Centurion reviews

http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/22458/

CENTURION

NO CURRENT STAR RATING
Year Released: 2010
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 97 minutes

In a word, Neil Marshall’s “Centurion” is epic. In several words, it’s a big rip-off of several superior epics. If you liked “300,” the running parts of “The Two Towers” and HBO’s “Rome” series, you still may not like “Centurion,” but you will definitely recognize the elements that went into creating it.

I’m seriously done with movies that start mid-narrative and then flash back; it’s never used with purpose anymore. When we meet our protagonist, Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), he is stumbling half naked through the snow. He tells us that this isn’t the beginning or end of his story. And then we flash back to two weeks earlier. We know we will come back to this point. But it’s by no means the most exciting thing that will happen in the movie. It’s not the climax. We meet him in this moment JUST so we can see the title “Two Weeks Earlier.” Screenwriters take note: This device is played out. You know what else is played out? Much of “Centurion.”

We learn a lot about the situation through voiceover. So much voiceover. Quintus is a Centurion of the Roman army. He tells us about the enemies, the feral tribe of Picts, who resemble extras from “Battlefield Earth.” After fighting his way out of an enemy village, he must lead the handful of survivors of the Ninth Legion out of enemy territory. They are hunted all the while by a team of Picts, led by America’s Next Top Model, a mute tracker named Etain (Olga Kurylenko). This is all you really need to know. The rest of the voiceover is entirely unnecessary but it’s present throughout the film as if we’re watching a book on tape.

At the risk of spoiling several of his films, I have to talk about the way Neil Marshall writes women. I wouldn’t necessarily accuse Neil Marshall of hating women, but he definitely seems to distrust them. At best, he portrays them as frail lap dogs. The nicest female character in “Centurion” is a “wench” who spends much of her screen time worrying with trembling lips. Maybe after making “The Descent,” a film with an all-female cast, he felt the need to write the manliest movie possible. And it might have worked if he’d had an original idea for the plot or if he’d spent just a little more time revising the dialog instead of just making a montage of manly things.

“Centurion” is rife with testosterone. Among the numerous masculine elements in the film: Arm wresting competitions, bar brawls, battle cries, loudly declaring oneself to be a soldier of such and such, spitting, punching, bleeding, men talking with their mouths full, and men walking away in slow motion from stuff that’s on fire. That’s not to say that a woman wouldn’t enjoy the film. They might, if they like soulless genre rip-offs that read like they were written by an eleven-year-old. It is essentially the anti-Sex-And-The-City. But it’s just as bad.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the film is that very little happens. There’s a lot of a fighting people who are constantly betraying each other. But “Centurion” is mostly running. So much running. If you drank (an alcoholic beverage, one assumes) every time a character was running, you would be drunk off your face before the first betrayal. I kept waiting for a surprise monster to spice things up but it never came.

The good news is that the violence is pretty entertaining. Heads fall left and right. Blood splatters pretty much everywhere. You won’t believe how many parts of the human body can be awesomely pierced by arrows. You won’t be bored watching “Centurion”. But it’s not going to change your life either.

Posted on June 21, 2010 in Reviews by Jessica Baxter

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/movie/action/adventure/2010/06/25/262199/Centurion-%E4%B8%96%E7%B4%80%E6%88%B0%E9%AD%82.htm

Updated Friday, June 25, 2010 2:56 pm TWN, By James Topley, The China Post
Centurion (世紀戰魂)
Neil Marshall, director of the apocalyptically disparaging “Doomsday,” returns to tales of death and destruction in “Centurion,” an epic tale that contains vague whispers of Gladiator-esque warriors with the make-up and effects borrowed from “300.” It's a lot less substance than style here in this ambitious attempt of grandeur from Warner Bros. Studios that was filmed on a relatively shoe-string budget.

Michael Fassbender brings familiarity to the movie, his previous casting in “300” means in the audiences' mind he fits easily into the role. Olga Kurylenko who's instantly recognizable as a Bond girl takes a little attention away from the blood and gore, while “The Wire” star Dominic West is hugely charismatic and becoming ever more popular.

But the issue here is with Neil Marshall, whose celebrity status as the next up-and-coming director — with offerings of “Dog Soldiers and The Descent” hinting at the awesome carnage he is capable of — is only surpassed with his infamously dreadful “Doomsday,” a titanic sinker. So returning yet again to a bloodbath feature, has Marshall redeemed his credentials or does “Centurion” wither from the mind like a moment of violence you wish to forget?

