Quintus (Michael Fassbender) is the sole survivor of a Pictish raid, the eponymous Centurion. Son of a Gladiator, Quintus is a proud and passionate warrior, he marches North with General Virilus’ legendary Ninth Legion determined to avenge the slaying of his comrades. The Ninth’s mission is to rid the land of the Picts and their leader Gorlacon. But the legion is ambushed, the bulk of its men massacred, and General Virilus captured. Quintus assumes command and leads a handful of soldiers across the unfamiliar terrain to recover their general and to return to the Roman frontier with their lives…
Neil Marshall has long been fascinated with the idea of telling the story of Hadrian’s Wall. Having grown up at its Newcastle upon Tyne end and led years of his working life at its Cumbrian conclusion he spent hundreds of hours driving along the road beside the wall wondering what stories it could tell. When he heard the legend of the Ninth Legion and their mysterious disappearance his writer’s mind began to fill in the gaps and conjure their fate. The result was Centurion.
“Primarily I wanted to tell a story about individuals, and it’s about this handful of guys who are fighting their way home. It’s their story. So I don’t necessarily want the audience to pick a side and choose what’s right or wrong. It’s about individuals and you either root for those individuals or you don’t. It’s much the same as any story really.”
On the page this sounds promising, creditable even. I had never heard of the Ninth Legion and found the promise of an explanation of their vanishing intriguing. Producer Robert Jones describes Centurion as a character-based chase movie in the spirit of Apocalypto, Southern Comfort and Last of the Mohicans. Marshall himself intended something of an homage to the classic John Ford cavalry westerns and there are scenes where that intention is carried out to the letter. As evidenced by his previous films, Dog Soldiers and The Descent in particular, Neil Marshall is expert in managing the exhilarating, heart stopping thrill of pursuit. He is also peerless in his ability to create authentic camaraderie in his casts. His deft, decisive, direction conducts the orchestra of departments flawlessly so that the physical environments of the sets and landscapes feel utterly believable and Centurion is no exception.
Such a terrible pity then, that it’s not very good.
I believe the bones of an excellent story are here in the premise, however somewhere in the journey from page to screen or from film to edit they were lost. Neil Marshall and his team set out to make an epic pursuit movie yet the plot wanders in a meandering figure of eight before it dares cut to that chase. The Centurion hook necessitates an otherwise pointless narration which makes for a schizophrenic viewing experience as your loyalties are tossed from individual to band of brothers and back again. I wonder if the mighty lure of Gladiator money influenced the decision to leave the title singular not plural. Certainly it explains the tacked-on romance. It is a pity because it’s such a waste of a jolly good idea.
Did he fear comparison with the brutal simplicity of his previous work? Is that why we have to smash through a Mille-feuille of saccharine cliché and plot device before we break through to the battered and bloodied heart? I hope not. Neil Marshall is an unusual talent with an undeniable skill for delivering a true white knuckle ride. Because this film is not really about a Centurion and it’s not about a wall. It’s about the thrill of battle, the fight for survival, the chase…
Centurion opens in the UK on Friday 23rd April