Science Fiction World

The first official trailer for Neil Marshall’s Centurion has found its way onto the web, catapulting this gritty epic into my short-list of most highly anticipated movies of the year. It looks very promising. Set in AD 117 during the Roman occupation of Britain, Centurion is the story of the Ninth Legion's final mission, one that has become legendary due to the Legion's mysterious disappearance in the hostile territory of the Picts.

The fate of the so-called Lost Legion is disputed, some historians believing it was simply disbanded, others that it was probably wiped out in another battle sometime later. Marshall, who also wrote the screenplay, has stuck close to the legend, explaining that, “It’s not meant to be historically perfect. I’m picking up on a legend and exploring it . . . it’s an action thriller.” In his story (rather than history), General Virilus and his Ninth Legion set off north of Hadrian's Wall to vanquish the troublesome Picts and to kill their leader Gorlacon. The Legion is joined by Quintus Dias, a survivor from a Roman frontier fort that the Picts raided, and is guided by Etain, a Pictish prisoner and warrior woman, who leads them into a trap in which all but seven are massacred. Centurion follows the remaining seven as they attempt to return home.

Dominic West (300) stars as Virilius, Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds) as Quintus Dias, and Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace) as Etain, whom Marshall has described as "kind of revenge incarnate. Her family were butchered by the Romans, she had her tongue cut out by the Romans, she’s had a hell of a time and she’s out for Roman blood... She’s quite furious because one sense is not there — she can’t speak — all the others are more developed. She sees very well and hears very well: she is an animal!” (To be honest, I'd never thought of speaking as a sense, but I get what Marshall means.)

Fassbender gives some idea of his character's journey in an interview with Empire, “There's certainly a lot of head-chopping. I guess you can always make modern-day parallels, to the occupation of Iraq. But it's the idea of someone who believes in an ethos, becomes disillusioned and comes to his own sort of beliefs. So there are parallels, and it's interesting when you take it out of our timeframe and stick it back 2,000 years."

Neil Marshall directed the critically acclaimed Dog Soldiers and The Descent, surely one of the best horror movies in recent years, and most recently Doomsday, a less compelling tribute to Escape From New York and Mad Max (although it has its moments). Originally scheduled for a 2009 release, Centurion has a 23 April release in the UK. Other dates will be announced soon.