DVD Review: The Eagle
The Eagle is a conundrum. As a film, it is solid, with a decent cast, a distinct and deliberate lack of CG trickery, and leans more towards character than brainless action. In fact, other than a slow pace, there’s very little to dislike about it. Where it falters is that there is too little to like…with little violence to appeal to the adults, and too much talking to appeal to a younger audience, The Eagle suffers not from a lack of effort or love, but from its inability to stand out from the crowd of other Roman and Greek action epics.
It’s A.D. 140. Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) goes to the furthest edges of the Roman Empire in Britain. He is eager to throw off the shame of his family name, after his father disappeared in wild Britain, his entire unit and their symbol, a golden eagle, vanishing along with him. His new career is cut short during a victorious defense of his fort when an enemy chariot falls on him and injures him badly enough that he is honorably discharged. Living with his uncle (Donald Sutherland), his life has become an endless parade of drudgery, until, in a moment of compassion, he spares the life of British slave Esca (Jamie Bell)…a feeling that is not reciprocated. Though the two detest each other, Marcus realizes that Esca’s knowledge of “savage” Britain could help him finally solve the mystery of what happened to the missing unit and their standard. Ignoring his injuries, Marcus heads beyond the safety of Rome’s borders and into the wilderness of northern Britain…where the two discover that have more in common than they think.
Filmed on location in Hungary and in England, the film has a very lush, down to earth atmosphere, devoid of the fantasy trappings of the likes of 300. Even the fight scenes are staged in a way to resemble battle tactics of the period as opposed to more exaggerated or flashy theatrics. As I said above, there is a lot to like in a film willing to restrain itself like this and rely on the real thing wherever possible, and the fights are entertaining enough. Unfortunately, these moments come mostly at the beginning and the end, with a few scattered here and there. The fights recall moments of things like Braveheart, Gladiator, and later in the film, The Last of the Mohicans, but that’s just it: they all resemble films that are memorable because of their fight scenes. In The Eagle, they feel like watered down rehashes of these films.
Channing Tatum in “The Eagle.” Photo by Matt Nettheim – © 2010 Focus Features.
Another major factor is the relationship between Marcus and Esca. This is the driving force of the film, and as it goes on it evolves and changes…but not as much as one would think. While much of it is left wisely unspoken, there seems to be a shift in the second and third act away from the two leads to focus on the lives and culture of the mysterious tribe known as the Seal People, where Esca and Marcus must switch roles as master and slave to survive. This change in dynamic should have been the focus, but instead we spend a long time watching the Seal People simply go about their daily lives while Marcus and Esca observe them. Once that is over, we are then treated to a very long chase scene across the British countryside, which loses all tension as it passes the ten minute mark. What should’ve been an exciting, nail-biting finale about two people we’ve begun to truly care about becomes little more than an endless slog, wondering when they’ll either be caught or escape just so something will finally happen.
Director Kevin Macdonald on the set of “The Eagle.” © 2010 Focus Features.
Having not read the original 1950s novel that The Eagle was based on, it’s hard to tell how faithful it is to the source material. If it is, then it probably can be said that faithfulness can be too much of a good thing. With a little more trimming in the editing room, The Eagle could’ve been a tighter, much more refreshing film. What’s onscreen isn’t bad, but what is there is overlong and, quite frankly, isn’t as memorable as it could be. It hurts to say it, since everyone involved wanted to make something great, and the film itself should be commended on what it does right. But unlike both the truly good and truly awful films, The Eagle probably commits the greatest crime of all: it’s forgettable.
The Guts of the DVD:
The Blu-ray of The Eagle presents the film in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and a 5.1 DTS-HD lossless soundtrack. Both visual and audio presentations are sharp and clean; even if the film doesn’t leave an impression, it isn’t the fault of the picture or sound. It has a handful of special features:
- Featurette: The Eagle: The Making of an Epic. This 12-minute video spends time on the making of the sets and costumes of the period. Some of this material is covered in the commentary as well, but it’s nice to have a visual reference, especially the construction of the Roman fort.
- Deleted Scenes: There are two, one involving Marcus in a chariot race against charioteer Cradoc (Douglas Henshall), who only ends up in the movie in an almost non-speaking cameo, and the other a quiet moment between Marcus and Esca during a hunt. Both scenes were wisely cut for pacing, but the chariot race is worth a look for its stunt work alone, if only because it’s amazing to see how much charioteering Tatum was able to do without a stunt double.
- Alternate Ending: The fate of the eponymous Eagle is handled differently here than it is in the film. Personally, I prefer this ending, but that’s not the one that made the final cut, so it’s nice to see this here as well.
- Commentary by director Kevin Macdonald: Macdonald is clearly a fan of the book, and very knowledgeable about the production. For fans of the movie, there’s a lot to listen to, ranging from historical knowledge of the times to anecdotes about the cast (including a painful one involving Tatum’s encounter with scalding water) to humorous acknowledgements of gaffes (the best being the door that magically opens without anyone’s help). It may not be the most exciting commentary ever delivered, and probably not for everyone, but it’s informative and on-point.
- Unrated cut of the film. The changes made between the PG-13 and Unrated cuts are all related to violent content. However, these differences are minor, involving a few frames either removed or replaced, and what’s added is not particularly gory. The two worst moments involve a beheading and a leg being chopped off, with neither moment being particularly gruesome. Even with a few extra ounces of people coughing up blood, there’s very little here to traumatize viewers who decide to watch the Unrated version.
Seth Paul
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