The Eagle is a vivid and at times lucid action adventure, a step above Ridley Scott‘s Robin Hood, owing more to Terrence Malick with a nod to Italian neorealism than anything else. The true star of the production is Anthony Dod Mantle’s cinematography, capturing with a sense of spontaneity light and dark, interior and exterior and especially moonlight, beautifully.

… The film’s director, Kevin Macdonald, holds the line and never permits the film to become a “buddy road movie.” Indeed this is a rarity in a system of manufacturing film product. That said, the film edges towards poetics while holding that line between hybrid spiritual and action-adventure journey.

… As a political thriller The Eagle is not a misfit – the film is an exploration of the notion of ‘national state.’ It’s an idea that exists within the hearts and minds of those that believe to belong to such a unit, artificial or officially bordered.

… Macdonald  … (keeps)  the drama and the action where it belongs, at human scale.

… the moments edging towards the epic battles contain an atmosphere all their own, a refreshing humanistic approach to the genre.

… The Eagle is just smart enough to operate without the auto-pilot function of many action adventures where you simply don’t care what happens next.

Source: Review by John Fink of The Eagle film based on The Eagle of the Ninth novel

• More on The Eagle of the Ninth film and book on this blog
• Trailer for the film The Eagle
• Focus Features microsite on The Eagle film

The film distribution world, I have discovered, talks in terms of ‘territories’ where a film is released. Over the coming months The Eagle can be seen in the following territories:Read More »

The film The Eagle, based on Rosemary Sutcliff‘s The Eagle of the Ninth was released yesterday in the USA and Canada, and of course I (as well as the film-makers) are anxious to see what people make of it. Speakeasy is a Wall Street Journal site covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. It is produced by a senior editor with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others.

They review the reviews:

What do you get when you hire a first-rate director to helm an old-fashioned swords-and-sandals movie? A “rip-snortin’” adventure, in the words of Roger Ebert. Indeed, critics are generally taking to “The Eagle,” which was directed by Kevin Macdonald (”The Last King of Scotland”) and stars Channing Tatum as a square-jawed Roman soldier.Mercifully, “The Eagle” also contains no CGI. Points for that alone. Read what other critics are saying. Read More »

The English co-star of Channing Tatum gives his take as a working-class Briton on The Eagle (film of Rosemary Sutcliff‘s The Eagle of the Ninth) and its filming, interviewed by the San Fransisco Chronicle. Jamie Bell, first noted for his appearance as Billy Elliot when still a young boy, plays Esca, the Brigante slave of Marcus.

There’s something about ‘the lesser people’ – in England, just being a Northerner, you’re straight into a demographic of being working class, no matter what. From the way you sound, to the industry you come from, to the air you breathe, you’re working class. Which I consider something to be proud of, actually, and to embrace.

And these people (the Brigantes) had a way of life, a culture, that is taken away from them, that is stripped, and other people’s values are then pressed onto them. Which is not too dissimilar to things that are happening today; the invasions of different countries and the pressing of democracy on other people who don’t necessarily want it.”

Source: Jamie Bell: ‘Billy Elliot’ trades shoes for sword.