Hola all. Massawyrm here.
At first glance, many will think that they’ve seen this already, mistaking it for Neil Marshall’s fun, b-movie romp CENTURION. But they aren’t the same film – they’re not even the same story. Instead, I think they would make one hell of a double feature – CENTURION playing beautifully into THE EAGLE. CENTURION is Marshall’s bloody exploration into what happened to the fabled 9th Legion of Rome that marched into Northern Britain never to return. Marshall’s version hypothesizes (as history is unclear as to the 9ths true fate) that they were slaughtered in an ambush, and follows a few of the survivors as they flee back to Hadrian’s Wall. THE EAGLE, however, takes place 20 years later, as the son of the legion’s General returns to discover the fate of his father in order to restore his family’s honor. And it is a pretty solid action film in its own right.
Based upon the 1954 historical fiction novel of nearly the same name (THE EAGLE OF THE NINTH), THE EAGLE is quite the opposite of CENTURION. Where CENTURION is entirely about a group of guys on the run just trying to get home, THE EAGLE is a buddy/man on a mission adventure film about going back in to hostile territory with the hopes of reclaiming the golden eagle standard that was once the symbol of the 9th. Channing Tatum is Marcus Aquila, a fairly bad ass roman soldier hell-bent on regaining his family’s good name. Opposite him is Jamie Bell, his slave who has sworn to take him into occupied territory. These two have nothing initially in common – and Bell’s Esca actually detests most everything Rome stands for – but they are bound to one another by honor and trek through the wilderness in search of the film’s namesake.
If the film suffers one complaint more than any other, it is that the film simply isn’t epic. If you go into this hoping for GLADIATOR or SPARTACUS you will be sorely disappointed. Instead, Kevin Macdonald’s (THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) film is quite intimate, focusing more upon the journey of these two men than it does large battle scenes. What fighting exists is all pretty intense and well executed – but arguably light of blood or flashy heroics. It just isn’t that type of film, and if you go into this hoping for anything resembling Marshall’s blood-soaked actioner, you won’t like it.
So why do I think the two work well together? Because THE EAGLE is a solid buddy film that approaches the same mysterious historical event in a completely different manner. It is about how two men from opposing sides of a conflict grapple with the notion of honor in the face of tragedy, not at all unlike Boorman’s classic HELL IN THE PACIFIC or its sci-fi sibling ENEMY MINE. And while the story is told on a small scale, there really isn’t call for it to be much bigger.
What works here really works. Bell and Tatum have a great chemistry together, with Bell proving once again that he’s quite possibly the single most underappreciated actor of his generation. Tatum gives what is easily his best performance thus far – though that isn’t exactly saying a whole hell of a lot – for the first time in his career feeling like genuine leading man material.
Arguably, the film isn’t for everyone. It is good, but not great, and its scope is going to earn it a lot of scorn and shrugs. But if you enjoy a good buddy film – especially ones that involve two natural enemies forced to work together – then this film should prove to be an enjoyable experience. I liked it quite a bit and look forward to sitting down with it again to see how it plays back to back with the aforementioned CENTURION (which is available on Netflix streaming right now, and you should check out at your earliest opportunity.)
Until next time friends, Massawyrm
