Centurion (2010)

Time for a bit of a history legend despite the fact that Centurion, like most movies set during the Roman Empire, plays fast and loose with the events that happened.  As the opening crawl lets us know Rome once spanned from part of western Asia through the majority of Europe and northern Africa, with its furthest frontier being England.  Though they made some forays to capture what is now Ireland and Scotland a series of events, similar to what prevented their further expansion into Germany, held them at bay.

The Ninth Legion has become a legend as it was sent northward to deal with the Picts, in reality a name given to a number of Celtic tribes that lived in the norther part of the island at the time, most likely related to the modern-day Welsh.  It was rough, cold terrain, and the Romans had a tendency in Britain to anger the locals through violent shows of force which included rape, torture and mutilation of women and, though history doesn't play it up much, men as well, many of them of local nobility.  This eventually led to numerous rebellions that, when the Western Empire started failing, led to the abandonment of the island.  In the case of the Ninth Legion they are said to have completely vanished in their invasion of the north, while other sources say they were disbanded afterward or relocated to Germany.  

Either way the story has always stood as a warning not to rile up the population of what is now Scotland, traditionally made up of warring tribes that had a tendency to band together whenever there was a common enemy to fight.  They didn't always win but, even when they did lose, often made the other side feel it, and ironically the Scottish royal family would come to rule all of Britain for a time after the death of Elizabeth I.  Centurion, though, tells the story of what may have come of the Roman invaders at the time, and the events that led to Emperor Hadrian ordering that a wall be built to mark the "edge of the known world." . 

Centurion Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender) is captured by a band of Picts led by their king Gorlacon (Ulrich Thomsen) and tortured for information on Roman positions.  He escapes and manages to make it back to Roman territory just in time find out that the 9th Legion, under General Titus Virilus (Dominic West), is about to go north to deal with the situation once and for all.  Governor Agricola (Paul Freeman) intends to bring the island under his control to impress the Emperor and facilitate his own return to Rome. 

Virilus is given a Pictish guide named Etain (Olga Kurylenko) to guide them to Gorlacon's base, but it turns out she was sent out by the king to set up a trap.  Most of the legion is killed and Virilus is captured.  After an abortive attempt to rescue the general results in the death of Gorlacon's son he decrees a blood oath on the handful of survivors, now led by Dias as they try to make their way through enemy territory with Etain tracking their every move.  

Parts of Centurion were directly influenced by Walter Hill's classic cult film The Warriors, about a group of New York gang members falsely accused of murdering the head of another gang trying to get back to their safe territory.  Even before know that I had Hill in mind, not for that movie, but for The Long Riders.  That is one of many films about Jesse James and, like Centurion, it is a period piece that is beautifully filmed and has a great cast but ultimately feels hollow.  

Director Neil Marshall did pretty much everything right.  Despite his early success with Dog Soldiers and The Descent, his third movie, the Mad Max-inspired Doomsday, was quite expensive and flopped at the box office.  Although set in Roman times Centurion is much more like Dog Soldiers.  It features beautiful shots of rural Scotland, all done on location and not against a green screen, and most of the bloody combat is fake blood and practical effects.  There is not a whole lot of historical accuracy, particularly with the Picts speaking Scots Gaelic instead of Brythonic, but it feels less epic and grittier than Gladiator.  

The problem is that all the gloss does is hide the fact that there is not much underneath.  It's a long chase movie, both Fassbender and Kurylenko are memorable, but there is no emotional depth or anything to really latch on to until things slow down a bit when they get shelter with a witch named Arianne (Imogen Poots).  Usually the romantic subplot in a film like this is the least enjoyable part but in this case it is the one moment that shows us what this could have been.  Otherwise Quintus Dias is a dull, lifeless character up to that point, and though supposedly the lead is not given much to do.

I remember a recently discussion about whatever happened to Neil Marshall after those first two films became horror classics.  After this he concentrated on television work for the better part of a decade before returning with the lackluster reboot of Hellboy.  Centurion is not a satisfying movie but it is still Marshall's last gasp as a director that mattered in any way.  

Centurion (2010)

Time: 97 minutes

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Olga Kurylenko, David Morrissey, Dominic West, Imogen Poots

Director: Neil Marshall