The Eagle

The Eagle is a historical fiction about the disappearance of the 9th Legion of the Roman army. Historically true is that the legion advanced north of the Hadriatic wall in Britian, never to be seen again. The Eagle was an important symbol of the time and the legions would defend it to the end.

Despite his father being given up for dead, young Marcus Flavius Aquila (Channing Tatum) requests to post in Britian near where his father would have been. Young Aquila proves himself a valuable warrior and eventually requests a mission to cross the wall and recover The Eagle, despite not knowing its whereabouts. He has the support of his uncle (Donald Sutherland) and is given a slave a British slave named Esca (Jamie Bell) to accompany him.

They set out for the north of Britian, an area now known as the Scottish Highlands and run into a rabble of people, where they fight and show their gallantry in hope of finding The Eagle. Does it still exist? If they do find it, can they actually return it to Rome?

The Eagle is Rated PG-13 for violence and some borish British acting and is just under 2 hours long.

Also staring in the movie are Mark Strong, Tahar Rahim, and Denis O'Hare - all extremely famous actors from the Highlands.

I kept my expectations for this movie low as I've seen some of Channing's other movies (Public Enemies, G.I. Joe, and The Dilemna). However, I actually enjoyed this movie. The storyline was interesting and with it spurred my interest in reading about the actual 9th Legion, some part of history that I was unaware.

Despite the lack of credible actors, I can give The Eagle 3.8 stars.

Johnny Got His Gun

This classic from 1971 is one of those movies that most people have probably never seen, though many Metallica fans may know. Many clips from the movie were used in the video for the 1988 song "One" off of the And Justice for All CD. In fact, the video was ranked 38th on the MTV Top 100 Greatest Videos.

Johnny Got His Gun stars Timothy Bottoms as Joe Bonham, a young man who joins the military during World War I and is sent to the trenches in France. Soon after getting there, Bonham is hit by a shell and ends up in a hospital, only to realize that he has lost his legs, his arms, his sight, his hearing, and his lower jaw, though the song declares that he lost these from a landmine. He now has no way to communicate to with the outside world.

The movie then becomes a series of flashbacks, visits with a helpful spirit played by Donald Sutherland, and dialog with himself in his mind.

As the movie progresses, Joe must learn to adapt to his surroundings. He figures out how to keep track of time. Meanwhile, a friendly nurse has a feeling that there's still a person inside, and she communicates with him through touch.

After a visit to the spirit of Donald Sutherland, he figures out that he can use Morse code to communicate by thrashing his head in code. Doctors soon figure this out, but they do not like the message.

Jason Robarbs stars as Joe's father in this movie that flashes between black and white and color. The movie was directed by Dalton Trumbo, also known for Papillon, Exodus, Spartacus, and probably his most famous work being Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.

The movie is not the greatest quality, nor does it contain the greatest acting, but it's one of those subjects that really makes you think, "Wow, that would be terrible if that really happened" and perhaps it did. And now when I see the video for One by Metallica, I can say, "I saw that movie!"

Johnny Got His Gun is rated PG as some material may not be suitable for children. I know that the black and white footage of the armless, legless, faceless man were disturbing to me....and I'm 36!

Because of the novelty of this movie I give it movie 3 stars.