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In what feels more like an epic Western from the 1970’s than a sword-and-sandal piece of celluloid fun, Channing Tatum stars as the hero who travels to the edge of the world in pursuit of his father’s lost totem; a totem that symbolically will restore the faith of his Roman brothers and sisters. There is a sense of fun about this picture that it successfully restores to the floundering market of film-going. It’s light-hearted, completely uncynical, and seems to exist without a touch of CGI or 3D, certainly a feat to be celebrated in today’s world of noisy cinema.
Beginning with disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion, The Eagle picks up where last year’s Centurion (a film I also enjoyed) left off. Marcus (Tatum) is joined by a slave named Esca (Jamie Bell) on an epic quest to trace the location of the missing Ninth Legion and its infamous symbol. Of course, no one knows what happened to the Ninth Legion, but, along the way, they encounter their fair share of human challenges in an effort to discover the truth behind his father’s loss and restore the symbol to its proper place. Based on Rosemary Sutcliff’s Young Adult novel, The Eagle of the Ninth, Kevin Macdonald’s solid adaptation also stars Donald Sutherland, Tahar Rahmin, and Mark Strong.
Make no mistake, this film is a buddy epic of swordplay and charisma. Yet, it survives those platitudes in that it remains aware of its own history that it doesn’t ever surrender. As master and slave in The Eagle, Marcus and Esca never forget their true place in the world of Roman heroics. They remain close, yet socially-wise, too. They have their places in the world and to return to the society means they have no qualms about never getting that close. This historical reverence gives the film an edge over others in that it seems to be more grounded in a respect for the past than others. Gloriously shot by Anthony Dod Mantle - who won Best Cinematography for Slumdog Millionaire - The Eagle provides some pretty epic slices of mountainscapes and forest scenes as Marcus and Esca traverse toward their fierce encounter with the Seal People.
Macdonald directs with workhorse sensibilities. Nothing too bold and nothing too grand. The violence is suitably PG-13 and recalls the glories of John Ford or other eras of solid filmmaking. The action sequences are clever, epic, and full of rich and quick edits that always pushes the film forward with cerebral quickness. The choreography is quick and as rapid as the edits, but the swordplay is fantastically heroic. Yet, what emerges through the film is just how historically authentic Macdonald is with this picture and his intelligent supposing about what happened to the Ninth Legion are interesting and thoughtful.
There’s nothing off-putting about Tatum’s turn as the classically-minded hero and neither is there in Bell’s wired performance as the reluctant slave. Each actor knows the purpose of their roles in the script and they know what to do with them. They aren’t shooting for the moon here and they have no reason to do so. This is popcorn fair, not Oscar bait. Yet, their chemistry seems to work better when they are playing it cold shoulder than all buddy-buddy toward the film’s conclusion…even if they are rather stoic about their “warming” up to each other.
The Eagle won’t challenge the masses with confounding scenarios or cross-dimensional aliens from Mars. It will solidly entertain you, though. With the right attitude about the movie and its matinee intentions, The Eagle is an engaging trek through a rather plausible theory concerning an infamous mystery in history. It’s enthusiastic and full of gung ho bravado. To my sensibilities, there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.
