The Eagle

Better than expected. It succeeded in its ability to transport me back to the time of Britain's occupation by Rome. While this is very much a "boys film", it was by no means an over-the-top graphic "gore fest" like Tarantino's warped Inglourious Basterds. A refreshing idea for a film. The story has depth that speaks beyond its historical time. The parallels between the plight of a Roman soldier looking to recover his family's disgraced honour and that of a modern day American soldier posted to Afghanistan or the like, keen to serve his country. In showing how one nation's honour is another's brutality, it helps to remind the audience that what goes around has a way of coming around, and that the measure of honour lay not in one's loyalty to tribe, but the bonds of trust built between individual people in times of trial, and that this is the foundation of honour. Well acted, well shot.