The Eagle Topples Over In Battle

"The Eagle"

Ancient Roman history has always been a subject of fascination in text books and classrooms.  It is pretty rare though for this place and time in world history to be a rousing  form of entertainment when seen on the big screen.  In recent cinematic memory Ridley Scott's Gladiator was an exception to this particular period genre.  Kevin MacDonald's The Eagle remains in the shadows of its bigger, older brother.

In 120 A.D. Flavius Aquila (Aladár Laklóth,) commanding officer of the Ninth Legion of Rome ventured into the unexplored territory of Northern Great Britain with 5,000 of his men.  They were never seen again along with this great golden eagle they brought with them.  The eagle was considered a supreme symbol of Rome.  Twenty years later Flavius’ son Marcus (Channing Tatum,) a young but high ranking Centurion soldier is honorably discharged from the military because of wounds he sustained in an earlier battle.  Marcus grows restless and unwilling to accept his retirement.  He tells his uncle (Donald Sutherland) he will go back in to the unconquered region of Britain and attempt to restore the family name by reclaiming the eagle for Rome. 

To aid Marcus through the hostile terrain is his slave Esca (Jamie Bell) who can speak the region's language and act as navigator.  The pair soon encounters one of the inhabiting war like tribes and are taken to their camp.  Luckily for Marcus and Esca this specific tribe happens to be the keepers of the golden eagle.  Now it's a question of how to get iconic statue back to its rightful owners.

The Eagle is quite lovely to look at in regards to its broad landscapes.  The film was shot on location in Hungary and Scotland under the camera work of Director of Photography Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire.)  Earthy greens and browns are abundant throughout the film's color palette with splashes of sunlight that pierce through the tall trees.  Sorry to say that Mantle's praiseworthy photography just isn't enough to keep The Eagle from standing tall.

The battle sequences are hastily cut together without ever giving us a chance to become fully enveloped in the restrained PG-13 action.  The ways these soldiers are talked about and described for the duration of the film are never fully realized.  These are brutal, unforgiving Centurions we're talking about here.  Let's see them act like it; spill some blood on the battlefield for crying out loud. 

The first hour is consumed by tedious character and plot development.  With only roughly 40 minutes remaining does the plot begin to pick up the pace.  The film is barely able to hold our attention up to that point except for the previously mentioned sub par action sequences.  Bell and Tatum's performances are passable but their characters are ho hum and aren't given a lot to do.  Marcus and Esca are physically demanding roles which Bell and Tatum do meet the challenge of but their characters lack the emotional investment we should feel towards the two of them.

There are probably bits and pieces of an interesting history lesson somewhere in The Eagle.  For the most part it's lost due to the inadequate screenplay with its tepid, predicable storyline and lackluster characters.  There isn't anything terribly memorable about the film because most of the scenes don't carry any sort of weight to them.  While The Eagle is able to achieve a noteworthy cinematic display it ceases to rise above that.  The Roman sandals on this film are only half laced.