Centurion

This film would make the first half of a double feature with The Eagle as both deal with the "lost" Ninth Legion of the Roman Army that disappeared in Scotland. The Eagle deals with the aftermath, but Centurion, from 2010, deals with the actual evens, as supposed by the writer and director Neal Marshall. In reality, no one knows what happened to the legion, or even if they disappeared on the island of Britain.

Like The Eagle, Centurion is a gritty, dirty film, with blue filters and lots of axes and swords and spears and arrows slicing human flesh. The film concerns a centurion named Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), who is taken prisoner after his garrison is overrun by the Picts, who bedevil the Romans by fighting in a guerrilla fashion. Fassbender escapes (we don't know how--it's a curious omission that must have ended up on the cutting room floor) and he's taken in by the Ninth are their garrulous general, Dominic West.

Later, the legion is ambushed and nearly wiped out. They are betrayed by a female tracker (Olga Kurylenko), who had her tongue ripped out by the Romans, which allows Kurylenko not to speak, which is certainly not her greatest gfit. Fassbender and a handful of legionnaires are left alive, and try to make it back to Britain. They are like the platoon in World War II movie, as diverse as the Roman Empire could manage--a Greek, a Hindu, an African--though they never become fully realized, and I couldn't be sure what their names were.

Unlike The Eagle, Centurion has eye candy. In addition to Kurylenko, who is done up in blue paint and bulky furs (what--no scene of her bathing?), the fleeing legionnaires are taken in by a woman who has been outcast because they think she's a witch. She is played by Imogen Poots, who looks as though she is ready for a modeling shoot. In the extras, Marshall talks about trying to make the film authentic, but I sincerely doubt any woman looked as good as Poots or Kurylenko back then. I would think straight white teeth were a rarity in those days.

Centurion is not very good but not awful, either. It's an acceptable action film, with lots of blood. The film doesn't take sides--the Picts are represented as being invaded, as well as being vicious, kind of like Native Americans or the Viet Cong. And The Eagle couldn't have been made if they had seen this film--Centurion has the Roman standard go up in flames.