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In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca (Jamie Bell), Marcus sets out across Hadrian’s Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia – to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father’s memory, and retrieve the lost legion’s golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth.

An interesting period piece stylized from an historic event of the mysterious disapperance/fate of the famed Roman 9th legion. 

The legendary Ninth Legion – Legio IX Hispana (The “Spanish Legion”) – was one of the oldest and most feared units in the Roman army by the early 2nd century AD. Raised by Pompey in 65 BC, it had fought victorious campaigns across the Empire, from Gaul to Africa, Sicily to and Spain and Germania to Britain.

No one knows for sure why, but sometime after 108/9 AD, the legion all but disappeared from the records. The popular version of events – propagated by numerous books, television programmes and films – is that the Ninth, at the time numbering some 4,000 men, was sent to vanquish the Picts of modern day Scotland, and mysteriously never returned.

The real explanation is very likely much more mundane – the unit was probably either simply disbanded, or continued to serve elsewhere, before finally being destroyed at another battle some years later. The myth, as is so often the case, tends to overshadow the truth.

Nonetheless, this was a well plotted movie with intricate plot development and resolution to a cinematographically well done backface of the beauty, fierceness, and pristine lands of England and Scotland. Channing and Tatum have an evolving relationship and mutual understanding and appreciation of each other’s heritage. The background Celtic music added greatly to the whole experience.

While hoping for the best outcome against unsurmountable odds at the end, you hit a downer that all the struggle and pain of the movie had been for naught, it does, as a work of fiction should, have the perfect ending leaving the watchter aware that in the real world the outcome would have been more disastrous but feeling exhilirated that it ended as it did. Even EW gave this period piece a B+.

Rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars