The Eagle (2011)[Full BluRay]

Marcus Flavius Aquila (Channing Tatum) is the new captain of a small dispirited fort on the Celtic frontier in Great Britain. The men are worn down by the wet, weather, and the constant guerilla warfare of the Britannic tribes. But Aquila has a personal score to settle; his father was the commander of the Ninth Legion, 5000 men who vanished without a trace in Caledonia (Scotland) and whose eagle, the standard of the legion, was taken as plunder. Aquila (whose name means eagle) is determined to win back the family honor. Seeing the lax state of things, he is determined to put them back in order. He orders the men to shore the defenses, and sends a patrol to look into why the supply train is late. That night, he awakens, and trusting his instincts, summons the men to alert. And it is a darn fine thing he did, too, because if not the assault would have taken them by surprise.

It is a bloody affair, but the Roman's win, and hold their own, but dawn brings a new horror, the patrol in the hands of the barbarian army, to be slaughtered slowly in front of their eyes, just out of arrow range. Aquila cannot let this stand, and takes 50 men to rescue them; 50 men against an army. What follows is a fine example of ancient warfare, without the seemingly obligatory slow motion blood spray. But at the end of it all, Marcus Flavius Aquila falls under the rush of a chariot.

He awakens days later, 200 leagues distant, at his uncle's (Donald Sutherland) villa, with a gilded wreath for the legion, a personal armamentum for himself, and an honorable discharge. His leg seems likely to preclude an active life.

During his recovery, he sees a damnatio ad gladitorius, or the execution of a slave by being forced to fight a gladiator. But the slave (Jamie Bell) refuses to lift a finger, taking his death with stoic dignity, and refusing to provide spectacle for the crowd. Marcus is so impressed with this display of nerve, he begs for life, persuading the crowd to give the thumbs up. His uncle later gives him the slave, Esca, as a personal servant, to assist him until he is recovered. Marcus wants none of it, but Esca insists, owing the Roman a life debt.

Then two visitors to the villa change both men's destiny forever. Uncle Flavius' friend, Claudius (Dakin Matthews) and his protégé Placidus (Pip Carter), have heard word of the lost eagle, worshipped by a tribe above the great wall of Hadrian. Placidus is careless or callus about Marcus Aquila's father's shame, that Marcus decides to go north of the wall, to recover the eagle. Where a legion would be slaughtered, one man might slip through. He will take Esca as his guide. If Esca slits his throat, then he has misjudged the man, and deserves to die.

And thus the two men, crippled Roman, and Britannic slave headbeyond the end of the world, into the wilds of Scotland seeking the Eagle, Honor, and the truth of their own worth.

This movie has a lot to offer. One, the period work is good, and everything looks like it ought. The Pictish tribes of Scotland aren't all just hairy English actors, but many are dressed as authentic aboriginals, painted and wearing elaborate gear of fur and bone. Many people don't realize that the Celts of the period had a lot in common with Native Americans, in lifestyle, ornamentation, and ferocity.

And the movie is a good study in comparative anthropology. Marcus Flavius Aquila speaks of what the eagle of Rome means to him, the power, the authority, the being part of something greater than yourself. And Esca speaks of what Rome means to him; of how his father slit his mother's throat to spare her falling into legionnaires' hands. Each man shows the other the worst his own culture has to offer, and each man demonstrates the best his culture has to offer. The story really comes down the story of these two men, and how they are master and slave, and slowly, free themselves of both roles.

Tatum Channing is a great Roman. Classically handsome in a rough hewn meaty sort of way, without being pretty. He is very good at being stoic. Jamie Bell's performance is far more entertaining, involving far less stoicism, and at best, volcanic rage held in iron control. It was good to see Donald Sutherland busy not being menacing. He is so good at it, you forget he can be avuncular as well.

There is battle, and warfare, and murder, but it is not a gory movie. Some would say that is a bad thing; I think of it as a refreshing one. The PG 13 rating is on target. The eagle definitely takes off, even if it fails to soar.

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