The Eagle, starring Channing Tatum

The story of the legendary Roman 9th Legion has been a frequent source of Hollywood adventures over the last few years, most recently in Neil Marshall's excellent Centurion just last year. There's a good reason why it's such a compelling tale. The 9th Legion was initially commanded by Caesar up until the time of his assassination, then led by Octavius in his feud against Mark Antony. They were an elite force, considered to bear the honor of Rome in their gold standard, the eagle. The entire army disappeared under unknown circumstances somewhere in Britain, supposedly destroyed by any number of "barbarian" tribes. It's a legend with an ambiguity just ripe for the cinematic treatment, full of war and mystery. The Eagle is the type of historical epic we don't get to see nearly enough of late, full of blood, sweat, and grand displays of honor.

The crooked nose and Brooklyn swagger of Channing Tatum makes for an iffy Roman centurion, but he soon settles neatly into the armor of young Marcus Aquila. Looking to restore his family's good name years after his father led the famed 9th Legion to it's presumed destruction, Marcus takes up command of a small army in Britain, precisely in the region where the unit fell. His only hope of restoring his father's honor is to find the Legion's missing gold standard, the Eagle, which has been missing for more than two decades.  His only hope of navigating the treacherous territory full of raiders looking to slit the throat of any Roman they come across, is with the help of his slave, a Briton named Esca(Jamie Bell). 

The bulk of the story follows Marcus and Esca's quest to find the missing Eagle, with the real question being whether or not the two can trust each other outside of Rome's walls where laws have no meaning. It's a transition Marcus isn't used to, while Esca is perfectly comfortable navigating the lethal countryside. Director Kevin MacDonald(The Last King of Scotland) knows how to wring every ounce of tension from the situation, especially when the two finally come across the vicious Seal People, rumored to be the clan that finally destroyed the Legion and killed Marcus' father.

Let's be honest, most people only care about this movie because of Channing Tatum, and to be fair he's not that bad. Like previously mentioned, it takes some time for him to shake off the previous roles he's played so often before. In a lot of his other movies, Tatum's characters are the type that feature there own internal code of honor, and he brings some of that to this movie as well. Marcus is considered to be a "Roman's Roman", patriotic and loyal to a fault. I was most impressed by the ferocious performance of Jamie Bell(yes the kid from Billy Elliot), the perfect counter to Tatum's reserved intensity.

The Eagle is based on Rosemary Sutcliff's novel, The Eagle of the Ninth, which was at it's core a children's story. The violence is amped up a little bit here in order to achieve a PG-13 rating, but there's plenty of violence, blood, and death that it easily could've earned an 'R'. There's no CGI to speak of, and the grisly fights will remind you of Mel Gibson's Braveheart. MacDonald does a great job capturing the frenzied, chaotic nature of war.  There's a misguided effort late in the film to lighten up the mood by turning the movie into a "buddy" flick, but that's thankfully very brief. The pace sags towards the middle, and they could probably do with trimming about 20 minutes. Worth checking out if you're both a fan of Channing Tatum(and his abs) or historical action.