When British director Neil Marshall isn’t making excellent horror films like Dog Soldiers and The Descent, he is making action movies. Fairly mediocre action movies. His last attempt at the action genre, the post-apocalyptic Doomsday, was both a critical and financial failure. Which was why I was skeptical about Marshall’s next crack at the action genre, Centurion, a men on a mission film set in Roman Britain. Does the director redeem himself with this sword and sandals thriller, or should he just go back to doing what he does best?
Spoilers to follow.
The Roman Empire is at its peak, spanning from Egypt in the south to Britain in the north. from Spain in the west to Syria in the east. Her borders are in a state of constant conflict, as the natives of these far reaches are not eager to be added to the ranks of the conquered. One such conflict rages in the province of Britannia, where the local Roman governor tasks General Titus Virilus (Dominic West) with wiping out the Pictish resistance in the far north. With the aid of a Pict tracker named Etain (Olga Kurylenko) the General and his 9th Legion are certain their campaign will be successful. Predictably Etain turns coat and leads the army into a trap; the legion is decimated and its general kidnapped. It is then up to a band of survivors, led by Centurion Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), to rescue the general and escape back to friendly soil.
