"Centurion" (2010)

I remember when "Centurion" came out. I was working at Blockbuster part time, and had been waiting for about a year since hearing about it. What's not to be attracted to? Neil Marshall writing and directing a movie about the Roman Ninth Legion doing battle against the Picts. That is a dream come true for me - Neil Marshall is one of my favorite writers/directors, and anyone who knows me knows I love history. Add to this Michael Fassbender as Quintus Dias (still before his super-famous years, but he had done enough at this point that I loved him) and Dominique West as General Titus, and you have a recipe for a great war movie. For those who don't know, both these actors were fairly major characters in "300" (I don't think I need to tell you that we definitely own this). It also has several actors and actresses that have appeared in other medieval combat movies, and other Neil Marshall films.

The Ninth Legion is something of a historical puzzle. Some believe that they went missing sometime around 108, but evidence found in the 1990's suggests they may have gone missing in the 120's instead. This movie goes with the latter idea, taking place in 122. "The Eagle" - which coincidentally came out on DVD within a week of "Centurion" - follows the book written in 1954 The Eagle of the Ninth. Basically what I'm saying here is that Neil Marshall had a pretty free reign to write a movie that could be considered historical without needing to adhere historical events. We do get to see some use out of Hadrian's Wall, which during the time the movie takes place was just being constructed.

The beginning of the movie starts off a bit weak. We see a lot of muscles - sorry, shirtless Michael Fassbender - running through the woods, then tortured, then running through the snow, then running through the woods some more. We also see Dominique West win an arm wrestling match, stab the loser through the forearm with a knife, and then insight a bar brawl. I promise it picks up from there. We see a really fun larger scale battle that really shows how outmatched the Roman phalanx is compared to the guerrilla warfare the Picts implement. To start this battle, the Romans are in a circle phalanx to defend the horses while in the woods. They hear people on both sides of them from the other sides of hills. Suddenly, fiery boulders roll down the hills towards them and they have two choices: break the phalanx and avoid the boulders, or stand firm and hope the shield wall can shrug it off. They made the choice they were trained to make, but it wasn't the right choice.

The beginning of the movie is riddled with this, and I think we can all appreciate the view. 

This is clearly a Neil Marshall movie. Much like "The Decent" and "Doomsday" (both of which we very happily get to), there are some gruesome moments: Heads cleaved in two; hatchets to the skull; CGI blood galore; liberal use of spears impaling people in the face/chest/stomach/skull. The lighting used throughout the movie is very a Marshall trait, and the overall feel of the movie jut feels like him (which is basically hack 'n slash B-movie action). Many people make note of this, but to varying degrees of acceptance. As I mentioned, I love Marshall's movies, and will do obscene things to see them. He's taken a bit of a break as of late to do a few episodes of TV shows, but I'm hoping her gets back into things shortly.

I like "Centurion". It hits so many of my buttons its hard to not like it. If you're up to giving the love child of "300" and "Doomsday" a shot, check this out. Yeah, there are a few botched fight moves towards the end, but don't let that ruin your experience. If you're into British television (or Game of Thrones) at all, you'll recognize about a half a dozen people in this movie. I find it quite enjoyable, and particularly love how it ends. Plus, we get a couple bad ass warrior women, and that always makes me happy.

Seriously, get a look at this bad ass! I don't even care if she is mute, she's one of my favorite parts of this movie. Seriously, the character doesn't have a tongue.

Picts or it didn't happen