The Romans are coming! Again!

Somewhere in the north of Britain, a group of Roman soldiers of the Ninth Legion are complaining about the rain while guarding their camp at midnight. It's the start of Neil Marshall's action film Centurion, and the hero, Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender) says, "I know this enemy well. They will not be drawn into open combat. This is a new kind of war!"

The Romans are back, and they have a message for the 21st century. Centurion is about an imperial army fighting guerrilla warriors in a mountainous Scottish landscape not unlike a wet Afghanistan. "This is a war without honour and a war without end," says Quintus Dias.

As Centurion arrives in the cinema, the cast and crew of another Ninth Legion film will be getting ready to make The Eagle of the Ninth. It stars Jamie Bell. Film fans who like the ancient world can also look forward to an exciting summer, because a big-budget Clash of the Titans remake with Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and $100 million worth of special effects is coming. The TV series Rome is being remade for the big screen, and the hottest thing on US television right now, the explicit Spartacus: Blood and Sand, is said to be on its way to Hollywood.