Centurion (2010)

The year is 117 and the Roman Empire has extended it's empire as far as Northern Britain where it has fought a fierce 20 year campaign to subjugate a group of people known as the Picts.

The movie follows the fortunes of the 'lost' Ninth Legion who were thought to have be killed off by the Picts - all 3000 of them - though no trace of the Ninth was ever found


Michael Fassbender is Quinta Dias, a corporal in the Ninth who is captured and tortured by the Picts and their king, Gorlacon. The Picts had much success against the higly disciplined Legionnaires because they fought a guerrilla war and used the terrain they knew to their advantage.

On a mission of rescue the Romans are slaughtered and their general, Virilus (Dominic West) is captured. He was betrayed by a Pict woman named Etain (Olga Kurylenko) who first pretended to be working with the Romans but was in truth a spy for her people.


Of all the soldiers, only 7 survived the battle in the woods and now find themselves far behind enemy lines. Their only chance is to make it back to their garrison before the Picts, who are pursuing them, can get to them first. The hunters are led by Etain, who betrayed the Romans in the first place.

I found this film to be an exciting chase movie with characters that I realized I was caring about. I wanted them to escape their pursuers despite the fact that I knew several of the 7, if not all, weren't going to make it alive to the end of the picture.


That is skillful filmmaking by director Neil Marshall who gave us the underrated 'Doomsday' last year. He seems to like giving woman powerful roles and Etain is no exception. Without uttering a single line of dialogue she manages to convey all the emotions necessary to make her character believable.

The setting for the film is spectacular as are the battle sequences. I only wish that we could have avoided all the quick cuts during the fighting parts but that is common with all such movies. If you like realistic bloodletting then this movie will give you that in abundance. The trailer should tell you all you need to know about the movie and if it is something you would enjoy as much as I did.