My review of The Eagle makes me three-for-three in the negative department this year. Over at Moving Pictures, I wrote:
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| After a promising start — an exciting, well-choreographed confrontation between the Romans and the indigenous people, “The Eagle” devolves into a cliché-infested snoozer. Jeremy Brock’s otherwise forgettable script smartly establishes the similar brutal methods and intelligence of the warring parties, though two unfortunate scenes late in the picture derail all that hard work, actually demeaning both groups. |
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| Structuring the film using the classic buddy-film template (minus the usual humorous bits) with some underdeveloped political intrigue and uneven action sequences, Macdonald creates a doomed mishmash of mediocrity, where nothing is done particularly well nor particularly poorly. “The Eagle” fails to elevate itself from the current miasma of disappointing Roman epics. |
How I long for a decent film…