Wall-of-the-Roman-Empire epic, set in the early 2nd Century A.D., the wall being the figurative one the Romans ran into among the Picts in Northern Britain and the literal one Hadrian built further to the south, the outer boundary. In essence Cavalry-and-Indians in skirts and breastplates, the narrative centers on seven survivors of a Pict massacre and their attempt to wend their way homeward through hostile territory, a sort of nonsurvival adventure. The opening credits, the letters sailing through the air over snowy mountains, have an old-fashioned, movie-movie feel to them, but the name of the writer and director, Neil Marshall of The Descent and Doomsday, should be sufficient to tip you off that this will be a new-fashioned movie. First thing, a Roman soldier is taking a piss over the parapet when he gets skewered vertically from below: ah, so it’s going to be that kind of movie. Spectatorial bloodlust ought to be well satisfied, even (if possible) satiated, in fast-shuffle action scenes that waste not a second in getting to the splashy jabbing, hacking, chopping. Few other tastes, surely, could be satisfied. Development is minimal, strategy is rudimentary, and the acting — Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, David Morrissey, Liam Cunningham, Ulrich Thomsen, and two ancient-world hotties, Olga Kurylenko and Imogen Poots — is over the top across the board. (2010) — Duncan Shepherd