REVIEW: The Eagle

WITHOUT WINGS

Unless it has something significant to communicate or a piece of history to recreate authentically, nobody takes a swords-and-sandals movie all that seriously. A hero who looks good in Roman Gladiator costume is the main requirement, which Kevin Macdonald’s The Eagle fulfills; Channing Tatum is undoubtedly a hunk, strong on brawn, weak in the acting department.

There is also a problem in that the Roman commander is the protagonist, and the British are the villains—but when the Romans have forcibly occupied lands in a another country, why won’t the natives fight back?  And why should the British slave who helps his Roman master slaughter his own people not be considered a traitor?

This film talks of honour and loyalty in flip way, and ignores the politics, to turns Rosemary Sutcliff’s 1954 novel into a kind of road-cum-buddy movie—only is it set in 140 AD, there are horses instead of cars and the enemy is a painted and savage tribe (like the blue tribe from Avatar) that can, presumably be massacred without a qualm.  That they are fighting to defend their own lands and people is not an issue at all.

Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) comes to a remote British outpost occupied by the Romans, with a personal agenda. Years earlier, his father leading 5000 men of Rome's Ninth Legion had disappeared while invading the northern parts of the Isles (now Scotland) along with the eagle insignia, the symbol of Roman honour; Marcus wants to discover the truth.

After he is wounded and recuperating at his uncle’s (Donald Sutherland) villa, he saves a young Britisher Esca (Jamie Bell)  from being killed by a gladiator, and makes him his slave. With Esca he sets out into the hostile north to try and find the eagle.

After some rough riding, they encounter the brutal Seal Tribe, that has the eagle.  The two retrieve it with amazing ease, and run off with the Seals in pursuit.

Even if one ignores the American accents and phrases that could not have been used then, and takes The Eagle as just comic book entertainment, it simply does not know what course it should follow and ends up being a little of everything/ As a result, it is immediately forgettable.  What saves it is the scenery and the fight sequences—that don’t look artificial and CGI enhanced.

As for the history, films like Centurion and Valhalla Rising have done it better, and for adventure-drama, The Gladiator is still unbeatable.