# Recent Roman movies: The Eagle and Centurion
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 11, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357 "2011-08-11T17:26:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/1 "2011-08-11T17:26:14Z")
> **[The Eagle (2011 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eagle_(2011_film))**
>
> The Eagle is a 2011 epic historical drama film set in Roman Britain directed by Kevin Macdonald, and starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell and Donald Sutherland. Adapted by Jeremy Brock from Rosemary Sutcliff's historical adventure novel The Eagle of the Ninth (1954), the film tells the story of a young Roman officer attempting to recover the lost Roman eagle standard of his father's legion in Caledonia. The story is based on the Ninth Spanish Legion's supposed disappearance in Britain. Histori...
> **[Centurion (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_(film))**
>
> Centurion is a 2010 British historical action-war film written and directed by Neil Marshall, loosely based on the disappearance of the Roman Empire's Ninth Legion in Caledonia in the early second century AD. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Dominic West and Olga Kurylenko. It received mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office, only earning half of its $12 million budget.
> The Roman Empire has been unable to fully conquer Britain, reaching a harsh stalemate in the North. The Picts...
I liked _Gladiator_, and wonder which of these is worth seeing. Both? What did you think of 'em?
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### Author:  [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/2 "2011-08-11T17:33:37Z")
We just watched The Eagle. It wasn’t terrible, but I was bored, and I picked up my laptop halfway through and got distracted by other stuff.
However, I wasn’t a huge fan of Gladiator either, although it was clearly a superior film to The Eagle.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/3 "2011-08-11T18:10:56Z")
Also from 2007, [the Last Legion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Legion). All involve the 9th Legion in some way.
Haven’t seen the Eagle yet, I’d say Centurion was a little better than the Last Legion. The latter was a bit more unrealistic. It does have John Hannah playing type, after Spartacus.
I remember Centurion being a little slow at times, in that artsy way. As far as the three, I understand that no, none are as good as Gladiator, but still decent.
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### Author:  [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/4 "2011-08-12T00:30:11Z")
I can’t vouch for the film version of “The Eagle”, but the book it’s based on, “The Eagle of the Ninth” is excellent.
I’m a huge fan of [Rosemary Sutcliff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary_Sutcliff), the author.
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### Author:  [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/5 "2011-08-12T00:59:45Z")
Both were kind of mediocre films, although I would say **The Eagle** was slightly better than **Centurion**.
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### Author:  [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/6 "2011-08-12T13:14:06Z")
I’ve a friend who says that _Centurion_ is slightly better than _the Eagle_, so I’m going to borrow it from him to verify.
All I really remember about _the Eagle_ was that there were absolutely no women characters. There were a few in the background, but otherwise it was an all-bromance sausagefest. Only needed one conversation about snails and oysters to kick it over the top. Nice scenery, though.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/7 "2011-08-12T13:19:27Z")
> [@Lightray](#):
>
> All I really remember about _the Eagle_ was that there were absolutely no women characters. There were a few in the background, but otherwise it was an all-bromance sausagefest. Only needed one conversation about snails and oysters to kick it over the top. Nice scenery, though.
Yeah, I noticed that, too. It was pretty much a gay romance. Not explicitly, though (and not that there’s anything wrong with that).
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### Author:  [@abel29a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abel29a)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/8 "2011-08-12T13:50:55Z")
I’m a bit meh about both the Eagle and the Centurion, but the Eagle is better IMO. For one, there is a very good scene during the opening half hour that actual show more or less realistic Testudo formation fighting, with a chariot thrown in to the mix. (Very well done, on par with the Gladiatior sequence. Also, there is a really intense tribal dance scene, which is quite gripping in a primal way 🙂 Also, the director seems to be trying to get most of the fighting/costumes and such historically accurate.
Alas, both films could have been so much more if they dispensed with some of the more out-there mythos and, in Centurions case at least, was a bit less one-man army type deal.
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### Author:  [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/9 "2011-08-12T14:31:22Z")
> [@Spoke](#):
>
> Yeah, I noticed that, too. It was pretty much a gay romance. Not explicitly, though (and not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Honestly… that’s sort of what I look for in a Roman sandal movie. I just wasn’t expecting that there wouldn’t be _any_ token females. I wonder how it escaped having some studio exec suggest they add in some (other) love-interest in girl-form?
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/10 "2011-08-12T16:20:06Z")
Thanks for your feedback, everyone. Hrm. I may end up just seeing both of them (or all three of them, incl. _The Lost Legion_) anyway.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/11 "2011-08-12T17:24:07Z")
> [@Lightray](#):
>
> Honestly… that’s sort of what I look for in a Roman sandal movie. I just wasn’t expecting that there wouldn’t be _any_ token females. I wonder how it escaped having some studio exec suggest they add in some (other) love-interest in girl-form?
Throw us breeders a bone, is all I’m saying.
