There was a time when a film that had Romans in it was expected to be epic in nearly every way. Whether it’s the economy, or perhaps just a general lack of interest, but in more recent times, their gladiatorial prowess has been diminished. With a budget of around $25 million, The Eagle proves that you just can’t have a low budget epic.

When the Romans invaded Britain, they found the locals to be positively unfriendly. They coped ok with the soft southerners, but the further north they went, the more resistance they encountered. One cocky legion, the Ninth, popped over Hadrian’s Wall with the intent of dishing out some Roman aggro. Unfortunately for them, the locals got the better of them, and the entire legion was never seen again.

Twenty years after this event, the young centurion Marcus Flavius Aquila (Channing Tatum) arrives in Britain to serve at his first post of garrison leader. He actually requested to be posted in troubled Blighty as it was his father who led the Ninth to their demise.

With his family’s name still tainted by this historical failure, he intends to restore a sense of honour to the house of Aquila. The only way he feels this can be achieved is if he sets off to retrieve the Ninth’s lost standard –the eagle. He doesn’t go alone however, as he has the company of a slave Esca (Jamie Bell), whose life he saved.

Together they venture north, over the wall, in search of the Ninth’s final resting place. But as they expect, there’s not exactly a warm welcome in the hill sides awaiting them.

My tattoo is nothing like a Laura Ashley print, take it back!

It’s more than a little surprising to see director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) take on this project; not only is it difficult to make it look anything more than a souped-up made for telly effort with the tiny budget at his disposal, but it’s also eerily similar to Neil Marshall’s Centurion from last year. Not only did its story include the friction between the Romans and the Picts, but it was also shot in a similar fashion i.e. on a shoestring.

Another surprise is its approach to action sequences; considering the brutality of the Romans, there is a distinct lack of blood and guts here. It’s the kind of stuff you would see on stage rather than film.

With the action stuff being so lame, the film has to rely on its characters, which is yet another mistake. Despite playing out like Romeo and Juliet between its two male leads in places (they come from two sparring countries, and yet there’s a spark between them), neither Tatum nor Bell are all that convincing. They brood a bit, and even shoot each other the odd bromantic look, but both their characters are devoid of passion and personality.

Considering how well stories about the Romans have been done on TV of late (Rome and Spartacus: Blood and Sand), you would expect films to really step up to the plate, and yet they haven’t. It also doesn’t help having two decidedly average films about a similar historical time and story released so close together.

Maybe having a big budget to make a film about Romans doesn’t necessarily define it as being ‘epic’, but if The Eagle is anything to go by, it certainly doesn’t do any harm. But if it can’t manage epic, it’s got to be entertaining, at the very least; this film fails on both counts. A definite thumbs down.