The Eagle is a second-century bromance between a Roman soldier named Marcus Aquila, played by the chiseled Channing Tatum and his British slave, Esca, portrayed by the magnetic Jamie Bell.
The film centers around Marcus’ journey to find The Eagle, a symbol of the Roman Empire, which disappeared along with an army of 5,000 Roman soldiers, led by his father, 20 years prior to the movie. Marcus is accompanied by Esca, whose allegiance is uncertain because, hey, he’s a slave and if he offs his oppressor in the middle of his homeland, nobody will be the wiser.
Tatum and Bell do an excellent job of adding depth and complexity to characters who might otherwise have been dull and unrelatable. Bell’s Esca is a brooding and foreboding man, a far cry from the actor’s breakout role of a young ballerina in “Billy Elliott.” Channing Tatum proves that he’s not just a pretty face with dance moves in 2006’s “Step Up.”
As for “The Eagle’s” action scenes, I’m constantly amazed with how much violence PG-13 movies can get away with. Slicing, dicing, beheading, and setting people on fire are just a few of the hardcore sequences that occur throughout the movie.
Marcus’ unique intelligence, both on and off the battlefield, rival that of many modern-day military commanders. His sense of honor and fairness, unusual for the times, is admirable.
“The Eagle” possesses what movies such as Clive Owen’s “King Arthur” and Russell Crowe’s “Robin Hood” lacked. Mainly, emotional appeal and complex characters. At one point in the movie, Marcus says that he needs to reclaim the famous Eagle because it stands for everything he believes in, everything that Rome stands for. Esca counters that, because of the Roman army, his family was brutally murdered. That was what Rome also stood for.
The war crimes, the collateral damage, are inflicted on both sides and it’s hard to know which one is the protagonist of the film. And that is the true brilliance of the movie. There is no good side or bad side, or heroes and villains. There are simply people who do good things or bad things. And, sometimes, the same people do both.
You can sit back and enjoy a simple action flick, or you can learn something. “The Eagle” is a lesson on humanity. It shows us two sides of the same coin. A slave has the power to save a life, or take it. A Roman leader trusts him enough to give him the chance to chose. “The Eagle” is a riveting film where you’re left to wonder what happens next.
