Centurion (2010)

Centurion: Directed by Neil Marshall. With Michael Fassbender, Andreas Wisniewski, Dave Legeno, Axelle Carolyn. A splinter group of Roman soldiers fight for their lives behind enemy lines after their legion is devastated in a guerrilla attack.

“This is in direct response to davidfurlotteu0026#39;s fairly asinine u0026#39;reviewu0026#39;…..u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFirst of all, if youu0026#39;re going to claim to be an authority on these things, do some research. In practically every interview, Marshall made it very clear that the film was based on a myth, a legend, nothing more. He never once tried to claim that this was in any way a true story.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlso, where did you get that his Dad is a history professor?! He said his Dad loved history, and thatu0026#39;s all. Again, do your research.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFinally, did you actually watch the battle? The Romans were stretched out in a long column for miles, surrounded on both sides. How do you move out of the way of fireballs when youu0026#39;ve got men on both sides of you who are also trying to get out of the way of fireballs? You just end up with men piling into each other, utter chaos, and still achieving what the Picts intended in the first place, which was to break the Roman line. And since the Romans where back to back, if you did get out of the way, youu0026#39;re just allowing the fireballs to rolls into the backs of the troops defending the opposite flank. With that many fireballs coming in from both sides, into a densely packed column of Romans, there simply wasnu0026#39;t anywhere for them to go. The Romans were trained to hold the line. Thatu0026#39;s where their strength lay, in discipline and formation, and this is how the Picts (and the Germanic tribes) used their biggest strength against them.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe reason I defend this film is because I worked on it myself. And if it made a few mistakes along the way, like using the wrong kind of spears, I know itu0026#39;s because the budget was so tight they couldnu0026#39;t afford enough Pilumu0026#39;s for the number of troops they had. I know this sounds unbelievable, but itu0026#39;s absolutely true. This films entire budget was about the size of the costume department budget on Gladiator!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTo make another simple comparison, on Braveheart they had 7 weeks to shoot just the Battle of Stirling. On Centurion we had 7 weeks to shoot the entire film, battles included. For the scene involving the fireballs, we had 3 days. So itu0026#39;s to be expected that through the almost constant barrage of compromise, a few factual mistakes may slip through the net. As filmmakers we do take exceptional pride in our work, and weu0026#39;d love to have the time and the money to get everything absolutely perfect, but thatu0026#39;s just not the reality of low budget filming in the UK. In the end, we do our best with what weu0026#39;ve got.”