Had it then threw it away

Rating: 5/10 (3 May 2010)

In general I have been pretty impressed by Neil Marshall's movies. They play to what I see as his strengths as a director, small ensemble group of character actors battling with extreme circumstances (often violent), fast and furious action, satisfying conclusion. As I assess this movie there was every chance that he was going to do this again in a Roman vs Pict battle for survival story. Small band of soldiers, stuck behind 'enemy lines' racing to get back to safety. At first I wasn't sure that the contemporary language and accents was going to work for me - I've no idea what Roman vernacular might have been but 21st Century Brit-speak takes a bit of a leap of faith. However as the action picked up and the plot unfolded I started to get into the fast pace of the whole thing and was really enjoying the 'rush for the line pursued by uber tracker bitch with a sense for her prey' storyline. Then what happens! Suddenly out of nowhere we have love interest - 'vogueish' not 'pict-ish'and the previous set up goes out of the window. Said super hunter inexplicably can't find Romans when they are virtually sitting in her lap. The pace completely slackens off and the edginess that was build up before is gone. What was Marshall thinking of? Of course I blame the production company or distributors or some such ninnies who I assume said to good ol' Neil, "Bigger production, bigger budget than you're used to....must have a love story to get a decent return on our investment." That, or, NM just out of his comfort genre. Who knows but a lost opportunity this time round.