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Romans vs. the Scottish wood-people

Fireballs hurtle from hillsides and slam into soldiers' shields. Axes cleave heads. Starving men gorge themselves on deer innards. Gotta be a Neil Marshall film.

Fireballs hurtle from hillsides and slam into soldiers' shields. Axes cleave heads. Starving men gorge themselves on deer innards. Gotta be a Neil Marshall film.

As he did with Doomsday, the writer-director of cult faves The Descent and Dog Soldiers detours from horror with Centurion, a taut, gory, and thoroughly entertaining Roman soldiers vs. Scottish wood-people action flick set in the second century.

Starring the perfectly chiseled hunk Michael Fassbender, Centurion showcases many of Marshall's strengths: sweeping scenery, razor-sharp editing, symbolism of modern events, homages to other filmmakers (directors Walter Hill and Akira Kurosawa here), and a lightning-paced narrative. It also highlights the Scottish filmmaker's major weaknesses - an inability to successfully reach a satisfying finale and an overuse of gore.

But this is one exciting and efficient tale - a hearty-ho of a guilty pleasure - about a Roman soldier named Quintus Dias (Fassbender of Hunger) and his unmerry band of seven Roman cohorts battling the vicious Picts in Scotland.

Even with its slips - Quintus escapes capture without us ever seeing how; General Virilus (Dominic West of The Wire) departs the story too quickly as a Roman who ends up on the bad side of a mute, vengeance-seeking tracker (Olga Kurylenko) - anyone with a predilection for hairy Roman soldiers, bloody battles, and the aforementioned mute, vengeance-seeking trackers (that would be me) will be more than satisfied. It's not Marshall's finest hour - the werewolf-in-the-woods flick Dog Soldiers made me bay with pleasure - but Centurion is far better than many Hollywood big-budget action flicks.

Centurion **1/2 (out of four stars)

Directed by Neil Marshall. With Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, and Olga Kurylenko. Distributed by Magnolia Pictures.

Running time: 1 hour, 52 mins.

Parent's guide: R (strong bloody violence, grisly images, and profanity)

Playing at: Ritz at the Bourse.EndText