Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

against its subject, it is only a contemporary story.the honor, the discover of the other, the force of friendship, the link between enemies in special context, the frontier of the empire and the legacy of father, the adventures and the self discover, constellation of values and examples of determination in difficult situations. result - a pretty story who, scene by scene, becomes more far by the presumed historical context. the gift - to discover a different Channing Tatum. making a great job, he gives to his Marcus interesting traits who are good points for the portrait of the son looking save the honor of his father,becoming witness of a world out of knowledge, conquering a better perception about himself. all as reflection of contemporary America in the mirror of mythical past.

The Eagle (2011): Dir: Kevin MacDonald / Cast: Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Mark Strong, Tahar Rahim: Mediocre medieval film about this sacred eagle idol that must be recovered. Channing Tatum plays the young commander of the Roman garrison who leads the battle against the Celtic tribesmen. He is honorably discharged when injured in battle. His task is to claim the eagle statue for which they are represented as well as learn what became of his father when it went missing. He is joined by a slave whom he saved from certain execution. These idol quest are becoming a joke. Why not just carve out another one and save yourself a lot of agony. Director Kevin MacDonald is backed by fine production and fast pace action battle scenes but the screenplay is a joke. Tatum survives the material and strides onward despite injury but the concluding battle is far predictable. Jamie Bell does well as the slave whom is never quite centred in terms of his intentions and that is what makes him effective. Some of his actions are predictable while others are a guessing game. Donald Sutherland is underused as Tatum's uncle who oversees his recovery. Mark Strong steals his moments as a survivor of Tatum's father's army. He tells of the battle and how fleeing seems only logical. Tahar Rahim has the laughable title of Prince of the Seal People, which sounds about as stupid as calling himself Flipper. The film is well made but way too familiar and corny. It is like going on a quest to find a rare Christmas ornament that will make little difference to the overall holiday. All in all, this film never flies. Score: 3 ½ / 10

It could have been better.... If they had followed Rosemary Sutcliffe's story... There was more characters and background..the history was more real... the fall after the Roman collapse is the point... the changes after the Romans left were important.. This was the beginning of a thousand years of tribalism... The remnants of Christianity were all they leftHer Scandinavian yarns are superbIt is time to film all her work.Start with "Sword at Sunset" All the "Arthur" stories are shadows after one reads this...

Starts well - a new commander arrives at a military base on the Roman frontier, deals with a bit of insubordination by anticipating an attack, and proves himself in battle. His mission is to restore his family's honour by retrieving the eagle lost by his father in a military disaster.The lead is a bit weak, so he doesn't command respect, but I was looking forward to his quest for the eagle. I expected a picaresque story as the hero headed through Roman Britain, but the director just gave us a map with cod ancient place names and jumped forward to Hadrian's Wall - like entering Mordor-lite.There was an interesting twist, when master became slave, but the story didn't do much with it. Apart from that it was just fantasy, with wooden characters and a bit of gaelic from the Conan-type barbarians.This is history according to the American Marines - sword twirling interrupted every so often with toe-curling sentiments, and at the end a laughterless joke.Also no babes.Interesting idea, bad story. But it looked pretty good, so 3/10.