On Wings of Eagles

It is a sketch. Or, maybe, a drawing, but not the expected portrait. The acting is good, the storytelling resonable, the message touching, but something significant is missing. The good point remains the beautiful reflection of the faith of Liddell. Sure, a low budget and a too familiar theme. But the tragedy remains far to the viewer and all is reduced ar sort of resume. So, a decent film about the last part of the life of a champion and beautiful reflection of Christian faith in difficult times.

My wife and I watched this movie at home on DVD from our public library. In 1981 was a movie "Chariots of Fire". The IMDb synopsis is "Two British track athletes, one a determined Jew, and the other a devout Christian, compete in the 1924 Olympics." That Christian athlete was Eric Liddell (lid-uhl) who set a record but refused to compete in trials scheduled on a Sunday. This movie "Wings" is a continuation of that story some years later as Liddell has returned to China, where he was born to British missionaries, to teach. Joseph Fiennes plays the role of Eric Liddell and most of the movie is during WW2 when the Japanese have imprisoned many of them. It is a good study of who Liddell was and how he likely sacrificed himself to provide freedom for others. Not a pleasant movie but a meaningful one.

We had to drive 1.5 hours to see this film, as it was only in one theater in our state. The drive was totally worth it!!! On Wings of Eagles is a very high quality film, with production value, sets, acting, and special effects that could compare to most Hollywood flicks. Joseph Fiennes' performance was very strong and believable. His acting talent carried this film, just as it did in Risen. The story is very moving and inspiring, and is a great sequel to Chariots of Fire. I was very excited to see this on the big screen and hope that many people will be inspired by it. Several scenes with blood give it its' PG-13 rating, but the violence is not disturbing or overly graphic. This is a great film that is worth watching! My rating: Excellent!!!

A good, if not great film. Could have been a lot better but some great scenes and glimpses of a wonderful man with a faith lived very well. So many Christians give Jesus a bad name but Eric Liddell lives with compassion, sacrifice and courage. Well worth a watch.

Good true story that hurts. Decent acting and believable reenactments. The second world war strikes again.

It is a sketch. Or, maybe, a drawing, but not the expected portrait. The acting is good, the storytelling resonable, the message touching, but something significant is missing. The good point remains the beautiful reflection of the faith of Liddell. Sure, a low budget and a too familiar theme. But the tragedy remains far to the viewer and all is reduced ar sort of resume. So, a decent film about the last part of the life of a champion and beautiful reflection of Christian faith in difficult times.

I was excited to find out that Liddell's life post-Olympics had been made into a movie Thinking that his family had found a way to have this part of his life told. But about halfway through the movie I began to wonder how the Chinese had managed to so influence the story and apparently it was just a Chinese-interest story from the start. Yes, it's pleasant enough to watch, in the same way that Ip Man is pleasant. But you'll find a lot of parallels, and that's not by accident! For those who believe this is the story of Eric Liddell's life, ask yourself how many times "Christ" is mentioned in the film. My wife and I could not remember a single time. Nor was the gospel seen. There were a few bible verses, generally thrown at the Japanese to condemn them. Nothing that I could recall from the New Testament. There is far, far more of Liddell's faith presented in Chariots of Fire, and I expected it to be the other way around. The movie is fine for all the things that I normally would want to see in a movie. Acting, script, etc., no complaints here.

My wife and I loved this movie and appreciated the thoughtful way this story of faith and love was portrayed, including the music. Clearly, Liddell took to heart Jesus' words, "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." One of my sister's was a missionary in Taiwan in the 70's and 80's and the senior missionary she worked with had been in the same Japanese internment camp with Liddell until his death from a brain tumor. I therefore had already heard much of the story of his love for the children and people of China, as well as how much the children in the camp loved their "uncle." The movie did an excellent job in portraying this tragic but moving and beautiful story, part of the history of World War II that more need to know about.

Despite its low budget feel some great performances as well as a great deal of heart and charm carries it through as well as the amazing true story. An interesting, touching and thoroughly enjoyable watch especially give its resources.

Maybe my expectations were too high but the overall impression of this movie was a huge disappointment. The acting is way too exaggerated at most times, there're too many scenes which come and go before you really understands the point and the score of the movie seems oddly misplaced and often unsuitable for the actual events taking place. After seeing the movie I actually thought that it was a TV movie which would somewhat explain the points above.