The Eagle (2011)

June 28, 2024 8:52 PM

In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila 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, 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.

Currently on Netflix, Apple, Prime and Fandango.

posted by bunderful (4 comments total)

This has given me a mental image of the Loch Ness monster phoning an Italian restaurant to ask for one with everything.

I have actually seen it a couple of times. I preferred the other roman legion story that came out at about the same time, "Centurion" but this is better than might be expected for Channing Tatum as a Roman. Billy Elliott also decent. Centurion has a better supporting cast though.
posted by biffa at 9:37 AM on June 29 [3 favorites]

Centurion is a beautiful movie! I may check this out, I love that whole "north of the wall" trope.
posted by supermedusa at 10:02 AM on June 29

I love this movie! It relies very much on the chemistry with the actors but the scenery is great and the tense scenes and fighting are good. The soundtrack is one I use often for deep work, it’s a really beautiful rush of urgent striving sounds.

Book fans regret the removal of Cottia, but the film doesn’t have the narrative space to do her justice. I greatly look forward to an eventual TV series where they do this again.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:56 PM on June 29

the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion

Did they look in Nijmegen?
posted by kirkaracha at 2:06 PM on July 1