'The Eagle'

'The Eagle' (PG-13) (rental)

Writer: Jeremy Brock based on novel "The Eagle of the Ninth" by Rosemary Sutcliff
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Denis O'Hare, Donald Sutherland, Taher Rahim,
Dakin Matthews

To me, from watching the trailers, I thought "The Eagle" looked like it was going to be laughable and that Channing Tatum would be miscast. Well to my surprise "The Eagle" was a gritty battle picture, sort of a junior "Braveheart". Channing Tatum is also pretty solid here and he does have a future as an action star. I was also very impressed with Jamie Bell who has come a long way from "Billy Elliot". He holds his own in the action scenes and lends some real acting to the project. "The Eagle" starts off lackluster but gains steam when it becomes a chase picture in beautiful Scotland scenery. "The Eagle" takes place in 12 AD as Roman warrior Marcus (Tatum) tries to defend the honor of his dead father by finding his lost legion's golden emblem. After conquering the British, Marcus takes along a British soldier (Bell)for his slave. Tatum and Bell work well off each other and after some boring exposition and some messy battle scenes for a half hour the movie starts to get on a roll becoming action packed.

"The Eagle" reminded me a little of "Last of the Mohicans" as Marcus and Esca are chased by nomadic tribes. The director Kevin Macdonald directed the very fine film "The Last King of Scotland" and I love how he handles the chase scenes. The location work and cinematography are dark, gritty and stunning. He is great with actors and he gets a solid, minimal performance by Tatum. By the end though I felt somehow like a lot of the movie was play time. I like the chase scenes and the fact they keep the dialogue in the background so it can't become silly. I just don't think that it is worth seeing on the big screen because the story sometimes needs a larger than life feel and most of the time it seems timid and small, maybe a little more (R) rated flair was needed. This is a decent movie to watch on your big screen television on 3D where you can replay all the neat action stuff.