The Eagle - Film Review

One of the most enduring and fascinating legends of Roman Britain concerns the mysterious disappearance of the Ninth Legion. The story goes that 5,000 of Rome’s finest men marched into the uncharted wilds of Caledonia (Scotland) to vanquish the savage Picts...and were never heard of again.

According to Kevin Macdonald’s The Eagle, the unlucky legionaries were ambushed and slaughtered by Celtic warriors, and their beloved Eagle Standard seized. The narrative of his film is set 20 years later, and follows Marcus Aquila Flavius (Channing Tatum) – the son of the Ninth Legion’s commander – as he attempts to restore his father’s tarnished reputation. Injured in battle and granted an honorary discharge, he decides that if he cannot honour his father by fighting in the Roman Army, then he will do so by retrieving the Eagle Standard. Accompanied only by Esca (Jamie Bell), a Brigantian slave he is warned will slit his throat first chance he gets, Marcus crosses Hadrian’s Wall and sets off into the Caledonian wilderness on the trail of the Ninth Legion.

If the story sounds familiar, that’s because it is similar to Neil Marshall’s 2010 film Centurion, which focused on a small group of survivors from the Ninth fighting for their lives behind enemy lines. However, while Marshall’s Roman epic followed the same formula as his previous films (The Descent, Dog Soldiers), in which the cast are killed off one by one in particularly gruesome ways, Macdonald’s film is much more character driven, focusing on the growing relationship between the two leads as Marcus comes to accept and respect his slave’s culture.

Unfortunately, this central relationship is slightly weak; I couldn’t help feeling that the script could have done more to tease out the development of Esca’s reluctant admiration towards Marcus - the son of the man who invaded his land and slaughtered his people – and also Marcus’ growing realisation that his imperialistic view of the world must take into account the beliefs and traditions of other people. Instead, it is explained away by themes of loyalty and honour and, though Esca’s change in attitude comes as no surprise, there is not enough build-up to justify his sudden willingness to fight for an empire that he hates.

Saying that, however, the two leads do make a good job of depicting their character’s blossoming ‘bromance’ and inner struggles. Tatum is solid as the stoic Marcus, and Bell is particularly impressive as the slave who finds himself caught between his own people and the empire that seeks to vanquish them. The scenery is also fantastic: the Scottish landscape really becomes a character in the film, and the rolling moors and mountains provide a spectacular backdrop to the action. The inevitable rain adds to the film’s authenticity, as does the use of Scottish Gaelic (standing in for the Pictish language), which the cast (particularly Bell) have done well to learn. There is also some interesting sub-text: by giving all his Romans American accents, MacDonald gives us a none-too-subtle insight to his views on American Imperialism.

The Eagle isn’t a fantastic film, but it is intriguing, exciting and visually stunning, and Tatum and Bell’s on-screen chemistry just about makes up for the weak character development.

CMD