The Eagle is one of those films where you don’t quite have a definitive hate or love for it; it is just there and you can take it either way. For me, it is one of those films where you now need to weigh the good and the bad and then figure out if you thought it was good or bad. I liked it, but that was simply because of this scaling method I do.
The pros: Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell are great. There could have been better casting for these two roles, Marcus and Esca, but the director and actors did a good enough job.
Another pro, Mark Strong was a nice addition to the cast, however, like with some of his roles lately, I wish he had a larger role. I still am excited to see him as Sinestro this summer in Green Lantern. This is one of his roles where you actually like him. He does do a good job with his evil roles, but I really like to see him with a heart. And we also get to see Tahar Rahim (a young up and coming actor from France) as a really cool prince of the Northern tribes. He really steals several scenes even though he doesn’t speak a word of English.
A third pro for the film are the locations and cinematography. Unlike Brokeback Mountain (which forever will be a stand point of what not to do with the landscape), the film works around the film and doesn’t just hit you. It is another actor and doesn’t feel forced.
The other major good thing about the film was the action sequences. Although Gladiator is the standard at which all ancient epics should be compared to, it still rises to the occasion. It has more in keeping with Robin Hood than Centurion (a terribly made film about Marcus’ father that came out last year). Not much blood and gore, but it doesn’t need it (however I would love to have seen it). But it was choreographed well and looked pretty dang good on screen. In fact, the duel at the end of the film works really well mainly because they actually stopped playing the music.
The troubles with this film, however, are also quite extensive. The major flaw in the casting is casting American and Canadian actors for smaller parts where they ultimately fall apart. Donald Sutherland normally is really good, even though his roles in the past decade only last ten minutes of screen time, this movie shows that he has past his prime and that he should stop doing these small roles and either start doing bigger ones or just retire. I did not like, I thought he was miscast, and I thought that he brought nothing to the role.
Another problem was the music. I was expecting much from this, hoping to hear a grand epic score, but in the end it just fell flat and was plain and generic. And that is always the problem with Kevin MacDonald films: he doesn’t do so well with the score.
And one other problem would have to be the editing. We get strange, awkward scenes and glimpses of Marcus’ father fighting the tribes. These are out of place flashbacks that try to add emotion to Tatum’s performance, but takes away from the scenes at hand. We also get quick shots of the grass and leaves and trees around him as we gets these flashbacks that also hope to add some kind of mystical feel. This doesn’t give me a sense of awe, but a sense of confusion.
It may be a good film that is worth seeing once, maybe twice, but it isn’t something special. Good major actors and some fun action sequences, but not much else there.
Next time: Never Let Me Go, Let Me In, and Winter’s Bones
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