L'Aigle de la Neuvième Légion

I'll keep my review short; no verbose reviews from me. This is one of the better Roman conquest films I've seen. I look for historic, geographic and topographic accuracies and the film starts with densely wooded scenes, reflecting the fact that Britain was densely forested right up until medieval times. The scenes look fairly realistic but the main characters managing to remain cleanly shaven despite being on an arduous journey is not so accurately reflecting reality. I like the genuine use of the Gaelic language by the Celts/Scoti/Picts, a language which I learned in school, so I could follow it, and there is a scene where they drink Uisce Beatha/Uisghe Beatha - The Water of Life - Whiskey/Whisky, the beverage apparently originally brought from Ireland to Scotland by the Irish predecessors of the Scoti. In the long historic run of things, the Roman and Norman conquests of Britain set the path to the island becoming the root of the British Empire, as they introduced the urban and feudal ruling systems respectively. If Britain had not been conquested thus, history and development would have turned out very differently for Britain. This one is worth watching for history as well as for the story itself.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The CGI effects seem to have been kept under control, and so the film turned out to be more human than animation. The combat scenes were done in the current style of quick cuts where you just get a vague idea of what is going on, rather than actually being able to follow the blows being struck.

The film seemed mostly faithful to Roman history. It gives a vivid illustration of why Hadrian's wall was built. But I am not totally sure the Roman Senate had a "branch" in Britain.

The two leads (Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell) were perfectly suited to their roles, kind of like Hercules and his sidekick from 60s historical adventure films. But minus the corny jokes. There were no banquets with production numbers. And there was no "love interest" written in. And no magical effects or mythical creatures. And it was very easy to follow. And hugely entertaining.

It's not art but it's rather good, regardless.

The movie has a fairly good opening in my opinion, a rather dull middle and a predictable ending.

The problem with it for me is the same problem I'm seeing with a lot of the new action films. The cameras stays very tight, action is all blurred and close up, so you can't see what's going on. The sound track is all keyed up so you won't be concentrating on the errors in the action. (Which you can't really see anyway) Golly, give me the days of good stuntmen back again.

I liked the opening half hour or so, but the middle is so much like a North American Indian film you lose all sense of the time period. I agree with the former reviewers comments, Gee, if the Britains lived like this why bother with them.

I prefer the mini-series "Rome" to this any day.

The theater chains are also destroying the movie going experience as I have to agonize over 15 minutes of commercials before the main feature starts.

This is a fine as well as exciting production with enough budget , great sets and thundering battles during the Roman Empire . Ultraviolent historical/epic/action yarn with breathtaking battles including lots of blood and gore . In Roman-ruled Britain, during Antoninus Pius empire , who was emperor of Rome at the time this film is set , AD 140 ; his reign is considered one of the calmest in Rome's history , there a young Roman soldier endeavors to honor his father's memory by finding his lost legion's golden emblem . The picture deals with the destiny of a soldier Marcus Flavius Aquila (Channing Tatum) , the honour of a slave , Esca , (Jamie Bell) and the fate of an empire ; concerning historical facts about confrontation between Romans and Northern barbarians . The Roman Empire stretches from Egypt , Britain to Spain , and East as far as the Black Sea . The Year is A.D. 140 , and it has been 20 years since Rome's legendary Ninth Legion marched north into Caledonia -modern Scotland- to gain control over all of Britain . But in northern Britain , the relentless onslaught of conquest has ground to a halt in face of the guerrilla tactics of an elusive enemy : the savage and terrifying Celts and Picts who were generally thought to not have worn any clothes . Aquila (it is the Latin word for "Eagle") is the son of the Legion's General , and determined to exonerate his father as well as to retrieve the Eagle banner . But his detachment is besieged and deadly attacked . After his legion is decimated in a devastating guerrilla attack , Marcus Flavius along with a slave crossing ¨the Hadrian Wall¨ and both of whom set out in pursuit a great dream : to seek to retrieve the ¨Eagle¨ . They fight for their lives behind enemy lines . As they attempt to destroy the Celt leader and face a desperate struggle to keep alive .