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/12 "2011-08-12T21:37:12Z")
> [@Lightray](#):
>
> Honestly… that’s sort of what I look for in a Roman sandal movie. I just wasn’t expecting that there wouldn’t be _any_ token females. I wonder how it escaped having some studio exec suggest they add in some (other) love-interest in girl-form?
There _is_ love-interest in girl form in the book - mind you, Cottia is only just at the lower end of marriageable age by the customs of the time, and she spends all of the Eagle-quest safely at home looking after Marcus’s tame wolf or getting dragged off to Aquae Sulis much against her will by her parents. Probably wouldn’t have added much to the film.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/13 "2011-08-13T00:27:45Z")
> [@Malacandra](#):
>
> There _is_ love-interest in girl form in the book - mind you, Cottia is only just at the lower end of marriageable age by the customs of the time, and she spends all of the Eagle-quest safely at home looking after Marcus’s tame wolf or getting dragged off to Aquae Sulis much against her will by her parents. Probably wouldn’t have added much to the film.
I don’t think that’s why they left her out. The filmmakers seem to have been making, very consciously, a gay romance. (Again, that is only implied, never spelled out. But it is strongly implied.)
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### Author:  [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/14 "2011-08-14T22:02:12Z")
> [@abel29a](#):
>
> For one, there is a very good scene during the opening half hour that actual show more or less realistic Testudo formation fighting, with a chariot thrown in to the mix. (Very well done, on par with the Gladiatior sequence. Also, there is a really intense tribal dance scene, which is quite gripping in a primal way 🙂 Also, the director seems to be trying to get most of the fighting/costumes and such historically accurate.
I’d agree with these positive remarks about The Eagle. I liked The Eagle. It was an uncomplex action move, but it was a good action movie. I started a thread about The Eagle a while back. [The Eagle (New Film about Roman Britain) - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=599090)
If you are into Ancient Roman stuff you’ll probably like The Eagle.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/15 "2014-11-14T15:50:56Z")
Thanks for your suggestions. Well, I’ve now seen both _The Eagle_ and _Centurion_ and liked the latter a bit better, although neither was as good as _Gladiator_. Michael Fassbender is a better actor and has a good deal more dramatic weight as a hero than Channing Tatum. I was struck, though, by the similarities between the movies:
[spoiler]
- A Roman soldier hero with a less-than-proud family past
- A native servant or helper with questionable loyalties
- An attack on a Roman frontier fort at night
- Noble Northern Savages who hate and torture Romans but love their kids
- The NNS chief’s son is killed
- A lost Roman legion with a handful of survivors who are then killed off by the NNS
- A long chase across a beautiful landscape by relentless NNS pursuers
- Leaping from a cliff into a cold river in order to escape
- Making it to safety, more or less, at Hadrian’s Wall[/spoiler]
There may be others. Still, glad I saw 'em.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/16 "2014-11-14T16:08:32Z")
I liked the Eagle’s battle sequence, but Centurion was a much better movie and Fassbender a better actor. As it is, I watched them back to back one boring weekend. If you watch Centurion first, it’s almost like watching one complete story, I like to imagine Tatum’s character as being the
Son of the general in the Centurion
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### Author:  [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/17 "2014-11-14T16:22:45Z")
Dangit, I never _did_ end up borrowing _Centurion_. Maybe I’ll just add it to my Amazon wish list…
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/18 "2014-11-14T18:02:51Z")
I started watching The Centurion at one point, and I was thrown off by the Picts or whoever they were just sneaking into the Roman camp. Because I study Latin, I have read through multiple explanations of how a Roman camp was lain out, and you really don’t just sneak into one. It’s been a while, but I think the movie implied that they were not at full strength, but still I don’t buy it. Maybe one or two snuck in, did some quiet mischief, and snuck out. But a small band?
They have to cross a steep-sloped trench where they are exposed to view the whole time just to get to the palisades which are ten feet tall and patrolled. Even if the patrols were light, because discipline was way off or something because the soldiers are demoralized by being in a movie they know damned well is actually about Vietnam, you still couldn’t expect to remain undetected while you waltz through the camp wherever you please. Then they kidnap a Roman Soldier without alerting anybody, and carry his unwieldy limp body back over the ten foot palisades, down into the trench and back up the steep slope on the other side.
It would have been more realistic if they just shown one of them drink a magic potion, run straight over the top of the trench, through the palisades, grab the centurion, and run straight back out the other side, with surprised Romans flying through the air in every direction.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/19 "2014-11-14T21:19:23Z")
**AK84** , I like your theory!
**Johnny Angel** , they didn’t “kidnap a Roman soldier without alerting anybody” in _Centurion_.
They attacked and overran the garrison, and he was the sole survivor. All of his comrades were already dead, or moments away from being so, when they knocked him out.
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### Author:  [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-roman-movies-the-eagle-and-centurion/592357/20 "2014-11-14T21:51:12Z")
> [@Lightray](#):
>
> Honestly… that’s sort of what I look for in a Roman sandal movie. I just wasn’t expecting that there wouldn’t be _any_ token females.
You just made me think about a completely different movie…
“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?”