The Eagle

 *** 1/2     3.5 out of  5

directed by Kevin Macdonald. Written by Jeremy Brock, bas­­ed on Rosemary Sutcliff's novel The Eagle of the Ninth. Running time: 114 minutes. Rated PG-13 

I admit I did not want to see this movie after watching the trailer. I am not a fan of Channing Tatum. His performances are usually one note, but he steps it up (no pun intended) in this historical drama about the 9^th legion of the Roman army. It is definitely his best performance to date. The Eagle is a Golden symbol which the Romans carried into every battle as a sign of strength and honor. The film tells the story of the Roman Ninth legion which marched in to battle on the outskirts of Scotland and was never heard from again and along with it disappears the Eagle. 20 years later a Centurion named Marcus leads his small army to victory only to be wounded and shipped off to his uncle’s sanctuary to recover. It was Marcus’s father who led the Ninth Legion and he is haunted by the visions of his death and carries around the guilt and shame he bought to his name and the Romans.   While recovering, Marcus encounters a slave named Esca, (Jaime Bell) who he saves and eventually befriends. It is here that Marcus learns that there might be survivors of the Ninth legion and The Golden Eagle might still exist. Marcus and Esca set out in search of the Eagle and their journey becomes an emotional story of friendship, honor and redemption. There is not much action as you would expect from this kind of a film, but the narrative is interesting and it keeps the story moving at a steady pace. The one thing missing from this film is a love story. There is no trace of it, which was fine with me, but might not settle well with some viewers. The action is kept to a minimum and more time is spent on character development.  The cinematography is gorgeous. It strikes a nice balance between stunning and gritty and the musical score  complements the film perfectly. From the trailer, the film does not look that great, but it certainly is one of the better films to release this year. Check it out, I think you'll enjoy it.