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Channing Tatum is becoming the new Hollywood pretty boy. The male lead from Step-Up has been working on building a career by taking on both independent roles and major box office spectacles. The latest has a bit of both worlds and is entitled The Eagle.
The story takes place in the last days of the Roman Empire. Marcus takes command of an outpost in the farthest reaches of the Empire, the lands of Britain. It is a land full of hostile tribes and dangers but Marcus wants the command… his father’s command. It seems that his father once explored these lands and died on this soil, losing a golden eagle that represented not only the legion but the pride of Roman rule. Marcus wants to find the people responsible for the death of his father and the taking of the prize.
After the outpost is attacked and Marcus is wounded, he is taken back to Rome to heal. His uncle (Donald Sutherland) assures that Marcus has done his duty and can retire. The young man has other ideas. Watching a slave (Jamie Bell) fighting a gladiator, Marcus is impressed by the bravery of the condemned man. After having his life spared, Marcus takes the slave for his property.
The slave is from Britain and knows where the eagle is harbored. Marcus decides that he and the slave should go back to Britain. As a two man team, the could easily travel into the barbaric lands and sneak into the village. The plan is to recover the golden eagle statue and restore the honor of Marcus’ father.
Soon, Marcus finds that being in the dangerous backwoods is not a safe place for a hated Roman. He also learns that a slave is not a slave in another land and that a free man can easily become the slave of another. The Eagle is the story of how all the plot threads lead to the ending battle between some disgraced Romans and a horde of natives.
Channing Tatum looks the part of a brave Roman soldier, with massive biceps and solid chin, but like those films of years ago, he still sounds like an American. The makers of the film make all the Romans speak English and all the English tribes speak in tongues. It is laughable. Fairing much better is Jamie Bell as our slave. He never shows his hand when dealing with the different groups. One never knows where his ultimate loyalty will lie and who he will eventually side with. It is a guessing game where the stakes are life and death. It’s a strong performance that should make Bell’s Hollywood cache much more valuable.
The biggest problem with The Eagle is that it just looks ugly. Between the flat lighting and dark backdrops, the film never finds any spark in the production. With everything being drab and dull, the action never establishes that grand feel one needs for this kind of picture. Director Kevin Macdonald never finds the epic spark needed to tell an epic tale. While some of the battle scenes are exciting, others are framed in such a way that the action is lost.
Based on the novel The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle is like one of those sword and sandals epics that popped up in the 1950’s around the time of Ben Hur and Spartacus, but not even close to being in those leagues. It drags along and sadly never builds any kind of genuine thrills.
The story takes place in the last days of the Roman Empire
No, it takes place in the second century AD while the Empire is still being built. This is why a lot of the forts and buildings look quite small and new in the film. It’s a frontier province being established.
Marcus wants to find the people responsible for the death of his father and the taking of the prize.
Not really – the action takes place 20 years after the death of his father. He’s looking for the eagle: for all he knows the people involved are all long dead.
After the outpost is attacked and Marcus is wounded, he is taken back to Rome to heal.
No, he’s taken back to Calleva, which is in Britain, but is in one of the more Romanised areas of the province. All the action of this film is set in Britain, apart from the flashbacks. There is a MAP showing exactly where Calleva is, and where they go from there which is clearly shown on screen.
The slave… knows where the eagle is harbored
No, he doesn’t. He does know where the last stand of the Ninth Legion took place, but we only find that out later, and it’s not the same place that the Eagle is taken to.
Marcus finds that being in the dangerous backwoods is not a safe place
??? dangerous backwoods? No – Valentia and Caledonia – outside the Roman province of Britannia at the time the film is set. What is now Scotland.
The makers of the film make all the Romans speak English and all the English tribes speak in tongues.
ENGLISH? I don’t know where to start with this error! The people who are speaking Gaelic through most of the film are supposed to be British – not English, the English didn’t arrive in Britain for several hundred years after the time of the film, and in any case, the Gaelic speakers, as you’d expect, are in what is now Scotland, not England. The people right at the start attacking the fort are Dumnones, from what is now Devon, but ethnically they are probably closest to the people who are now Welsh.
And are you REALLY suggesting that they should have made a modern film entirely in classical Latin and whatever language the Picts spoke – a language now completely lost? The reason the Romans have American accents is making a point about modern US imperialism which apparently, completely got missed by this reviewer…
It drags along and sadly never builds any kind of genuine thrills.
I think possibly you watched a different film to me. I loved it. Given that so much of your review is patently wrong – which of us do you think watched it more carefully…?
I agree with Victoria…
havnt seen the film though tahaha..
You tell her Victoria! (: