After I saw Centurion, I read that there was an unofficial sequel called The Eagle, which I immediately put in my queue. Centurion was an action drama movie that chronicles what happened to the Ninth Legion of the Roman Army whereas The Eagle follows a centurion who is the son of the head of the Ninth, played by Channing Tatum or as I like to call him, He Who Cannot Act, but Everyone Loves Him Because He is Affable and Good Looking, and requests a post in Britain to restore his family’s honor.
I am shocked that I actually enjoyed The Eagle. I knew nothing about the film so it takes some unexpected twists and turns until the last fifteen minutes. I usually get aggravated by casting because Italians never play Romans, just British and Americans, but as someone raised Christian fundamentalist, the casting works if you think of America as Rome, especially with the parallel imagery of eagles as the symbol of our nations/empires. The Romans speak English, and the native Britons speak Gaelic. I also realized, probably much to the consternation of actual Native Americans, that as the film went deeper into Northern Briton, it depicted the inhabitants as the cinematic equivalent of Indians. While sympathetic to their plight, the movie depicts them as uncivilized, merciless barbarians, and we are clearly meant to relate to the Romans. The one main British actor who speaks English and has an accent is an enslaved Briton. None of the Americans attempt to adopt a fake British accent except God bless his heart, Tatum was doing something with his voice, but it wasn’t bad.
To be fair, I think that Tatum did some of his best acting in The Eagle. The movie treats his character like the equivalent of a Marine, and he plays honor bound, devout and serious very well. His character does not require a lot of range, and he is literally surrounded by amazing, more experienced actors such as Donald Sutherland, Jamie Bell and Denis O’Hare, that while he is the main character, he does not have to do all the heavy lifting, he just has to not try hog all the spotlight, which he would never do. There is one neat, blink and you’ll miss it moment when Tatum’s character is doing his usual honor speech schtick, but his comments are a slap in the face of the person that he is talking to. He does not even realize that his words are insulting because this is his mantra. The emotional context for his character goes beyond unintentional. He is oblivious. Sutherland just takes a beat to show that it was definitely an insult, and it is galling based on the differences in their life experiences and how because of his life choices, Tatum’s character gets the benefit, but he doesn’t bother to verbalize any of this because he knows that it is pointless. It is only a few brief seconds, but it is stellar. If Tatum ever wants to take his career to the next level, he may want to ask Ben Affleck to be his mentor.
In terms of visual style and narrative finesse, The Eagle probably has more in common with Pilgrimage, Valhalla Rising and Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth than Centurion. All these movies have completely different thematic goals, but share common ground. While The Eagle is more conventional and conservative in its narrative choices, it is preferable to and somewhat more unpredictable than Pilgrimage in its relationship dynamic and main character’s goal. Centurion has better actors, but The Eagle is shot more beautifully and has a more elevated narrative sensibility. Centurion is fascinated with gore while The Eagle is concerned with the psychological impact of the blows. The Eagle shares an unexpected appreciation of the landscape and the characters’ relationship to it, which Valhalla Rising and Macbeth surpass. If its goals weren’t so elemental, it could have competed with them.
The Eagle is dominated with concerns of character in the face of tribulation, particularly as sons who have to live in the shadows of their father’s reputation. Survival is less important than reputation and redemption. There is some tension because Rome, which is really America in this film, has a troubled past since it started with taking over someone else’s land and conquering and exploiting other people. When people confront Tatum’s character with this aspect of his legacy, he does not deny or excuse it. Still there is a tone in the film that he should be in charge, and this stain does not diminish his right to lead.
The Eagle does attempt in a surprising way to empathize with Rome/America’s victims by literally forcing Tatum’s character to walk in their shoes. This rough exercise in empathy leads to him expanding his concept of Rome/America, freedom and the proper role of the conquered in the Empire, i.e. they aren’t all bad. They’re just like us. What is the price of acceptance? Assimilation, acceptance of Romans as the leaders, the willingness to fight for their causes no matter how superficial and symbolic they are and the implicit social agreement that you must kill your former allies if they are unwilling to compromise with the conqueror because they are too barbaric in their natural desire to fight an invader. The party line: the Romans can be taught to be merciful, but your own people cannot. They’ll go too far. They are too radical. They must be stopped in order to move forward.
The Eagle does have an afterthought position on class. Tatum’s character is very concerned about the plight of the soldiers in his charge as opposed to the officers. In addition, he derisively views politicians as the upper class with no real skin in the game. It reinforces the idea of merit based on fighting skill and bravery over money and education. In terms of gender, there are very few women, and if they get a line, it is more like a word. Masculine gender norms are largely unquestioned.
Side note: a sign that I watch too many films. When Tatum’s character started praying to Mithras, I immediately thought of The Conspiracy and thought, “Yikes!” I have no idea how a true Mithras worshipper would show devotion, but the way that he played with the symbol on his necklace and said “accept this sacrifice” while not actually sacrificing any living being made me realize that The Eagle wanted to use a Christian veneer on a pagan religion so viewers would relate to the Romans more. Obviously I defer to real Mithras followers regarding the proper depiction of their worship.
Even though The Eagle promulgates numerous problematic positions, I found it beautiful, well crafted and entertaining, which is what good propaganda should be. While the action scenes were not as well shot as a Fred Astaire dance sequence, it was not completely immersed in the chaos cinema style so it was still impressive and at times, rewind worthy. I would highly recommend it if you like your drama disproportionate to your action, which makes it superior to its unofficial predecessor, Centurion.