The Eagle

[Bearcata]

The Eagle (2011 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Eagle is a film adaptation of the 1954 historical adventure novel The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. Directed by Kevin Macdonald from a script by Jeremy Brock, the film is set in the 2nd century AD and tells of a young Roman officer's search to discover the truth about the disappearance of his father's legion in the north of Britain. The story is based on the legend of the Legio IX Hispana (Ninth Spanish Legion) which is alleged to have disappeared in Britain in around AD 117.

I read this story back in grade school and was plesantly surprised to see it made into a movie. I liked it. It was fun and much better than I expected. Most book adaptions really fall short and sometimes the stories and plots are changed beyond all recognition. The only jarring note for me in this movie is Mark Strong's accent, who plays Guern. The actors all had a rather bland neutral accent when speaking English yet when Mark Strong opens his mouth I wonder what is a Yankee doing in King Arthur's Court, well actally 120AD Britannia.

Great soundtrack.

Great scenery, filmed in Scotland and Hungary.

Roger Ebert gave this movie 3 stars and described it best:

The Eagle :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

"The Eagle" is a rip-snorting adventure tale of the sort made before CGI, 3-D and alphabet soup in general took the fun out of moviegoing. So much does it evoke the energy of traditional sword-and-shield movies that I had to bring the term "rip-snorting" out of retirement; it's rarely needed in this era of sleek technology. Here we see for the most part the actual actors trekking through real locations, instead of quasi-animation.

Rated PG-13

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I went and saw it today. I had not read the book, only an excerpt on the movie. It was an enjoyable afternoon. The movie kept my attention.