What was expected to be an assimilation of “The Lord of the Rings” (2001) and “Gladiator” (2000) is actually a somber, muscle-bound spoof on “300” (2006) from a 10-year-old boy’s limited imagination. “The Eagle” is based on the popular 1950s young adult novel “The Eagle of the Ninth,” which shows in its corny one-liners.
“The Eagle” fails to take flight due to the surprisingly slow-witted direction from Kevin Macdonald and the lackluster performance of Channing Tatum (“Step Up,” “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”). Macdonald, who seems more comfortable exploring extreme personalities, has demonstrated solid direction in past projects such as “Touching the Void” (2003) and “The Last King of Scotland” (2006). It seems unusual for a great director like Macdonald to go from solid to stolid direction, but every director has a disappointing film every now and then.
“The Eagle” starts out promising with the story of the wall dividing Roman-occupied Britain during the second century. The audience is introduced to Marcus Aquila (Tatum), a rigid, strong centurion assigned to his first commanding post at a precarious battalion located in northern England. Some engaging fight scenes then occur as the fort is attacked by Britain warriors.
Afterward, the narrative falls flat as the main storyline begins to unravel. Marcus learns that the golden emblem of the Ninth Legion, the Eagle of the Ninth, has been sighted on the opposite side of the wall. The emblem was supposedly lost after the disappearance of the Ninth Legion, which was led by Marcus’s father. For some illogical reason, Marcus decides to venture beyond the wall to recover the golden emblem while accompanied by a Celtic slave, Esca (Jamie Bell).
With the crew consisting of Academy Award winners, such as cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (“Slumdog Millionaire”), the background scenery for the film consists of beautiful views of the mountains and plains of Scotland. Unfortunately, the scenery cannot distract the audience from the bland script, which causes Tatum’s character to blurt out hackneyed taglines like “The Eagle is not a piece of metal. It is Rome.”
The screenplay isn’t helped by Tatum’s acting. Sure, he has the corn-fed physique to pull off an action role like this, but his acting serves as nothing but a distraction. His performance lacks the emotional gravity to pull off the more dramatic scenes in the movie, but he manages to handle the brawls beautifully, despite all of the close-ups and quick cuts.
With Tatum’s campy performance, most of the glory goes to the cast of supporting actors. The most compelling performance comes from Jamie Bell (“Billy Elliot,” “Jumper”), despite his performance being almost as campy as Tatum’s. Bell manages to add a bit more spark to the film, which shows as soon as the master-slave relationship begins to unfold into a more platonic partnership. Tahar Rahim (“A Prophet”) also gives a convincing performance as he plays the formidable, Roman-hating Seal prince.
“The Eagle” is a primeval, nicely detailed Roman action film built on a corny, old-fashioned script and somewhat poor performances. It just doesn’t rank up with the better Roman action dramas like “Ben-Hur” (1959) and “Gladiator” (2000).