Rosemary Sutcliff must be turning in her grave; her carefully crafted novel has been hacked into a superhero movie with little resemblance to the original. The opening story to set up the main character is in the movie more or less as written which initially gave me hope. However I realised they could use it because it contains violence and could be bent to a "superman saves the day" episode.
The "quest" portion – heading north to get the eagle – was a total travesty. Whereas the novel invents a plausible mechanism for a crippled ex soldier to penetrate the wilds of Scotland, the movie relies on a super hero to fight warrior tribes with just his trusty side kick.
Save your money. If you want to see movies of super heroes fighting the world there are better ones.
If you want a great yarn set in Roman Britain read the book, and it's sequels. The book is aimed at the teenage market, but most adults will thoroughly enjoy an exciting and plausible story.
Two stars, not one, because it has the redeeming quality that it might generate interest in the book.
The "quest" portion – heading north to get the eagle – was a total travesty. Whereas the novel invents a plausible mechanism for a crippled ex soldier to penetrate the wilds of Scotland, the movie relies on a super hero to fight warrior tribes with just his trusty side kick.
Save your money. If you want to see movies of super heroes fighting the world there are better ones.
If you want a great yarn set in Roman Britain read the book, and it's sequels. The book is aimed at the teenage market, but most adults will thoroughly enjoy an exciting and plausible story.
Two stars, not one, because it has the redeeming quality that it might generate interest in the book.