By Pierce Brenner

Rating: 3.5/5 Paws

The year is 117 A.D., and the legions of Rome are locked in a war with the Picts, a Celtic tribe of southern Scotland.

On a patrol, the Ninth Legion is nearly wiped out with their leader, General Virilus (Dominic West) captured. It’s up to a group of seven survivors led by Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), to rescue the general and get back to Roman lines. But things take a turn for the worse when the Picts want vengeance against their would-be conquerors.

“Centurion” was released in 2010 and came and went with scarcely a whimper. Despite the intriguing premise, it was only released in 19 American theaters and flopped. I’d been curious about it for a long time. I liked the cast, and the director Neil Marshall made The Descent, one of my favorite horror movies of all time. However, I held off on seeing it because I hadn’t heard very good things. After finally taking the time to watch it, I must admit that I found it pretty entertaining.

“Centurion” promises action from the start, and it mostly delivers. It was sort of like “Gladiator” off its meds; it was bloody and gruesome, but also very well shot, visceral and tons of fun. The cast was also very strong. Leading the film is a pre-X-Men Michael Fassbender, giving a performance that was one of the early clues to his immense talent. Supporting players like Dominic West, David Morrissey and Liam Cunningham were also quite good. But the standout is Olga Kurylenko, playing Pict tracker Etain. She was exactly the antagonist that the film needed, being a silent, deadly and ruthless fighter who never gave up. There was also some moral ambiguity that I wasn’t expecting from a movie like this. Neither the Romans nor the Picts were exactly what we’d call nice people, but they both had positive traits that weren’t whitewashed to make it a good vs. evil situation.

That being said, this was far from a perfect movie. I would’ve liked Quintus to be more developed. Fassbender did a great job in the role, but he didn’t have the depth of some of his other characters, like Magneto or Edwin Epps. In addition, most of the blood used in the film is CGI. It was very hit-or-miss, sometimes looking acceptable but often looking very shoddy and fake. I’m sure there will come a time when the technology will improve, but for now I’d stick to practical blood effects. The ending was also a bit frustrating. It left me wondering how our hero was going to get himself out of the immense hole he’s dug for himself, and not in a good way.

While it’s far from a masterpiece, “Centurion” was a really fun movie that deserved more attention. I recommended it to action fans, Roman history enthusiasts and Anglophiles. I think you’ll get a lot of enjoyment from it.