Hollywood does not favor historical movies based on Roman era quite as much as it did decades back. Now the spotlight is mostly on the top gun action flicks and superheroes. So in a time like that ‘The Eagle’ spread its wings. But it’s far behind from satisfying!!
The story is about a young Roman soldier Marcus (Channing Tantum) who goes to the forbidden lands of Britain in 2nd century in order to claim back his families honor. After his father who was the commander of the 9th legion of the Roman army lost the battalions golden emblem the Eagle and the whole battalion in Britain, no one ever dared to find out what happened back then. But ambitious Marcus joins the army and willingly decides to serve the Roman emperor in the front of Britain. In his quest to find the eagle and what happened to his father’s battalion he gets the help from Esca (Jamie Bell) who is his body slave and also a Brit. Entering an unknown land with Esca who is far from being a true friend but a true enemy who has lost his whole family by the hands of Romans, Marcus will face the biggest battle in his life in the name of honor.
Based on the novel ‘The Eagle of the ninth’ what says as to be true events The Eagle has an interesting yet promising script. However I’m not aware how accurate the movie speaks of the actually events or the historical background of the whole plot. But not knowing it is not a must at all.
What’s good about the movie is that the creative details are well made. And the action sequences along with the battles are well executed and feel natural and strong. Though there is less blood and gore it does not second to any epic action sequences of such similar scale.
What’s bad about The Eagle is quite prominent than what’s good in it. First of all casting Channing Tantum as a heroic Roman soldier is a big mistake. Channing is definitely not that material. Maybe his looks or the way he talk just not make him look Roman at all. Apart from that the story is not really helping to keep the momentum. Though it starts as a true battle filled Roman epic it quickly dissolves in to a slow moving one man show for a long time. Though it gains its drive back again it never becomes what it was in the first half hour.
I never expect less from movies like The Eagle. So this flick disappoints me. But for the mere fact that it was a visual treat than it represent a great era in the human history I will offer it 3 stars.
Genre: Drama, Adventure, History
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Writers: Jeremy Brock (screenplay), Rosemary Sutcliff (novel)
Stars: Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell and Donald Sutherland
No comments:
Post a Comment