This time he's turned his attention to a legion of Roman soldiers from 117 A.D. in Scotland traipsing through forest and glen to reach the English border. They are intercepted by the guerilla Picts (headed by Kurylenko) who wreak havoc on their ranks. Wearied and bloodied from earlier battle, these soldiers of Rome are slaughtered and it's up to General Virilus (West) with the help of Quintius Dias (Fassbender) to lead the way for the few remaining survivors.

In typical Marshall fashion, who never shies from a violent scene, there's a surplus of blood right from the off, and some of the violent acts are truly savage, such as smashing a head against the base of a tree and the frequent decapitations in the grand battle that commences with the film's start. This feature is totally for audiences who relish in the bloodbath of cinema as the script is neither outstanding nor as driven as it could have been. With “Gladiator,” the story was as fascinating as the action, whereas here, the action is the only thing to look forward to. However, credit is due to Marshall and his production team for the high quality style that doesn't feel cheap or undermined by the much pricier blockbusters with their fanciful special effects; although digital blood still looks like digital blood.

All in, it's just another soulless movie. Bloody yes, it succeeds in showing the cruelty of ancient civilizations yet it fails to win over the audience. We feel sorrier for the guerillas whose small numbers and primitive weapons can somehow outmatch these hardened Roman warriors, not to mention the abuses the locals have suffered at the hands of their invaders.

Fans of the action-adventure genre will possibly enjoy this grim feature, but for those who thrive on the details of the story instead of the brain matter on the hilt of the sword, this maybe a little overbearing.

'Centurion' (世紀戰魂) ► Directed by Neil Marshall / With Michael Fassbender, Noel Clarke, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko / Action, Adventure / USA / 2010 / ★★★☆☆ / English with Chinese subtitles / Now Showing /

http://taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2010/06/25/2003476359

FILM REVIEW: For the glory of Rome!

‘Centurion’ takes a stab at history and leaves a bloody mess

By Ian Bartholomew
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Jun 25, 2010, Page 15
FILM NOTES
CENTURION

DIRECTED BY:
NEIL MARSHALL

STARRING:
MICHAEL FASSBENDER (QUINTUS DIAS),DOMINIC WEST (VIRILUS), OLGA KURYLENKO (ETAIN), DAVID MORRISSEY (BOTHOS), JJ FEILD (THAX), IMOGEN POOTS (ARIAN)

RUNNING TIME:
97 MINUTES

TAIWAN RELEASE:
TODAY

Neil Marshall has honed a reputation as a champion of British horror with classics such as Dog Soldiers (2002) and The Descent (2005), but his attempt to bring his bloody aesthetic to a larger canvass has produced a historical splatter movie of dubious appeal and limited interest.

The story takes as its starting point an attempt by the Roman empire to complete its conquest of Britain. This has been held up in the barbarous wilds of Scotland by Pictish warriors who engage in a guerrilla campaign of great cunning and savagery. The story is loosely based upon the destruction and disappearance of the Legio IX Hispana, one of Rome’s most ruthlessly efficient fighting units that suddenly disappeared from the historical record in mysterious circumstances in the early part of the second century.

Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender) is an officer stationed at a bleak and frozen frontier post who is captured by the Picts but manages to escape after meeting up with a Roman column (the 9th Legion) that is marching to destroy Pict resistance. He is welcomed as a source of local knowledge by the general Virilus (Dominic West), a fighting general eager to come to grips with his adversary.

The column is led into an ambush and cut down almost to a man. A few survivors remain, and the film follows seven of them, led by Dias, who try to escape through the wilderness. Hard on their heels is Etain, played by Quantum of Solace Bond girl Olga Kurylenko, who is out for vengeance for atrocities committed by the Roman army in her village. She sports what might be described as a folk-punk look, and is accompanied by other leggy woman warriors, who are doubtless there to cater to Marshall’s core audience of young men, but seem a highly improbable addition to a Highland fighting force.

A strong cast that includes Michael Fassbender and Dominic West has plenty of potential to take the film into a more nuanced look at violent men under pressure, but Marshall has commercial interests at the forefront of his mind. There is gory butchery aplenty as Etain and her posse take out the Romans one at a time, and the film degenerates rapidly into a not very exciting escape movie. Copious attention is paid to creating some decent fight sequences, but the characters are too hastily drawn for us to feel much interest in their demise. The backdrop of wild Highland scenery, while undoubtedly beautiful, fails to generate the atmosphere of brooding foreboding that Marshall is trying for.

