The Legion Movies Are...Legion.

It's a somewhat well-established fact that Hollywood loves to crank out multiple films of the same type/idea at the same time. Whether it is Armageddon and Deep Impact, those two Capote films, or the three-fer of Leviathan, Deepstar Six and The Abyss back in 1989, Hollywood loves to copy itself.

The latest subject to get multiple takes at the same time is the story of the Roman 9th Legion. The Legio IX Hispania is one of the better known Roman legions. In 43 AD they were sent to Britian as part of the Roman invasion of the isles. They stayed there through their "disappearance" in 117 AD.

That, of course, is the crux of the two films coming out on the subject. Neil Marshall, who directed the enjoyable, pulpy Doomsday is already working on Centurion, which I am guessing will be more of the same action except everyone will have swords this time and there won't be an Aston Martin. The new film on the block is Eagle of the Ninth with Kevin Macdonald directing. This will be more of a mystery/thriller where the characters try to deduce why the Ninth Legion disappeared into the Highlands of Scotland*.

I'm up for both of these. You can't have too many sword-and-sandal movies, be they action-oriented or more cerebral.

Oh, for the record...the Ninth didn't "disappear" in Scotland. There are records showing activity from the Ninth in Germany and the eastern provinces well after 117 AD. Hope that doesn't ruin the films for you.

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* I didn't see it mentioned in the Variety piece, but there is a book about the Ninth and their disappearance titled The Eagle of the Ninth. It was written by Rosemary Sutcliff in 1954. Is Macdonald's film being based on this book? Sutcliff supposed that the Ninth was destroyed by an army of Picts. We'll see what Macdonald does.