The Eagle (2011)

In Roman-ruled Britain, a young Roman soldier endeavors to honor his father's memory by finding his lost legion's golden emblem.

Director:

Kevin Macdonald

Writers:

Jeremy Brock (screenplay), Rosemary Sutcliff (novel)

Stars:

Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Channing Tatum	...	Marcus
István Göz	...	Cohort Centurion
Bence Gerö	...	Celt Boy / Young Marcus
Denis O'Hare	...	Lutorius
Paul Ritter	...	Galba
Zsolt László	...	Paulus
Julian Lewis Jones	...	Cassius
Aladár Laklóth	...	Flavius Aquila
Marcell Miklós	...	Fort Legionary 1
Bálint Magyar	...	Fort Legionary 2
Ferenc Pataki	...	Fort Legionary 3
Bálint Antal	...	Young Legionary
Lukács Bicskey	...	Druid
Douglas Henshall	...	Cradoc
James Hayes	...	Stephanos

Storyline

In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila (Tatum) arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca (Bell), Marcus sets out across Hadrian's Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia - to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and retrieve the lost legion's golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth.

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Plot Keywords:

legion | wall | gay subtext | hadrian's wall | slave | 

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Taglines:

The destiny of a soldier. The honour of a slave. The fate of an empire.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for battle sequences and some disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Focus Features [United States] Official Facebook

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Scottish Gaelic

Release Date:

11 February 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

L'aigle de la neuvième légion

Filming Locations:

Rannoch Moor, Perth & Kinross, Scotland, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,684,464, 13 February 2011, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$19,490,041, 7 April 2011

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$27,122,040, 7 April 2011

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features, Film4, Toledo Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jamie Bell never rode a horse before filming this movie. He had to learn on set.

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Goofs

Nearly all Roman soldiers are shown wearing crude leather vambraces. While the Roman army of that era indeed had a complex arm guard known as the manica, these were not standard issue, composed of metal plates, and considerably more sophisticated than the fairly basic pieces of equipment worn here. Furthermore, although vambraces similar to the ones from the movie were used in later Roman armies and by the Byzantines, there is no evidence to suggest that they were already in use in the 2nd century.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Marcus Aquila: Marcus Flavius Aquila, Fourth Cohort of Gaul, Second Legion, come to relieve the command.
Lutorius: Lutorius Drusillus Salinator, acting senior officer.
Marcus Aquila: Where's the garrison commander?
Lutorius: He left this morning, sir. Couldn't wait to get away.

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Crazy Credits

"This motion picture used sustainability strategies to reduce its carbon emissions and environmental impact."

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Connections

Featured in Great Movie Mistakes III: Not in 3D (2011)

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Soundtracks

The Return of the Eagle
Performed by Torc featuring Eoghan Neff, Flaithri Neff (as The Neff Brothers) and Atli Örvarsson

User Reviews

Not brilliant but an entertaining way to spend an evening

I went into this movie not knowing what to expect, and in the end I was rather pleased with it. Beautiful cinematography, great fight scenes, an interesting story . . . The movie also pays incredible attention to detail and is not afraid of a little dirt; one small thing that stood out to me is when they're eating dinner at the uncle's house, and it's kind of dark in there. Movies are always trying to convince us that a few candles light a house just as well as modern electric lights, but this one reminds us that no, they're candles. It's little things like that I found compelling: the characters acquire dirt and grime as they travel, the costumes and buildings are quite detailed, the Britons up in the north speak Gaelic and nothing but Gaelic. Often in movies with foreign languages, the characters will speak that foreign language for a few lines then switch into English. But the Britons keep up their Gaelic, and they speak it smoothly and fluently, too.

I really liked Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell, too. Tatum seems to be trying to speak very properly and it's rather odd, but he's good as a stoic young man who wants to be honorable and is tired of spending his entire life being chastised for a mistake that he did not make. Jamie Bell is rather fantastic as the slave who has every reason to hate Rome except for his growing respect for his Roman master; he's unpredictable and tortured and terribly interesting to watch.

It's not a perfect movie--sometimes I wasn't sure that it knew what message it was trying to convey--but generally I liked it. I will probably purchase it when it comes out.