A host of  recent indie films have specialized in caustic characters and unlikable leads.  Greenburg, Mother and Child, and Please Give have all featured some of the most unpleasant fictional characters of recent memory.  However, none of their characters can hold a candle to Ben Kalmen in Solitary Man, played with gleeful abandon by Michael Douglas.

The former movies at least  allowed us to believe that those characters wanted a chance at redemption.  Those characters would have liked nothing more than to assuage their guilt over their toxic actions toward others.  Not Ben.  He gets a couple of opportunities to redeem himself,  he thumbs his nose at said opportunities. He is one of the most narcissistic characters ever brought to life on film.  He’s also a misogynistic pig.

Ben is sixty years old, yet he won’t even look at a woman over twenty.  The lone exception to this disturbing rule is his current girlfriend (Mary-Louise Parker) who he keeps around because she is wealthy and has a well connected family. Ben is trying to rebuild his life and fortune after an embarrassing career-ending swindle he pulled when he was a car-salesman guru.

Disgraced and penniless, Ben tries to make up for his shortcomings by bedding as many women as is physically possible for a man his age. He treats the women with cool disregard and cruel contempt after they succumb to his charms.  He is truly awful. He espouses offensive observations such as, “No one over forty is stick-thin.”

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I’ve been following this film for quite some time and, in fact, saw an early cut of it during the recent SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX. Without revealing too much I can say I thoroughly enjoyed Neil Marshall’s Centurion and am pleased to be able to bring you a brand new “Red Band” trailer for the film today.

In this new trailer you get a chance to see what the film is about. It’s a violent look at life as a soldier in ancient Rome as well as an adventurous tale of revenge and survival. It also features some great battle scenes and lots of fun swordplay.

The film itself follows Quintus, sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, who marches north with General Virilus’ legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the earth and destroy their leader Gorlacon.

But when the legion is ambushed on unfamiliar ground, and Virilus taken captive, Quintus faces a desperate struggle to keep his small platoon alive behind enemy lines, evading remorseless Pict pursuers over harsh terrain, as the band of soldiers race to rescue their General, and to reach the safety of the Roman frontier.

Expect a full review closer to release. Until then, be sure to check out the awesome trailer after the jump. Centurion, which features Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, David Morrissey and Olga Kurylenko, premieres on VOD, XBOX and Amazon.com on July 23 and opens in theaters August 27, 2010.

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In what is surely great news for fans of director Neil Marshall and those who love movies where armored gladiators kick lots of ass (I count myself in that group, btw), Magnet Releasing has acquired the U.S. rights to Marshall’s latest film Centurion. The film, which features Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, 300), Dominic West (300, The Wire), David Morrissey (Red Riding Trilogy), and super hot Bond-girl Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace) tells the story of Roman soldiers and Pict teribesmen who battle for control of Britain.

Fassbender stars as Quintus Dias, a fearsome gladiator who leads a group of soldiers on a raid to rescue a captured general (West). The son of the Pict leader is killed during the raid, and the Romans find themselves hunted by a seemingly unstoppable group of the Pict’s most vicious and skilled warriors. The group, led by a beautiful and deadly tracker (Kurylenko), are hell bent on revenge and will stop at nothing to see it done.

And yes, along the way a lot of blood is spilled and there are fight scenes galore. Sound awesome. As someone who’s a huge fan of Marshall’s work, particularly Dog Soldiers, I couldn’t be more interested in this film.

Magnet is launching Centurion as the 6th entry in the second “Six Shooter Film Series,” a collection of six worldwide action films which also includes Bronson, Red Cliff, Ong Bak 2, District 13: Ultimatum and The Warlords. A summer theatrical release for Centurion is planned. Rest assured, I’ll be there.