The Eagle

The Eagle appeals to my older self while retaining what made my childhood reading so stirring.

As culture clashes go, this one should be filed under rout.

A decent, forthright, if finally uninspired sword'n'sandal drama, based on Rosemary Sutcliff's 1954 children's novel The Eagle of the Ninth.

The hero of the whole production is cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle.

Has all the ingredients of a terrific adventure thriller: an epic quest narrative, strong characters, the tangled interplay of pride, loyalty and masculinity.

Macdonald’s film boasts impressive production value and an eye for historical detail, but the film suffers from a leading man who emotes less than a marble bust.

It starts off as a poor man’s “Gladiator” which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But then it loses it’s identity and heads off into a different direction becoming a very mediocre action picture.

The film manages to revive the incandescent prose of the book as much as possible. [Full review in Spanish]

...this would be a real guilty delight if only, IF ONLY, the two leads were not so wooden. Channing Tatum as Marcus does less acting than most of the trees in this movie.