This is a story set in the time of Roman Britain. It begins with the `myth' of the 9th Legion, which might have been destroyed in battle with the wild Picts of Scotland. The bulk of the story though is concerned with the flight of a small group of survivors and the merciless pursuit of their fierce and vengeful enemies.

Frankly I struggle to understand the low profile of this film and the lukewarm reports. In my opinion it is a perfectly reasonable movie with some exceptional aspects. These include the stunning scenery which really conveys the bracing cold and desolation but also beauty of the far-North. It looks like an ancient land, all rugged and wild and is almost worth the price of admission alone. The Picts are hard as glacial ice, tough and violent and look very impressive too.

With the story itself I had a few quibbles but it was serviceable. The action scenes were generally good, even tense in places but I was annoyed with some battle scenes which featured the modern technique of very frequent and too fast cut-a-ways, making it hard to know exactly what was happening. A note here, it is very bloody - there are flying limbs, very crushed body bits and blood splattering everywhere. This is however what the weapons of the time did. Both sides are shown as the hard cases they were too. The Picts are savage but the Romans were hardly the Red Cross. The characters are adequate, with the Pict King and the deadly female tracker being quite impressive. I enjoyed watching the Roman legion on the match and in battle, though its camp routine seemed different to the acknowledged practice. But the uniforms and armour looked pretty good to a layman like me. There was also some funny soldier by-play to provide some chuckles.

So, it's well filmed, showing the era about as authentically as you can get. The story itself is ok. There are some good twists and at times, some real tension! In all I found it to be very entertaining. It is a muscular film that deserves an audience. If you have interests in ancient warfare, you should find this quite rewarding.

When I first discovered director Neil Marshall, I was an instant fan. In the horror genre, he did some solid work with the satisfying werewolf tale "Dog Soldiers" and the sublimely staged "The Descent" (which I know has its detractors, but for me was one of the most entertaining films of its year). The "Mad Max" retread "Doomsday" was an inevitable disappointment--but didn't dispel the notion that, at least, Marshall had a visual flair. I was intrigued to see him wander into "Gladiator" type territory with "Centurion" because the man can stage one heck of a battle. While the film, which is certainly better than "Doomsday," has a lot going for it--sadly, it ends up missing the mark. My guy reaction as I turned to my friend at the end was "Man, I wanted to like that much more than I did!"

I was genuinely and actively rooting for "Centurion" to be more wholly satisfying--so I guess that's a positive comment in and of itself. First off, the film looks absolutely incredible. The sweeping countryside and mountainous terrain as the camera pans across is breathtaking. The battle sequences are alive and bloody--not as dreary as some recent higher profile epics. The film sounds fantastic with a pulsing orchestration that fits the film beautifully. But the film's greatest asset is its star Michael Fassbender. A sensation in the art house favorite "Hunger," Fassbender claims leading man status with ease. His grounded physicality and intelligence shine through--at times, you think that he's smarter than the material he's been dealt.

The film covers the period of A.D. 117 when Roman troops were engaged in a struggle and trying to advance upon the the Picts in the Scottish highlands. The Picts employed guerilla tactics to hold the Romans off for 20 years. I won't, but could, debate historical accuracy in the film, but it is clearly meant to be an adventure yarn and not a historical treatise. However, the film seems to want us to identify with the Romans and brand the Picts as the villains when all they wanted to do was defend their land from being conquered. Not so bad in my book. My main issues with the film is that sometimes the screenplay can be conveniently silly. Several times the Picts don't finish off the stragglers after the epic battle by choice ("oh, just let him bleed"). Their guerilla camp is invaded by not one, but about 6, Romans soldiers in a rescue attempt--not very alert for guerillas! And a tracker who could trail soldiers for hundreds of wilderness miles couldn't find them in a one room cabin! These are but a few examples that had me scratching my head.

I won't even discuss the unnecessary twist ending or the tacked-on romance, I'll just say that "Centurion" ended up losing some of my good will. I'd probably still recommend the film as light entertainment, especially if you put your brain on hold, but I wanted it to be great! But look for Fassbender elsewhere--he's going to be big (I hope)! KGHarris 08/10

This is an absolutely excellent historical fiction film, granted with extreme license. OK, I am a Roman history pedant and aficionado of historical novels, so I brought to this a critical eye, but also a hope that I would get enveloped in the narrative, in subtle character, in wonder at the endless varieties of human ambition. At this, it was so successful that I forgot the present with complete delight, even after 2 full viewings.

In terms of history, this is fiction based on speculation about what happened to the 9th Legion, which disappeared from the historical record without a trace - the only way to limn what happened to them is to piece together ambiguous clues, such as the inscriptions on grave stones scattered throughout the former empire. The time is that of the Emperor Hadrian, the golden age of the Roman Empire - the series of good, circumspect emperors who governed judiciously and without the insane excess that is remembered with Nero or Commodus. Rome is one of the largest stable empires the world has ever known, though it has experienced resistance in certain areas, such as the Picts in Northern Britain or the Parthians in Central Asia. Whatever happened, the film that concocts an explanation, and it is as plausible as an other, with plenty of fictional speculation and fantasy thrown in to build a narrative.

To be honest, the film either works for you or it doesn't. All I can say is, if you liked HBO's Rome, this is the same kind of grainy, highly textured portrait, just not in the center (Rome) but on the periphery. I believe this preference is personal and subjective, a pure matter of taste. It is extremely bloody, with realistic battle sequences that are not for the squeamish.

The plot follows a non-commissioned officer (Centurion), acted by the wonderful Michael Fassbender. Long a fighter of Picts (he knows their language), he survives an attack on an outpost and is rescued by the 9th, who are about to make war on the Picts. They are led by the incredible Dominic West (of The Wire), a charismatic general who has led his men to glory in Spain and is now establishing them in Britain; he is a gifted brute, but extremely popular with the men, from whom he rose by talent. Their scout is Olga Kurilenko (yes, a Bond girl), a mute and mysterious young Pict.

After the quick decimation of the 9th, Fassbender and a handful of survivors seek to rescue the general by duty, deep in Pict Scotland. Upon failure and an unfortunate murder, they must flee for their lives while an elite corps of Pict warriors pursue them with a blood oath of vengeance. At their head is a killer of singular talent, whose family was brutalized and executed before her eyes, then she was raped and left for dead. As described, "she is an empty vessel that can only be filled with Roman blood." When you see her, you believe it. I will not reveal what happens, only to say that it is acted to utter perfection.

There has been much criticism of the Romans as "good guys" in this film. I think it is far more subtle than that: no one is good, no one bad, they are all just striving to live the way they want, in accordance with their traditions. The Picts are genuinely savage warriors, but the reasons for their ruthless ferocity are completely clear: the Romans brutilized them in unspeakable ways as demonstrated more than once. For their part, the Romans are simple soldiers, part of a military machine the likes of which the world had never known. They are not good guys, they just are what they are: disciplined killers who will follow their leaders to the death for duty and hopefully glory. They are tougher beyond imagination, with their own codes of honor, though clearly one of the survivors is a sociopath. Another much criticized plot incident is the girl and love story. I suppose you could say it is unrealistic, but what the heck, it is a movie. To me, it was believable and moving (in however a superficial way you might want). Roman political machinations are also surprising, believable, and subtle.

This is not the kind of thing a pedant like me should pick apart. It is just a darn good story that completely absorbed me for 2 viewings. I will certainly watch it again. Warmly recommended.