievable dialogue. Overall, I would give it a B-, maybe a B.

I've never read it, but my pop did when he was younger and said it was pretty much spot on.

I don't want to hijack this, but are there any other good movies set in the same (or around the same) era? After the founding of Rome, I mean.

Did Tatum play one of the shields?

"Gladiator" is the only one that comes to mind presently. Can't really remember any others set during the Roman empire. I guess a good HBO series would be "Rome", great series though it gets a bit graphic in all respects...be warned.

It was really good as a movie overall, But the ending was, admitedly, really half baked. I liked it alot though. Its too bad it got kinda overshadowed by Beiber.

A- if you ask me. Plus, I wub Rome