'I am a soldier of Rome! I will not yield!'

Rating: 8/10 (26 November 2011)

Because of the disaster that was Doomsday Neil Marshall's reputation as a director took a bit of a dent. To rectify this he turned to a completely different genre, a historical epic based on the legend of the Ninth Legion of Rome who disappeared in Scotland.
In 117AD the Roman Empire are fighting a loosing battle in their most northern frontier in Scotland, then known as Caledonia. The Picts, lead by their king Gorlacon (Ulrich Thomsen) has been leading a brutal guerrilla campaign against the Romans and during a raid capture our protagonist, Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender). In Roman occupied England General Titus Flavius (Dominic West) and the Ninth Legion has been ordered to invade and find Gorlacon. But they are lead into a trap and only a small band survive, including Quintus who the legion rescues. Quintus and the soldiers have to get back to Roman territory whilst being chased by Gorlacon and tracker Etain (Olga Kurylenko) who are out for revenge.
Marshall sets out to give Centurion an earthy look, colours of outfits are toned down, his camera filters give the film a deliberately dark and grainy look and the whole movie was shot on location in muddy woods and fields in winter. But as a man from a horror background Marshall ensures there is a lot of gore and blood. It's a little over the top but it is fun to see and Marshall is certainly inventive involving methods of death. The battle scenes are deliberately chaotic and feels and looks like the opening from Gladiator. We are brought into the heart of a battle and it was very well done considering the budget. But whilst the battles were well done the one on one fights were too choppy and quickly cut. It was hard to tell what was happening. I prefer to actually see fights, have shots that last more then a second or two and keep cuts to a minimum. Marshall and his cinematography Sam McCurdy also employ some sweeping shots of the mountains and the landscape, particularly looking at the ground with a bird's eye view then panning the camera upwards. It was much very like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings to show the breathtaking scenery and how small the figures are in the wide expands. I expect that Marshall was trying to do for Scotland what Peter Jackson did for his native New Zealand.
The story overall is simple but simple does not mean bad. It is still has a manner of life and death for the Romans and Marshall certainly makes a very fast paced adventure. But Marshall also does allow us to get to the know the characters and he employs a strong cast, Fassbender, West, Imogen Poots, David Morissey and Riz Ahmed. Added to that Marshall attempts to show a more complex picture, that both sides are as brutal as each other, that the Picts want to humiliate the Romans, that the Romans are very brutal occupiers using violence and rape to enforce their rule, that the governor is thinking of his political position and that sides think what they are doing is right. No one is being evil just for the sake of being evil like in the God awful Braveheart and that there are tensions within both camps. It was a mix picture and no one is truly a good or bad guy for most of the film.
Since the success of the awesomely entertaining 300 there has been a big expansion of historically set action films, Black Death, Clash of the Titans, Solomon Kane, Ironclad, Immortals and many foreign efforts. Centurion is the best post 300 film within the genre so far, a competently made actioneer.
Historically it most like that the Ninth Legion was transferred to Germany and then either disbanded or amalgamated with another legion. But compared to the God Awful Braveheart Centurion is like Downfall for historical actuality.
Overall Centurion is very enjoyable and deserves a 7.5 out of 10.