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 .

Marcus (Channing Tatum), a Roman discharged from the army due to injuries, enlists the aid of a Briton slave, Esca (Jamie Bell), to go into the Pictish wilderness north of Hadrian's Wall to apprehend the gold eagle standard that was lost when the ninth legion went missing twenty years earlier circa 120 AD. Marcus' motivations are to save his family's honor, but will Esca remain a faithful slave or slit Marcus' throat at the first opportunity? Donald Sutherland has a significant side role as Marcus' uncle. "The Eagle" (2011) is reminiscent of films like "Centurion" (2010), "Black Death" (2010) and "Black Robe" (1991). It lacks the greatness of the latter two, but it's almost on par with first one. As a matter of fact, "The Eagle" is the unofficial sequel to that film (more on this below). "Black Death" has deeper, more interesting themes while "Black Robe" is in a league of its own as far as gritty realism goes.Where "The Eagle" shines is the authentic Scottish locations, the beautiful cinematography, and the mysteriousness of going into the unknown, as well as the depictions of the various warrior tribes and the quality score. Unfortunately, the story is only moderately compelling and the relationship between Marcus and Esca isn't that interesting. Furthermore, there are no women, except meaningless side characters in the distance; the other three films noted above, as well as "King Arthur," didn't make this mistake.Also, there is a roll-your-eyes sequence in the last act where some tribesmen (and a boy) on foot are able to keep up with two guys on horses over the course of a couple days. Why sure! Still, if you like any of the other four movies noted above "The Eagle" is a must.Be sure to catch the aforementioned "Centurion" because it chronicles the fate of the ninth legion and Marcus' father two decades before the events of "The Eagle" take place (even though it's just cinematic conjecture, of course). Although "The Eagle" has a way better first act and more gritty realism, "Centurion" is more conventionally entertaining, contains important female characters and has a better final act. The film runs 114 minutes.GRADE: B

This was pretty good, a swords & sandals epic which is slightly different than others I've seen, using the story of the famed lost ninth legion and showing a piece of Scottish History I'd never even contemplated in that the early (early) Highlanders are portrayed as living like indigenous north American tribes. Not sure if this is accurate but the "Seal people" wear cool blue makeup (early Braveheart?) and are fierce fighters. Anyways.Channing Tatum is decent enough as Roman centurion Marcus -I've definitely seen him do worse in a couple romances and he's involved in some good battle scenes early on. I liked the story arc with British slave 'Esca'(Jamie Bell) and how the slave becomes the master as they forge over Hadrian's Wall on their mission to find "The Eagle" which went missing 20 years earlier. Donald Sutherlands whimsical character seemed out of place, more like he was just portraying who he felt like, without direction, and while as a whole I did enjoy this, the final scene, in the last 30 seconds of the movie was just terrible, as Marcus and Esca suddenly get all buddy-buddy comedic, it felt tagged on and ridiculous. 8/9/14

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.