It’s not headline news to say that Channing Tatum is a charisma vacuum, but it’s still disappointing to report that he isn’t getting any better in his film roles. This should have been the perfect vehicle for him as well, playing Aquila, a Roman centurion, who travels to Britain in order to find the emblem of his father’s legion that disappeared in the mountains of Scotland many years previous. The disappearance of said legion was the whole basis of Neil Marshall’s recent (and superior) Centurion, but this somewhat skirts around that issue (in fact, it’s almost a MacGuffin) in order to concentrate more on Auila’s relationship with his British slave (played by Jamie Bell). There’s little to write home about here though. Tatum is far too emotionless to convince he has any sort of issues going on and though Bell fares better it’s still one of his lesser performances. On the positive side, CGI is kept to the minimum and there are some great sweeping shots of the Scottish landscape to gawp at. The film also has a nice opening scene, but things level out far too quickly and there’s virtually nothing left to quicken the pulse in the remainder of the running time. Director Kevin Macdonald is an assured hand and guides us through the story with the minimum of fuss, but this longs for some standout scenes to break us away from the plodding narrative. I think for Centurion I said that if you like this kind of thing, you should get by OK. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can say the same about The Eagle.
The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
A few nice moments, but Tatum is pure wood and there are some highly unconvincing plot developments to swallow as well. Rating: 5/10
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