The Eagle, a 2011 film starring Channing Tatum, is the story of a Roman (Marcus Flavius Aquila) who sets off north of Hadrian's Wall in 140AD to recover a golden Eagle emblem- a symbol which was lost to the northern tribes after the disappearance of his father's ninth legion 20 years prior. Aquila travels with a freed Briton slave who aids him in his quest. Will he succeed in recovering the artifact?
The film was okay. Predictable and nothing overwhelming, though I wasn't expecting much. Based on the book Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff, I'm sure the text is much better. The historical event upon which the book touches is definitely interesting- in ~120AD, Rome's Ninth Legion disappeared entirely from the historical record. It is hypothesized that it went north to modern Scotland to battle a Caledonian tribe, and no trace of them was ever found. Other accounts posit that members of the legion did in fact turn up later in history in far-off places (eastern Europe), so we don't know for sure.
Rating: B-
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