The Eagle
- Director: Kevin Macdonald
- Based on book by Rosemary Sutcliff.
- Cast: Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Paul Ritter
- Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
- Channing Tatum – Jupiter Ascending, Public Enemies, Battle in Seattle
- Jamie Bell – Filth, Jane Eyre, Defiance, Hallam Foe, King Kong, Dear Wendy, Undertow, Billy Elliot
- Paul Ritter –Wolf Hall, Friday Night Dinner, Bletchley Circle, The Hollow Crown, Great Expectations, Nowhere Boy, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Quantum of Solace, Son of Rambow, The Girl in the Café, The Libertine
- Why? Jamie Bell
- Seen: 25 March 2016
Little Billy Elliot just turned thirty
the other day. And has played all kinds of interesting roles since his enormous
breakthrough.
Roman Britain. Aha. Hadrian’s Wall. Very
interesting.
Or not? As usual I fall asleep during the
battle, which takes place in the first twenty minutes. The hero, Channing
Tatum, is noble, brave, earnest, loyal….and dull.
Jamie Bell is a slave, Esca, who refuses
to fight. Gallant Marcus (Tatum) saves his life. Esca reluctantly becomes his
slave.
Tatum and his uncle Donald Sutherland are
annoyingly American as are others in the cast.
Honour and eagles and macho men. Ho hum.
Alone Marcus and Esca start off to rescue
the stolen Eagle, important symbol of Rome, heading north to the Picts. I’ve
always liked the Picts. Maybe now it will become interesting. At least the
landscape is impressive. It does indeed become more interesting when they meet
the Picts. It’s a bit dreamy and mystical.
It’s a great pity that they cast Channing
Tatum in the lead. He’s probably a very nice person but on the screen he has
zero charisma. Jamie Bell goes a long way in raising the charisma quotient but
he can’t do everything.
It’s a very odd film with a muddled
rambling story. With its historical conflict it could have been very good. As
it is Jamie Bell is its main strength.
2
½ * of 5
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