I’ve seen it at last…
I promise I’ll be back to Holmes with my next post, but now I’ve started this, I’m at least going to say a few words about the film I’ve anticipated for over a year, and took considerable pains to watch.
There are films that leave you breathless, moved, excited, in good spirits, or generally make you want to go right back and watch it all over again. Other films you hate so much that you want to leave after the first half, and if you sit through them for some reason you rant about it extensively to anybody who crosses your path for the next three days.
Then there are films that don’t leave much of an impression at all. They are not exactly a waste of time, you were entertained for two hour’s time, but that’s it. I’m afraid the Eagle is, to me, one of those. I expected worse, but was disappointed nevertheless.
Oh, it’s well done, no arguing here. Beautiful pictures mirroring Sutcliff’s lyrical narrative style. I also liked the way they avoided showy CGI effects, going for a realistic flair instead. There were some plot changes I didn’t mind and some I did, but the central problem for me was that I didn’t particularly like the two protagonists. I don’t even blame the actors. They are just… well, let me put it this way:
Book!Marcus is a Roman soldier at heart, and he cares a lot about honour and duty. He’s also intelligent, thoughtful, charismatic, compassionate, and overall a decent fellow. Movie!Marcus is a Roman soldier at heart, and he cares a lot about honour and duty, period. I never understood why Esca likes him. Oh, but wait, he doesn’t. He betrays his own people because of an oath he made to someone who didn’t care about it. And then they are suddenly buddies. *shakes head*
The relationship between Marcus and Esca is one of my favourites among all the literary friendships I’ve come across. Here are two young men who should by rights be enemies, and yet they recognize each other as kindred spirits (my inner fangirl says “soulmates”) almost instantly. Esca thinks he’s going to die, and Marcus desperately fights for his life because he cares, and the look they share is “as direct and intimate as though they were the only people” in the crowded place. This is when they bond, and they never question that bond. They are “like the two halves of an almond” even before Marcus sets Esca free. Which he does, in the book, before they start their great adventure, because he wants to give his friend the chance to refuse, and he even apologizes for forgetting about it earlier. Yeah, I realize that’s not terribly realistic, but it is beautiful. And I understand why they thought they had to change it to provide more drama, but the result is that the chemistry is simply not there, and the film suffers from it.
Then there’s the battle at the end. It’s not there in the book, it’s not needed in the book, and I found it unnecessary and forced in the film. It was most likely included because you’re supposed to have a good vs. bad showdown at the end, with the heroes triumphing over evil at last. Trouble is, we don’t have a suitable bad guy, do we? Never mind, let’s take the clan chieftain who’s justifiably furious about his father’s murder and the insult to his gods, let him commit an atrocious crime, and then everybody will cheer when the hero takes him down. I was rather disgusted with the film at that point.
In a similar line, I very much disliked what they did to Guern the Hunter. I loved the character in the book, and I loved the choice he makes, keeping his old faith one last time but then turning his back on Rome and vanishing into the mists, because “there is no way back across the waters of Lethe”. His significance was completely altered, turning him into someone who has to die to redeem what is judged as cowardice. Pity.
Last but not least, I don’t like what happens to the eagle at the end. The book’s ending is melancholy but hopeful; a new life growing from the ashes of an old dream. The ending of the film is clichéd.
All in all, it wasn’t a bad film as such, and I’ll give it credit for existing at all, but it was not nearly as great as it could have been. Now I’ll have to go back and read the book once more. Maybe I’ll even try and write a bit of fanfiction about it, though certainly not soon, with Holmestice coming up and two unfinished Holmes fics collecting virtual dust on my hard drive. Though, on second thought, wouldn’t that be a crossover challenge…? *Ponders*
There are films that leave you breathless, moved, excited, in good spirits, or generally make you want to go right back and watch it all over again. Other films you hate so much that you want to leave after the first half, and if you sit through them for some reason you rant about it extensively to anybody who crosses your path for the next three days.
Then there are films that don’t leave much of an impression at all. They are not exactly a waste of time, you were entertained for two hour’s time, but that’s it. I’m afraid the Eagle is, to me, one of those. I expected worse, but was disappointed nevertheless.
Oh, it’s well done, no arguing here. Beautiful pictures mirroring Sutcliff’s lyrical narrative style. I also liked the way they avoided showy CGI effects, going for a realistic flair instead. There were some plot changes I didn’t mind and some I did, but the central problem for me was that I didn’t particularly like the two protagonists. I don’t even blame the actors. They are just… well, let me put it this way:
Book!Marcus is a Roman soldier at heart, and he cares a lot about honour and duty. He’s also intelligent, thoughtful, charismatic, compassionate, and overall a decent fellow. Movie!Marcus is a Roman soldier at heart, and he cares a lot about honour and duty, period. I never understood why Esca likes him. Oh, but wait, he doesn’t. He betrays his own people because of an oath he made to someone who didn’t care about it. And then they are suddenly buddies. *shakes head*
The relationship between Marcus and Esca is one of my favourites among all the literary friendships I’ve come across. Here are two young men who should by rights be enemies, and yet they recognize each other as kindred spirits (my inner fangirl says “soulmates”) almost instantly. Esca thinks he’s going to die, and Marcus desperately fights for his life because he cares, and the look they share is “as direct and intimate as though they were the only people” in the crowded place. This is when they bond, and they never question that bond. They are “like the two halves of an almond” even before Marcus sets Esca free. Which he does, in the book, before they start their great adventure, because he wants to give his friend the chance to refuse, and he even apologizes for forgetting about it earlier. Yeah, I realize that’s not terribly realistic, but it is beautiful. And I understand why they thought they had to change it to provide more drama, but the result is that the chemistry is simply not there, and the film suffers from it.
Then there’s the battle at the end. It’s not there in the book, it’s not needed in the book, and I found it unnecessary and forced in the film. It was most likely included because you’re supposed to have a good vs. bad showdown at the end, with the heroes triumphing over evil at last. Trouble is, we don’t have a suitable bad guy, do we? Never mind, let’s take the clan chieftain who’s justifiably furious about his father’s murder and the insult to his gods, let him commit an atrocious crime, and then everybody will cheer when the hero takes him down. I was rather disgusted with the film at that point.
In a similar line, I very much disliked what they did to Guern the Hunter. I loved the character in the book, and I loved the choice he makes, keeping his old faith one last time but then turning his back on Rome and vanishing into the mists, because “there is no way back across the waters of Lethe”. His significance was completely altered, turning him into someone who has to die to redeem what is judged as cowardice. Pity.
Last but not least, I don’t like what happens to the eagle at the end. The book’s ending is melancholy but hopeful; a new life growing from the ashes of an old dream. The ending of the film is clichéd.
All in all, it wasn’t a bad film as such, and I’ll give it credit for existing at all, but it was not nearly as great as it could have been. Now I’ll have to go back and read the book once more. Maybe I’ll even try and write a bit of fanfiction about it, though certainly not soon, with Holmestice coming up and two unfinished Holmes fics collecting virtual dust on my hard drive. Though, on second thought, wouldn’t that be a crossover challenge…? *Ponders*