Week 3: The Eagle

So, I haven't seen this movie in a little bit, but I'll give my remembered thoughts here and then watch it for a more detailed response.

1. I think the acting works well. Not great, but not bad. I like Bell's character, and Tatum conveys a prideful roman very well, but the movie really did well with the Seal people. Local people who could speak gaelic were sought out (and that's a small field), but I think it worked awesome for them. I watch this movie and I love how the language sounds.

2. I love the soundtrack. It's funny though because it continues the tradition of uilleann pipes (traditionally irish bagpipes) in movies set in Scotland. Braveheart did this as well. Personally, I'd love to hear highland pipes in a movie, but I get that uilleann pipes have a greater range and can produce more interesting melodies.

3. The early battle is awesome.

Oh gosh. NO!!!! I tried Centurion. IT'S SO BAD! DON'T DO IT!
King Arthur was ok. Just kinda boring.

I didn't like Centurion mainly because everything seemed really hammy and even fantasy to me. Mainly the woman with her magical ability to sense being watched from long distances, which was indicated by a dramatic head turn and penetrating stare. They weren't tracked down--they were magically found by an implausible enemy who knew just where to look as it was convenient to the plot.
The same chase scenes in The Eagle worked for me because they were actually being tracked.
As for Tatum's injury magically healing, I'm not sure where you're getting that. His getting terribly sick and slowly recovering was covered in an extended sequence that culminated in him boar hunting. He was fine until being beaten and in the elements caused his injuries to act up.

I agree that the seal people were odd, though the director actually said he wanted them to seem like they were very different from typical depictions of celtic peoples. They were in the far north of britain, and had their own thing going on for a long time. Which makes sense to me. There were many, many tribes of "celts" with very different cultures before invasions finally unified the ethnicity of the island.

About the american accents, cool, right? Also from the director, that was on purpose. Old movies always gave the romans british accents because they were the stereotypical imperial power of the time. Today, that's considered America. Which, fine. Whatever. But I get his point and why he made that choice.

I actually LOVED the battles, or at least the one in which Tatum is injured. I liked that this movie didn't go the "epic" route, but focused on small skirmishes. But that's me.

One major mark I have against this movie is the moment when SPOILER the little boy is pulled out and killed in front of Bell. That was ridiculous. There is no way they brought him all that way. My suspicion is they got to the final battle and realized that Bell's character probably didn't have a lot of motivation to fight with the Romans, and said "I know! Let's pretend his surrogate younger brother was with the hunters the whole time! Then they can kill him for ridiculous reasons, and that will make Bell mad so he fights!"
I thought that was pretty stupid. Bell could have used a little more development to make that work beyond "loyal slave/friend"

I also really liked that this movie didn't really shy away from the reality that life in imperial societies is tough. People kill each other in horrible ways. There aren't any real good guys or bad guys, just winners and losers. The moment when Tatum kills the young tribesman who Bell spares is brutal, but really honest. The movie isn't saying who is right or wrong. It's just showing what kind of stuff happened.