The movie was released in theaters in February, made with a budget around $25 million. In a far too quick run in theaters, 'Eagle' made just $18 million so not exactly a rousing success for any studio. It's somewhat predictable to see why it wasn't successful. This could be off base, but you don't hear a lot of demand for a movie about the Roman Empire from a teenage audience (typically the people going to see a Tatum movie). More than that though, the story is predictable, the action incoherent to follow, and long stretches of a 114-minute movie could have been cut without the movie suffering. A bright spot though? Channing Tatum shows he can act.
In 120 A.D. in Britain, the 9th Roman Legion disappears, never to be seen again, the unit's golden Eagle -- their standard/flag in battle -- lost to the ages. Some 20 years later, Marcus Aquila (Tatum) is stationed at a remote outpost in Britain, helping his small command hold off a vicious Druid attack. Marcus is the son of the 9th's commander, and he would like nothing more than to clear his family name and bring the long missing Eagle back to Rome. Rumors persist that the standard is somewhere to the north deep in enemy territory, and Marcus intends to go after it. With help from his slave, a Briton named Esca (Jamie Bell), he heads past Hadrian's Wall in search of the Eagle, ready to do battle with anyone that presents themselves in front of him in his quest.
Playing a Roman centurion, Tatum has his work cut out for him. This part could go one of two ways. One, it is an action-oriented part so his physical presence will certainly help flesh out the performance. Two, it is a part that does require some actual acting as his Marcus is a garrison commander who must inspire faith in his men. Tatum handles the action and physical nature effortlessly, and handles himself well in the acting department (or at least as well as could be expected). Thankfully he doesn't try a stiff English accent (Roman soldiers spoke proper English, right?) so only a few lines are cringe-worthy, most of them shouts and commands to his men in the heat of battle. How many times can you yell 'Hold the circle' before it loses all meaning? I counted four. A minor criticism though for a surprisingly decent performance. Not award-winning stuff, but still good.
Aiding Tatum's cause is rising star Jamie Bell as Esca, his Briton slave. The duo have an interesting Odd Couple/buddy relationship that has its ups and downs through the movie. At its best, it gives the story some interesting back and forth, a little cat and mouse game where one is always trying to get the upper hand on the other. It doesn't always work, and there are some advances in the story that don't always make sense. Bell's Esca changes his mind seemingly when the wind shifts, and you're never quite sure of his intentions. Even when everything is revealed and resolved in the end, I'm still not sure it all made sense. Also joining the cast is Donald Sutherland as Aquila, Marcus' uncle living in Britain, Mark Strong as Guern, a supposed survivor of the massacre of the 9th Legion still living in Britain, with Tahar Rahim and Ned Dennehy as members of a northern tribe hunting Marcus and Aquila.
The age of the 1960s historical epic is long since past so it's still fun to see a movie like this hit theaters. Roman soldiers lining up against masses of warring, heathen-looking barbarians is one of those iconic images from so many 60s epics. Here though, 'Eagle' is undone by director Kevin Macdonald and a key choice he makes in his action scenes. He goes down the route of ultra-fast, ultra-quick editing that makes his battle scenes a mess of blurry swords being swung, soldiers/barbarians getting hacked up, and it's over so quick that you barely even notice it. I've never understood the motivation of a director who films his action sequences like that. Getting the idea across of the chaos of battle is one thing, but actually show what's going on, and that might impress more.
The movie can be broken down into four mini chapters, some of which work better than others. One, Marcus arrives in Britain and helps defend his post. Two, a wounded Marcus heals at his uncle's villa. Three, Marcus and Esca search for the Eagle, eventually getting captured by a tribe. Four, they escape and race back to safety. Parts one and two are the more enjoyable parts, but by the time Marcus and Esca are captured there is a 25-minute stretch of pure boredom. It throws the pacing off so much that the rest of the movie struggles to regroup. The ending itself is nothing to brag about, and the chase never amounts to much in the way of excitement.
A sucker for historical epics and period pieces, I wanted to like this one more. Composer Atli Orvarsson turns in a memorable score that reminded me of another movie, but I couldn't place it. Still good though. The on-location shooting in Scotland was a great choice, giving the movie an authentic feel and look of wide open stretches of vast nothingness. The movie feels authentic down to the weapons and uniforms, but it just isn't always an interesting enough movie.
The Eagle <---trailer (2011): ** 1/2 /****
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