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SOARING EAGLE DOES ROME PROUD
THE EAGLE (PG-13) The mysterious disappear
ance of Rome's Ninth Legion, lost somewhere
in the wilds of Britain around A.D. 117,
continues to inspire storytellers and film
makers. Last year, Neil Marshall (The Descent,
Doomsday) released the not bad but definitely
disappointing Centurion, starring Michael
Fassbender as the leader of a small group of
Ninth Legion survivors desperately trying to
reach Roman-occupied territory while being
doggedly hunted by Pictish warriors led by the
badass Etain (Olga Kurylenko).
Fortunately, The Eagle, from Academy
Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald
(One Day in September), does not let down or
underwhelm. Roman centurion Marcus Flavius
Aquila (Alabama native Channing Tatum, who
makes a better Roman than one might initially
believe) ventures into the unknown, past
Hadrian's wall, to recapture the gold standard
lost with his father and the Ninth. Marcus is
accompanied by his slave, Esca (Jamie Bell,
the all-growed-up Billy Elliot), who may not
be as loyal as Marcus thinks. Will this ancient
dynamic duo finish their quest without killing
one another?
Macdonald and screenwriter Jeremy Brock
effectively update author Rosemary Sutcliffe's
1954 historical adventure novel, The
Eagle of the Ninth, though the film
is less action and a little more con
templation than one might expect,
especially considering how little the
filmmakers actually comment on
the morality of Roman occupation.
Tatum and Bell replicate the slightly
homoerotic, distinctly British class
dynamic of captain and soldier or
Frodo and Samwise. They share a dis
tinctive chemistry as their relation
ship is not one of equals, though the
real power—knowledge of the foreign
people, language and lands of north
ern Britain—belongs to the lower ranked man.
Exciting, if a bit baffling in its dramatic
progression, The Eagle carries the standard
for the old-fashioned Sword-and-Sandal with
less epicness and more adventure. The proudly
plebeian film stands out among its patrician
competitors of star-studded winter romcoms,
low-rent genre flicks and teen sensations.
Drew Wheeler
FAGLE
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