Centurion (15)

Dir. Neil Marshall, UK, 2010, 98 mins

Cast:  Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko

Review by Carol Allen


One of history's unsolved mysteries is the question of what happened to the 9th Legion of the Roman army, which disappeared from all records in the early years of the second century AD.   The popular legend is that the 9th, one of the empire's crack fighting forces, was sent to vanquish the marauding Picts in what is now Scotland and never returned.  That is the story of Marshall's film.  

What he gives us is a very visceral and a well imagined recreation of the hardships soldiers must have endured at the far frontiers of the Roman Empire, dealing with guerilla terrorists they were trying to conquer and subdue in the days before the powers that be gave up and built Hadrian's wall to protect the outpost of the empire that was Britain.  The 9th's situation is one with which soldiers who have fought in  Afghanistan and Iraq may well identify.   It's also a classic Western format, as the  soldiers are picked off one by one rather like the cavalry were by the Apaches. 

The film also benefits from a strong and solid British cast.   Fassbender is at the centre of the film as Quintue, the legionnaire who becomes centurion by default by being the most senior officer left standing.  West is good as General Titus Virilus, a skilled and veteran soldier much respected and liked by his men.   A shame though that he's one of the early casualties of this guerilla war.  The ever reliable David Morrissey plays one of the small group remaining under Quintue's command as they struggle to survive in hostile territory and a bit of an effort's been made to be in tune with modern sensibilities, in that the group of fugitive soldiers includes a black man and an Asian - not that they last long.   No big deal is made out of it, and in view of the extent of the Roman empire, it's perfectly valid to assume an army of mixed ethnicity, particularly doing the dirty jobs at the outposts of the empire.   Prominent amongst the Picts is Etain the Wolfgirl, played by former Bond girl Kurylenko as a sort of warrior princess.  She certainly looks very scary, favouring an outlandish eye make up which could be seen as a variation on woad.   The character is mute, having been tortured by the Romans in earlier captivity, which is a bit of a relief, as I didn't understand a word the Ukrainian born actress said in Quantum of Solace .   

  Marshall is a good action director but as a writer, I don't find he creates terribly interesting characters.   It was so with The Descent and it's the same here.   The actors are doing their best but they haven't got much in the way of subtle characterisation to play with - just very broad strokes.   Visually the film is strong in terms of the feeling of the cold, snowy desolation of the landscape but in his enthusiasm for low lit scenes the director sometimes makes matters a bit confusing, in that one's not always sure who's dead and who's still alive.  The set up and casting are both first class but the film doesn't develop in any particularly interesting or in depth way.   It may perhaps be trying to say something about the way that ordinary soldiers are used and discarded by politicians but if so, doesn't say it very clearly or originally.