Centurion

Director: Neil Marshall
Cast: Michael Fassbinder, Dominic West, Ulrich Thomsen and Olga Kurylenko
Releasing in cinemas: 29 July 2010
Rated: MA 15+

The ungracious may suggest Centurion comes under the heading of a clunker. It’s hard to be wildly enthusiastic. What might have been a cut-price version of Gladiator turns into a turgid, bloodthirsty and gloomy legend filmed in a bleak snow-covered wilderness in Scotland. I haven’t felt colder in a cinema since Fargo. Even the bleached colour photography provides a grotty aspect and this carries through to the grimy, blood-bespattered cast.

Set in Roman Britain in 117 AD, the Roman Ninth Legion is sent north to bitter Scotland to quell an unruly indigenous people, the vicious Picts, who specialize in guerrilla fighting and emerge as a savage enemy of the Roman hordes. Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbinder) the only survivor of a Pict raid on a Roman fort, joins the march with General Virilus (Dominic West) determined to destroy the Picts lead by Gorlacon (Ulrich Thomsen).

Things go badly astray when the Legion is ambushed in a bloody battle. Virilus is taken prisoner as Quintus and his remaining small group of soldiers are trapped behind the enemy lines, pursued unmercifully by the fierce Pict warrior queen Etain (Olga Kurylenko). Indefatigable Quintus remains intent on rescuing the captured Virilus and somehow returning to the safety of the south.

Being a Neil Marshall film - he of The Doomsday and Dog Soldiers - you know the style of blood-letting with much beheading and throat slashing in confronting, if confused, close-ups to gurgling sound effects. Lots of grunts come from the protagonists, while flaming arrows brighten the scene. Constricted by budget it must be said, Marshall attempts a lot with little. The first massacre scene is effective for its blatant brutality. While not innovative, it rivals similar scenes in other movies of the genre. Unfortunately the concentration on gore for its own sake pales after the first reel, and dare I say the film bogs down in the snow-covered reaches.

This is despite a good cast headed by Michael Fassbinder and Liam Cunningham, who appeared together previously in the dramatic Hunger. There’s also Dominic West, David Morrissey, and ‘Bond girl’ Olga Kurylenko adding a spot of eye candy to the proceedings. As always, there’s the problem of dialogue in depicting the ancient world; with such thespian mutterings as “Hopeless is the stuff of legend.” and “Her soul is an empty vessel only Roman blood can fill”. Luckily Olga doesn’t have to remember lines, as her character’s lost her tongue years before to the Roman invaders. However she makes good use of her fearsome warrior skills and lusty Cleopatra eye makeup. Fassbinder seems to attract masochistic parts, and here he endures a nasty spot of torture and other privations beyond number.

Neil Marshall makes oblique reference to modern day warfare, guerrilla tactics, waterboarding and even Improvised Explosive Devices. Marshall - no doubt an avid fan of Xena Warrior Princess - decides in ancient Britain women are as deadly as the men in battle, if not more so. There’s even an amusing reference to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid for those who can remember. In the script department much is made of voice-over, that last resort in story telling. It dulls the mind here too.

Now the final question, is it worth seeing? There’s lots of chasing, battles, bloodletting, vicious torture, endless running in snow, a couple of curvaceous warrior women and sweeping chopper shots. For teenage lads who applaud sword fights and combat in the raw, well maybe it’s worth a ticket. However it brings nothing new to the screen, and despite a reasonable running time, its gratuitous blood-spilling finally drowns the enthusiasm.

John Bale