"He's a ruthless, reckless bastard. And I'd die for him without hesitation."
I feel like Neil Marshall and I would be good friends. I'm basing this solely on the subject matter of his films, which clearly demonstrate that he and I are on the same wavelength. The premises of his four films to date are as follows: A team of English soldiers battle werewolves in the Scottish Highlands (2002's Dog Soldiers); a group of women realize they're not alone after they become trapped underground while cave diving (2005's The Descent); a female Snake Plisskin must fight her way out of a post-apocalyptic Scotland (2008's Doomsday); the survivors of Rome's legendary Ninth Legion must fight their way back from behind enemy lines in the cold frontiers of 2nd-century Scotland (2010's Centurion).
In addition to having a clear obsession with people trying to escape the apparently savage hellhole that is past, present and future Scotland, Neil Marshall's films are a pretty neat blend of action and horror elements from the past few decades, and I'm willing to forgive his two not so great movies (Dog Soldiers tries to be the Evil Dead with werewolves but it's not funny or scary enough, and Doomsday goes for a 28 Days Later meets The Road Warrior vibe, but ends up being way too derivative) since he made one of the scariest fucking horror movies I've ever seen (holy shit, watch The Descent). While Centurion is nowhere near as accomplished as The Descent, it's definitely a head above the other two and worth your while if you're looking for a lean, bloody historical flick.
Based around the legends of the Ninth Legion, Centurion is set in 117 AD, at a time when the Roman Empire was fighting to expand its northernmost frontier and conquer the island that is now England and Scotland. Their major roadblock comes in the form of the Picts, a vicious warrior tribe that slaughters an entire Roman garrison at the start of the film. The sole survivor, Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), escapes to the south where he is conscripted back into the Ninth Legion, led by General Virilus (Dominic West), and sent on a mission to subjugate the Picts for good.
Despite lacking the epic cinematic sweep of Ridley Scott's Gladiator or the immersive authenticity of HBO's Rome, Centurion does alright by its historically spotty source material, despite indulging in a few modern cliches (the surprisingly PC core group of soldiers includes a Greek, an Indian and the always ubiquitous Moor). The use of my great pet peeve, CG blood, is balanced out by the relentless, unflinching violence and some of the coolest kills I've seen in a film in a good long while. Marshall brings a slight edgy grindhouse style to the action, but mostly plays it straight and allows you to follow in the footsteps of hard men, for whom murder and survival was way of life as well as a punch-clock day job. Nice little touches, from two soldiers casually flipping a coin to decide who executes a prisoner, to the men eating warm, partially digested food from the belly of a deer, demonstrate the brutal camradarie and attitude men of the era would have had in ways that are inventive and entertaining to watch.
The supporting cast is filled with a few regulars of modern British B-movies, but the film shines a bit brighter than the rest thanks to the two leads. Michael Fassbender, who you may remember from his brilliant turn as Lt. Archie Hicox in Inglorious Basterds, plays it fairly straight here as Quintus, the son of a gladiator who blends an early education of pit fighting with the merciless discipline of the Roman army. Quintus barely has two dimensions on the page, but Fassbender fills him with a sense of humble dignity and some viciously blunt humor that comes when you least expect it. Equally enjoyable is Dominic West, who pretty much plays Virilus as a 2nd century version of McNulty from The Wire; irreverent, loyal to his men and almost psychotically dedicated to the task set before him. The two roles are similar enough for me to think that West is the kind of guy who just plays himself, but when he's that damn charming, I can't really bring myself to mind.
A surprising standout was Olga Kurylenko (the most recent in a long line of bland Bond girl) as a vicious Pict tracker/warrior named Etain, who serves as a hotter, bloodier Joe LeFors to the Roman soldiers Butch and Sundance, relentlessly hunting them across the landscape like a Terminator in blue face paint.
The film doesn't contain too many surprises, taking some fairly predictable, but always enjoyable twists. It does, however, contain some of the most heinous, unnecessary first-person narration this side of Dexter. Voiceover can be used well, but I think Neil Marshall should have taken Robert McKee to heart.
At this point in his career, I'm willing to call Marshall at two for four, which isn't bad, but given the craftsmenship he's shown himself to be capable of and given some of the pretty wild ideas he's apparently sitting on, I hope that he can find his footing and start giving us something, if not better, then at least consistent.
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