Set in what is now Scotland in AD 117, The Descent director Neil Marshall’s relentless, predictable chase movie draws upon the myth of the mysterious lost Ninth Legion of the Roman army. Stranded behind enemy lines following an ambush by Pictish warriors armed with giant fireballs, a multi-ethnic band of Roman soldiers attempt to weave their way across country back to the last Roman fort.

Centurion is essentially one long, breathless pursuit sequence, punctuated by violent fight scenes and redundant quieter ones: Quintus’s (Michael Fassbender) drippy romance with ostracised Pictish ‘witch’ Arianne adds nothing to it. And no amount of relentless forward momentum, head-smacking violence or CGI-enhanced blood-letting can disguise the anaemic characterisation and obvious contrivances.

The fearless, credible Fassbender deserves better than this, as does The Wire alumnus Dominic West, cruelly wasted in an abbreviated cameo. Finally, the abrupt, unsatisfying ending suggests a crisis of confidence in the cutting room.