Bloody version based on historical events about Roman conquests with overwhelming battles and great production values starred by Channing Tatum as the fictional Roman officer and Jamie Bell as slave , both of them are two battle-hardened warriors who try to defend themselves against a bunch of bloody barbarians led by a brutal enemy . Stunning battles scenes illuminate the full-blown feats with a plethora of engaging action set pieces on the combats in which the heads and limbs are slice off here and there . There are great action sequences including the gory battle in woods and the final confrontation at the climax of the film . Because of budgetary consideration , cast and crew had only one night to shoot the night battle scene , which gave it the disorganized, raggedy look they wanted . The movie has great action sequences well staged with stylish and vitality , thrills , and turns out to be pretty entertaining . Although is a little revisionist about characters , history and time when is developed the action in a dirty , gritty Roman Empire during its period in Britain . Several action scenes are outstanding with spectacular battle images and thrilling fights . Unfortunately, on small house screens much of the splendor will be lost . The film is well set with nice gowns , evocative weapons , appropriate attrezzo , adequate costumes ; however , production company decided to use stirrups, despite their being anachronistic, because there would have been issues getting insurance for the lead actors, especially as Jamie Bell had never ridden before and he had to learn on set. As the movie makes a big deal out of the supposedly deathly rivalry between Romans and Celts . German archaeologists have found evidence of the 9th Legion on the banks of the Rhine River and carbon-dated them long after these events took place, suggesting that rather than being wiped out , the reason that there is no evidence of the 9th Legion being in Scotland after these battles is that they moved to Germany . The working title for the film was "Ninth Legion" , the story goes that the Ninth Legion marched to Scotland from York with 3000 men and were never seen of again. Historians dispute what actually happened to them. Some believe that they were disbanded, while others believe that they were massacred . The picture results to be a crossover among : The 13th Warrior (1999) by John McTiernan , The Last Legion (2007) by Doug Lefler and Centurion (2010) by Neil Marshall . Support casting is frankly good , such as Donald Sutherland , Dakin Matthews , Tahar Rahim , Douglas Henshall , Denis O'Hare and Mark Strong .

Impeccable and evocative cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle . Being shot on location in Lomond, Argyll and Bute, Summer Isles, Highland, Scotland, UK and Szentendre, Pest, Budapest, Hungary . Filmmaker and his director of photography Mantle spent long time discussing the look of the film before making it , one thing they were adamant about was that it should be shot on location and nowhere near a green screen . Magnificent and stirring musical score by Atli Örvarsson . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Kevin MacDonald (State of play , The Last King of Scotland , How I Live Now ,Touching the void). Kevin shot the film in such hard conditions that some cast members suffered health problems . Rating : Good , it's a nice historical extravaganza well set in ancient Rome , done in great scale and praised for its action sequences .

Although this story takes place in ancient Scotland before that area had that name, the real basis for this tale is the massacre of a Roman Army in the Teutoberg forest some 100 years earlier and during the reign of Tiberius as Emperor. No one knows what the real story happened to that army as the barbarian tribes left no written record.

The Romans as we know were a conquering people and the northwestern most extent of their conquest was part of the island of Britain. The part they did conquer was what later became England. What was Wales and Scotland developed on their own without Roman occupation. If the Romans had conquered the entire island a whole lot of subsequent history would have changed.

The story of The Eagle which was the battle standard the Roman Legions marched behind was shot in Scotland itself and in eastern Europe which has remained a whole lot like it was 2000 years ago. Channing Tatum plays the son of the commander who took his army into what became Scotland where Roman law has no meaning and it was massacred. Rumor has it that the standard eagle has been seen in Druid camps. That brings disgrace on Tatum's family name as there are no accounts as to just what happened.

While visiting Uncle Donald Sutherland at some gladiatorial games, Tatum on a whim prevents the execution of a slave who won't fight a trained gladiator for the crowd's pleasure. The slave is a Briton played by Jamie Bell and he becomes Tatum's slave and swears fealty to him personally for saving his life, though he makes clear what he thinks of the Roman conquerors.

Tatum decides on a mission to go with Bell north of Hadrian's Wall which marks the boundary of the territory the Romans have conquered to find out what happened. Their adventures and experiences there form the basis for the rest of the story. I will say that Tatum gets to have the unique experience of learning first hand what it feels like to be one of the conquered instead of being a conqueror.

Tatum and Bell play nicely off each other and there are some object lessons about the meaning of conquering a people and the responsibility of governing thereafter. I liked The Eagle because for once in a sand and scandal epic about the Roman Empire the story is told as much from the conquered side as the conqueror.

The Eagle is nicely photographed as well as telling a good, coherent, and moral story. Try to see this one for a different slant on these kind of films.