Title: Centurion

Year Released/Rating: 2010 R

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko

Written By: Neil Marshall

Directed By: Neil Marshall

Genre: Action, adventure, drama

Star Rating:  4/5 stars

Where I Got It: Netflix

Trivia:

• German archaeologists have found evidence of the 9th Legion on the banks of the Rhine River and carbon-dated them long after these events took place, suggesting that rather than being wiped out, the reason that there is no evidence of the 9th Legion being in Scotland after these battles is that they moved to Germany.
• The Picts in the film are speaking Scots Gaelic. No written record of the Pictish language exists, but historians believe the modern language most similar to theirs is Welsh. However, director Neil Marshall thought viewers would be confused by a tribe in Scotland speaking Welsh.
• Neil Marshall shot the film in such hard conditions that some cast members suffered health problems. As written in the Independent: Noel Clarke recovered from frostbite.JJ Feild quit smoking because of hypothermia. Michael Fassbender survived shirtless sprinting in sub-zero temperatures to become the next Daniel Craig".
• The Picts were generally thought to not have worn any clothes. However, seeing as the film was being shot in the wilds of Scotland in the depths of winter, it was decided that they should wear something.

Summary: A splinter group of Roman soldiers fight for their lives behind enemy lines after their legion is decimated in a devastating guerrilla attack.

Review: 

I'm such a sucker for these pseudo historical movies.  I always like to see how filmmakers portray events in history.  Thankfully for Marshall, there is very little evidence of what happened to the Ninth Legion in Britain.  I enjoyed the movie.  I enjoyed the storyline.  I enjoyed the characters.  Nothing knocked my socks off, but it was a good afternoon's viewing.

Best Bits: 

• [first lines]  Centurion Quintus Dias: [narrating] My name is Quintus Dias. I am a soldier of Rome, and this is neither the beginning nor the end of my story.
• Carlisle Messenger: I have a message for your general. Now, point me in his direction before I have you flogged. General Titus Flavius Virilus: Who are you? Carlisle Messenger: I'm the personal envoy of Governor Agricola. General Titus Flavius Virilus: I suggest you get down off that horse and give me your message before I have you flogged!
• Arianne: [trying to fish downstream of Quintus as he urinates] Is that fer bait? Centurion Quintus Dias: [startled] Where I come from it's considered rude to interrupt a man mid-flow. Arianne: Where I come from it's considered only fair to warn a man when he's pissin' on his breakfast.
• Centurion Quintus Dias: Brick, put the fuckin' knife away.