Soaring Roman adventure

Kevin Macdonald is a talented, versatile filmmaker. Debuting with the awe-inspiring tale of survival in Touching the Void and following that up with the political thriller The Last King of Scotland, he goes for something completely unexpected: a conventional, action driven quest story. I must admit even I was surprised that The Eagle worked out so well.

During the Roman conquests, there was one area that Emperor Hadrian didn’t manage to tame and subdue: the north of the area now known in the UK as Scotland. To keep the northeners out of his area and to protect his people from the northerners, Hadrian commanded the construction of a massive wall between the north and the rest of his world. It is in the north, though, that the legendary tribute of the Roman Empire, the golden Eagle, was surrendered by a cold, hungry and scared Ninth Legion – hence the references to the Eagle of the Ninth – to history.

Flash forward a few years, and strapping lad Marcus (Channing Tatum) has so successfully climbed the ranks of the Roman army that he soon commands his own fort. Not long after his arrival, his bravery puts him in a precarious situation and he ends up living with his uncle (Donald Sutherland) and with a slave, Esca (Jamie Bell) to his name. Soon adventure by way of road movie conventions unfolds as the search for the Eagle starts.

With stunning Scottish scenery and a surprisingly dapper performance by Tatum, The Eagle recreates a fascinating period from Roman history mixed in with historical legend. It uses the class tension between Marcus and Esca to strong, if expected, dramatic effect and doesn’t flinch from on-screen brutality. It’s a perfect companion piece to Neil Marshall’s more kinetic Centurion with Michael Fassbender. Spectacle is important for both films, but The Eagle is the more measured, character driven film.

After a year of battling robots, superheroes, indulgent slow motion and accelerated fast motion across the action and adventure genres, The Eagle demonstrates how, sometimes, a simple story well told can be unexpectedly gratifying. It’s a genre film through and through, evoking themes of honour, integrity, duty and responsibility, and without the excesses of Rome.