The Eagle - Movie

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Did watch "The Eagle" yesterday and I liked it. A nice sword-and-shield adventure movie with some great battle scenes.



It has a very cool Testudo scene:



a night siege:



also the final battle, the veterans of the Ninth Legion vs. Sealmen was a great inspiration for a gaming scenario



But...there will always be a but. This irokese look of the seal men was odd.



Anyway, a nice inspiration for painting of my Romans. Check the trailer:

[Captain Blood]

I thought the best bit was the beginning. Some great scenery. Channing Tatum too much like a US marine for a Roman. The Picts with Mohicans? Not really convinced. And as for the lost legion... 

But i agree Alex, overall worth seeing. A good spectacle 

[LeadAsbestos]

I put it with "King Arthur" and "Tristan and Isolde" as fun movies, inspiring for wargaming, and historical disasters! Never let the history get in the way of telling a good story.

(That said, King Arthur makes me wince some times!)

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Channing Tatum too much like a US marine for a Roman.

actually his face looks Roman to me or at least like a stereotype of a Roman face. But his play was a bit too stiff.

[Lt. Hazel]

Like the Captain said: The beginning was good, but the story really went bad. I was disapointed when I left the cinema.

[Little Odo]

I concur with LeadAsbestos - my thoughts exactly. I enjoy these historical romps but give them about as much credence historically as the old Hollywood blockbusters like Cleopatra or Ben Hur. Spiffing on-screen fun and great for scenario ideas but very lacking regards authenticity.

[voltan]

I watched the dvd the other week, well, I watched the fight scenes at start and finish and skipped most of the rest  Always have trouble not yelling at the screen when A film involves Hadrian's wall as I live so close to it, but if I couldn't be irrational about local-ish history it'd be difficult to be a gamer 

[tomek917]

I quite liked it too, definitely worth seeing.

Sometimes the historical inaccuracy is just too much though, it can really destroy a film for me because often it's really easy things they miss or just ignore. I hurts the authenticity and inevitably the whole experience.

Ridley Scotts "Robin Hood" for example was just too much, I was about to have an heart attack.

Worst. Movie. Ever.

[Arlequín]

Try 'Centurion' it's in a similar vein and marginally more believable. I enjoyed both movies, but then I don't look to any film for historical accuracy or believability in any case.

 

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Try 'Centurion' it's in a similar vein and marginally more believable. I enjoyed both movies, but then I don't look to any film for historical accuracy or believability in any case.

Tried it already, enjoyed it as well

[Doomsdave]

I used to get upset about inaccuracy.  Then I started to enjoy movies as entertainment.  Ironically I think wargaming allowed me to relax my standards.  My sons and I refer to these movies as "mythtorical".  Frankly, modern cop movies (or almost all hollywood films) aren't accurate either.   

[aecurtis]

I would have enjoyed it more if it had simply stayed with the story as written in the Divine Rosemary's novel.  Where the film strayed, it just got silly.

Allen

[The Baggagetrain]

I did watch this when it came out, they had a chance to do a very good historic film here but Hollywood being Hollywood had to go and mess around. I went with an open mind and in some parts I was pleasantly surprised. But in other parts I just close my eyes and said “O no!” The British people of Caledonia were not native North Americans??  They left the book on many occasions which was a shame too but then again the book did put about the myth that the 6th legion was lost in Caledonia

Regards
Stephen

[Prof.Witchheimer]

a nice article on the fate of the Ninth Legion:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12752497

[Lowtardog]

Havent seen it yet but loved the book as a kid, those Mowhawks make the mind boggle, the researchers must live in cloud cuckoo land. Best picts seen so far were those in the Costner Robin Hood and then they were anachronistic