What have the Romans ever done for us? (insert Monty Python joke here). Based on the book 'Eagle of The North' by Rosemary Sutcliff, The Eagle tells the story of a fearless Roman soldier on a quest for the golden eagle statue that once adorned the staff of his father's battalion of which were lost in battle in England many years ago.
Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum; The Dilemma, Dear John) is a leader in the Roman army and a decorated soldier with a promising future ahead of him. Until one day during a raging battle against the Celtic people he is seriously injured and quickly given an honourable discharge from the army. Reflecting upon his new life and the usefulness he once had he takes pity on a young slave named Esca, (Jamie Bell; Billy Elliot and the forthcoming Tin Tin movie) a Celtic boy whose distrust and hatred of the Romans is all too apparent (and frankly quite justified). Together they set off on a quest to find the golden eagle that was once part of Marcus' family.
Making a film such as this can bring about all kinds of problems; authentic sets, scenery and costumes, authentic actors with authentic accents (ok not Italian accents but it has become the norm to accept English accents in the place of Roman dialect) and above all historical accuracy. However, The Eagle has no such worries. Channing Tatum and, bewilderingly, Donald Sutherland (no doubt brought on to add a bit of acting weight) discard the English accents, or rather don't even attempt them in favour of their own accents (just in case you didn't recognise them). Jamie Bell sticks to what he knows best too despite having a go at the American accent in his previous work. Here he sticks to his good old Northern drawl, despite being Celtic so perhaps a Scottish accent may have been more appropriate instead but even an American accent in a Roman film with English accents would look silly, right?
As Marcus and Esca progress through the gate in Hadrian's wall into unknown territory (yes a gate in Hadrian's wall) the two start to bond and find a mutual respect for one another. One a bloodthirsty Roman soldier (whose thirst never subsides throughout the movie) and another a Celtic slave, an oppressed minority, a member of the invaded population and yet they find a common goal and honour in their different cultures. But things soon take a turn for the worst when Esca's tribe (looking suspiciously like a low budget version of the Na'avi from Avatar) come across the pair and the tables are turned for Marcus as he becomes the slave.
Of course the role reversal is brief as for a somewhat unexplained reason Esca was only pretending and in a not-very-well-thought-out escape plan they head straight for where the eagle is being kept (all very convenient).
The Eagle is a rather hurried movie and is left for the audience to decide on why the characters do some of the things they do and exactly for whom we should be supporting. Marcus is a, as I mentioned earlier, bloodthirsty soldier for the invading Roman forces who seemingly never learns a thing about compassion and tolerance as may be expected in this kind of movie, accented by the odd gratuitous bludgeoning and strangling scene. Esca is therefore an odd character to support because there is no reason I saw for his warming to Marcus and no explanation is given over the complete change in the character's mindset on helping Marcus, let alone helping him get the eagle back.
Along the way we meet a few characters (mostly Celts getting bludgeoned) and a cameo from one of Marcus' father's brothers in arms (Mark Strong; Robin Hood, the forthcoming Green Lantern movie) who also seems to have caught on to the American/Roman theme and decided inexplicably to sport an American accent too (see above about unusual use of accents).
So in the end the Romans are the good guys and the Celts are one step further to becoming more tolerant of their invading Italian cousins. Just what Braveheart would have wanted.
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