In my opinion, Neil Marshall is the John Carpenter of the 2000s. Yes, John Carpenter is still making films, and I hope the best for him, as he may be my favorite director of all time. However, Neil Marshall is making the kinds of films that made me fall in love with John Carpenter. Marshall's movies are genre heavy, often rebellious, and always FUN. As a current film student, I have to say that if I could find work on any directors' crew, Neil Marshall's crew would be one of the highest on my list.

That all being said, I don't think that Centurion is my favorite of Neil Marshall's films to date. But I watched the film a couple of weeks ago, and in that time the movie has grown on me as I've thought about it. I also listened to the commentary and watched the features on the DVD release and found that I really did enjoy the movie a lot. And I'll probably watch it repeatedly over the years. But I will also probably watch a few of Marshall's other films a little bit more often.

Centurion's strength is in its amazing setting and story. The disappearance of Rome's 9th Legion is the stuff of legend, and Marshall has a ton of fun telling us his version of the myth by giving us a quality cast of characters and including all the most iconic elements of this time period and setting. The titular Centurion is Quintus Dias, played by Michael Fassbender. This hero goes through a lot as the movie plays out, and the ride isn't always predictable, even if it isn't always inspired, either.

When General Virilus (Dominic West) is tasked with wiping out the troublesome Pictish people, he teams with a mute Pictish double agent named Etain (Olga Kurylenko) and meets up with our protagonist as he is on the run from Picts who had already overthrown his fort. The 9th Legion is quickly massacred by the Picts, and the rest of the movie follows Quintus as he tries to save the remaining few soldiers and escape the vengeful Picts by making their way back to Roman lands. In one movie you get Braveheart-style big battles, a men on a mission adventure, a cat-and-mouse chase, a little romance, and some political intrigue and revenge too.

I think one of my criticisms of Centurion is that it tries to fill all of those shoes and doesn't do any one of those genres, or subgenres, masterfully. However, on the other hand, it does cover each adventure admirably, and with the signature Neil Marshall fun.

Our hero Quintus is an honorable soldier who works tirelessly to save the lives of his remaining men and get them to safety. And when the very Romans he fought for ultimately betray Quintus, we are happy that this tragic hero is able to find at least a little solace in the arms of a banished Pictish beauty. Centurion offers a somewhat believable theory as to what happened to the 9th Legion, or if not believable, then at least entertaining. Give this one a look if this sounds like your type of thing!