The Eagle

Last night, my dad took me to see The Eagle. The Eagle is a fictional film centered around the themes of honor, courage, and loyalty. It is set in Britain in 140 A.D. It is rated PG-13, for violence and some bad language. There is blood on faces when that would be believable, but for the most part, gore is studiously avoided.   There are movies that are fun to watch because they are hilariously bad, and then there are movies that are fun to watch because they have minimal to no glaring problems, though are nowhere near a Braveheart level of awesomeness. The Eagle, in my opinion, falls into the latter category.
  In a five-star rating system such as the Scarlet Pimpernel uses, I would say that though the leads were unknowns, they were real bargains, playing their parts well. Therefore the lead acting deserves a star. Second, I award a star for the score. Granted, the score did not go far beyond a loud monotonous drone, but it fit so well! And the End Credits track! If you want the first two minutes, listen to Making Plans/Gathering the Clans from the Braveheart score and you're almost there. Though I have never heard a score I didn't like, the score for The Eagle was instantly one of my favorites and on my wish list. Third, I award a star for the fact that the money not spent on convincing famous actors was spent on building realistic- looking props and sets and renting great locations (all scenes were filmed in Scotland or Hungary) I award another star for what I consider well thought out camera work, up to and including the shaking camera during the battles, which I thought gave a more realistic feel to the action. I am withholding the last star due to the fact that all the actors were speaking in plain American accents and talking like contemporary Americans. And by that I mean there is some bad language in the dialogue, though it does not appear after the first half hour of the film. Also, I was disappointed that I could instantly fit each character in the supporting cast into a different annoying category. Therefore, I rate The Eagle four stars.
  On second thought, considering the realistic -looking Celts, and the fact that they, at least, were actually speaking the original language (Gaelic) And in every way seemed more realistic to the time period than the Scots of Braveheart by comparison, I will allow another half-star. If you like an adventure movie with awesome sets and impressive action, which focuses on honor, courage, and loyalty all at once, you will  enjoy The Eagle, which I give a final rating of four and a half stars, despite the American Romans.