DVD Reviews

The Eagle – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce Jul 12, 2011, 14:49 GMT

In 2nd-Century Britain, two men - master and slave - venture beyond the edge of the known world on a dangerous and obsessive quest that will push them beyond the boundaries of loyalty and betrayal, friendship and hatred, deceit and heroism... The Roman epic adventure "The Eagle" is based on the classic novel "The Eagle of the Ninth". In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire ...more

Channing Tatum puts on his best Maximus face for his role as Roman soldier Marcus Aquila in a quest to restore his family's honor in The Eagle – an adventure set in the mountains of Scotland following the disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion.

Based on Rosemary Sutcliff’s classic novel The Eagle of the Ninth (which I haven’t read), the film features a screenplay from Jeremy Brock (The Last King of Scotland and Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown) and was directed by Kevin Macdonald (State of Play).

Along with Tatum, the film stars Jamie Bell, Julian Lewis Jones, Denis O'Hare, Mark Strong and the great Donald Sutherland.

The film opens with a quick history of Rome and how its famous Ninth Legion and their Eagle standard disappeared in the mist of Scotland. Not able to deal with the Scots, the Roman army builds Hadrian's Wall to keep their land safe and the danger out.

Twenty years after the Eagle and the Ninth were lost, young centurion Marcus Aquila (Tatum) arrives at a northern outpost to take command. He is the son of the Ninth's leader and his family continues to prosper despite the shame of his father's defeat and the lost of the Eagle. Aquila is a by the book leader, but he quickly shows his men that he is also fearless.

Following an assault on the outpost, Aquila is injured and sent south to live with his uncle (Sutherland). While healing, Aquila sees a young Brit named Esca face down a gladiator and not beg for life. Aquila saves the man, and his uncle purchases him as a slave.

A dinner confrontation about his family and its place in Roman history spurs Aquila to travel north of Hadrian's Wall in a quest to discover the truth about what happened to his father and recover the Eagle. Since Esca knows the language and the land, he joins his master, but it is not clear just how loyal he will be.

The movie’s pace quickens once the two travel past the wall, and danger quickly finds them. Esca and Aquila find Guern (Strong), a survivor of the Ninth Legion who deserted from the legion when it was attacked, and then come under attack by a group of Scots known as the Seal People.

Roles get reversed as Esca tells the hunters that Aquila is his slave, and the young Roman quickly learns how the other half lives. Esca has traded sides, but not everything is as it seems. While serving as Esca’s slave, Aquila discovers the Seal People have the Eagle, and Esca’s real plan.

The third act of the film is an extended chase as Esca and Aquila flee with the Seal People in pursuit. There is a large Roman battle sequence towards the end of the film which finally sets up a weak ending (I preferred the Blu-ray’s alternate ending) and the possibility of a sequel.

Although it has some problems (such as Tatum’s attempt at an accent), The Eagle is an enjoyable action film. It isn’t Gladiator or even Neil Marshall’s Centurion, but has enough to keep fans of the sword and sandal genre happy.

His acting skills might be limited and his accent hit and miss, but Tatum is comfortable in the action role. The actor thrives during the battle sequences (especially the opening battle where he fights in a shield wall) and seems better suited to the genre than I expected when I first read about the film.

Bell also does an excellent job in the role as a proud slave who becomes a friend to his master. He seems to have a better handle on his character than Tatum, but it is believable since the character is at home in his surroundings.

The film does suffer from a few slow parts (such as the amount of time spent with Tatum healing at his uncle’s estate) and could have used a tad more action.

Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (127 Hours and Slumdog Millionaire) uses the landscape as a character that seems to hate the Romans as much as the Scots and shoots the battle sequences where the violence is in the audiences’ face.

Along with an alternate ending (which I thought worked better than the theatrical cut), the Blu-ray’s unrated version is basically just a tad bloodier – which helped the film have a more realistic feel during some of the battle sequences. It also features some deleted scenes, a “making of” feature, and commentary with Macdonald.

Although I am not sure how it compares to the novel, The Eagle is a straight-forward action flick that will please fans of the genre.