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The Eagle Review

Movies.com Critics

2.5

Dave White Profile

No girls allowed. Read full review

2.0

Grae Drake Profile

It hoists The Eagle, all right. Read full review

Other Critics provided by Metacritic.com

Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 3.0
    55

    out of 100

    Metascore®
    Mixed or average reviews
    based on a weighted average of all
    critic review scores.

  • 38

    out of 100

    USA Today Scott Bowles

    What it became was bad. A movie that hopes to blend "Lethal Weapon" with "Gladiator" winds up not being a fraction of either.

    Read Full Review

  • 70

    out of 100

    The Hollywood Reporter Todd McCarthy

    The Eagle is an engaging, if straightforward and one-dimensional.

    Read Full Review

  • 75

    out of 100

    Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

    A rip-snorting adventure tale of the sort made before CGI, 3-D and alphabet soup in general took the fun out of moviegoing.

    Read Full Review

  • 83

    out of 100

    Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

    The story and setting may be ancient, but under the direction of Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland), and with a nicely textured screenplay by Macdonald's Scotland coscreenwriter Jeremy Brock, the vigor is fully modern.

    Read Full Review

  • See all The Eagle reviews at Metacritic.com

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For Families provided by Common Sense Media

Iffy for 13+

Roman action epic comes across as grim, violent, and dull.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this honor-and-freedom-themed historical action/drama set during Rome's occupation of Southern Britain has lots of fighting and violence. There are battles with swords, blades, and bows and arrows, as well as some blood, strangling, a severed head, and dead animals. Characters tell stories of bloody, exhausting battles, and a man smacks a young boy across the face. Language is minor (words include "ass," "fart," and "pissing"), and there's a little drinking -- but no sexual content. Although characters begin to doubt the need for war, that doesn't stop their penchant for violence.

  • Families can talk about the movie's violence. Is it essential to the story? Why or why not? How does it compare to what you'd see in a horror movie?
  • What does the Eagle of the movie's title represent? Is it a good symbol or a bad one?
  • What does the hero, Marcus, learn over the course of his journey? Is he a positive role model?

The good stuff
  • message true0

    Messages: Although the heroes take on an "impossible" mission, bravely standing up against the odds (and, in the process, restoring a son's faith in his father), the results of the mission bring back a symbol of one country's dominance over another -- and to accomplish these goals, the heroes must engage in all kinds of violence.

  • rolemodels true1

    Role models: Marcus fights for his father's honor and stands up against a crowd to rescue a slave. He and the slave become friends, despite the fact that they're from opposite sides of the war. Marcus is a violent hero, but he learns something about the terrible nature of war over the course of the film, and ultimately it appears that he's on the right track.

What to watch for
  • violence false4

    Violence: Several battles and lots of fighting, with swords, blades, and bows and arrows, and some blood on view. People are burned and beheaded (off screen); viewers do see a severed head. Characters are also strangled, beaten, and severely injured. Viewers see hanged corpses, and a character guts a wild boar. Characters tell stories of battles and killings, and the remains of a "killing field" littered with skulls and skeletons are shown. The heroes kill, skin, and eat a raw rat. A grown man smacks a young boy across the face.

  • sex false0

    Sex: Not an issue

  • language false2

    Language: Language includes infrequent use of "fart," "pissing," "s--t," "damn," and "ass."

  • consumerism false0

    Consumerism: Not an issue

  • drugsalcoholtobacco false1

    Drinking, drugs and smoking: The main character asks for wine before enduring a painful operation on his leg. Minor characters pass around what appears to be an alcoholic, hallucinogenic drink.

An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology.

© Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Fan Reviews provided by

Average Rating: 3.809
Read all reviews Write a review at Fandango
4

I loved it by Koali
I thought I would have to make myself finish this once it started but I am glad to say it was hard to imagine shutting it off once I figured Aquila would try and go get the precious Eagle standard left behind in the war his father fought and disappeared in 20 years earlier. The whole regiment never came back and the whole of the north end of the country was walled off because of it - a dangerous separation. Although the book was written for children (?) I don't know how you could get children to enjoy a story of hand to hand combat, barbaric pre-comfort muddy tribal warriors. Let alone watch the story now filmed in continuous grey, beige, and black. If they do fine. This is, for me, a story of gory triumph of will depicting early European civilization. 140 ad. . Channing Tatum (Aquila) is why I stayed with it - he is wonderful here and Jamie Bell (Aquila's slave) is really cast well and keeps the story on edge.

3

Cast like a Romance, but Not Written like One - Mistake by Cinespector
The movie was enjoyable to me. I did buy it when it came out of theaters, but I?ll admit that it wasn?t for the class A acting or writing that I did it. I would still recommend the movie, especially to anyone interested in early British history or that time period. I would also recommend the movie to any fanfic writers, because Marcus and Esca were about six inches from kissing twice in the film and that kind of thing is fodder for fandom. The costumes department should be given something like an Oscar. There were lots of notable actors in the film who all did their best with what they were given, but the film was definitely lacking something. After all the hype of honor, what's next? Also missing from this film is just about any female presence. There is so much testosterone and not enough action. It was cast like a romance but not written like one, but everything would have made more since if the two leads were in love. 6/10 For a longer review find Cinespector on WordPress.

4

The Eagle review by Darkchylde
Exceptional, watched this two nights in a row!

3

by Thbjones

3

by geoelevation25

4

Entertaining. by movie-fan_ colts
Not one of the greatest Roman movie ever but worth watching.

3

The Eagle Movie Review by Asianfreak
42 out of 100 The Eagle isn't just a piece of medal, it is perfect for nap time.

3

by Ronin Bahamut

4

by slondoggy14

Read all The Eagle reviews at Fandango
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