Centurion is further tarnished by a romantic interlude that brings in yet another bit of eye candy in the form of Arian (Imogen Poots), a woman living alone in the depths of the forest having been ostracized by the Picts for witchcraft. It’s all a bit too convenient. The romance between Dias and Arian manages to blossom in a matter of seconds and just paves the way to wrap up the story with a sweet little bow.

Centurion has the same gore mixed with laddish humor as Dog Soldiers, which was a minor classic of new British horror, and Marshall is now covering similar ground with bigger names and bigger sets, but the humor has gone sour and the director’s competence with spilled guts and decapitated heads is not enough in itself to make this film work.

http://mynewplaidpants.blogspot.com/2010/06/real-roman-men-roam.html

Monday, June 28, 2010
Real Roman Men Roam
.
I went into Centurion last night with my friend Sean's Manly Movie Mamajama series on my brain, and ended up judging it by those exacting standards. As such, it's pretty successful. Michael Fassbender's Roman soldier goes by the manly nom de guerre Quintas Dias. People get shot with arrows in the back of the head. Dick jokes are made repeatedly. Check, check, check.

There's a slow patch in the middle where about five times in a row we watch fierce she-wolf Etain almost catch our heroes, they barely escape, their numbers thinned a little each time, that grows redundant. And there are way too many Lord of the Rings style "helicopter swooping over our heroes walking through mountain passes" shots crammed in between.

But with Marshall these always somehow feel like knowing winks - not in an obnoxious way either - and there's one panoramic shot of our heroes popping up groundhog-like from behind a hilltop that's got to be a straight-up gag. So I think it's safe to say he's having fun with us. You get the feeling watching this - or Doomsday or Dog Soldiers or (most successfully) The Descent for that matter - that Marshall's tapping straight into his own id, spilling out fun junk he's always wanted to see. It ain't art - although some of it's very pretty to look at - but it is entertainment.

The movie gets better as it stomps along, and the last half an hour or so is fairly rollicking. And not that I'll ever utter words to the contrary, but Fassbender makes for a captivating hero. He clenches hiw jaw like a titan.

It's nothing new - although there were some things I'd never seen before, hello hot stomach stew - and you've got to be in the right mood for it. But I was, and I found myself fighting the urge to shake a manly fist at the screen and growl a deeply manly growl. Testosterriffic!
.
Who? JA When? 12:30 PM

http://www.yourbestguess.com/scowl/2010/06/27/brief-thoughts-on-centurion/

Brief Thoughts on “Centurion”
06.27.10 | Comment?

Saw the Neil Marshall-directed Centurion at IndieScreen via a Film Comment-curated part of the Northside Festival. (I may have exhausted my quota of descriptive modifiers for the night right there.) The very short version: it’s a good action film. The slightly longer version: It’s a good action film with an unfortunate tendency to throw in some relatively stock action-movie dialogue. (One character gets a variation of the “only two weeks ’til retirement” speech, which is unfortunate.) Michael Fassbender is just about able to sell any line he’s given, which is a fine thing. Marshall is more comfortable with one-on-one combat than with the film’s larger battle scenes, but that ends up making the film’s last quarter memorably visceral. And I really can’t argue with a film in which the last act is also the strongest.

http://www.horror.com/php/article-3224-1.html

Centurion Movie Review
Shock of Ages

By:stacilayne
Updated: 06-29-2010

Much of the violence in recent, popular mainstream movies and historical dramas on TV (Watchmen, Inglourious Basterds, The Tudors and Spartacus to name a few) is far more brutal than your typical horror flick. At least Freddy Krueger makes it quick — some of the beheadings at the behest of Showtime's King Henry the 8th were agonizingly slow and painful.

Writer-Director Neil Marshall's latest gorefest falls somewhere in-between: His love of true horror (he directed the well-regarded supernatural thriller 2005's The Descent) and his passion for action (the Mad Max'esque Doomsday came and went in '08) blend together beautifully in the exceptionally well-cast Centurion.

Muscles-and-armor to-to guy Dominic West is Roman General Virilus of the Ninth Legion, brawny-yet-brooding actor Michael Fassbender is the centurion of the title, and the mysterious and dangerous woman-warrior they orbit is the mute and mad Pict, Etain (Olga Kurylenko). The supporting cast — though doing little more than aggressively killing everything in sight — is tight. Standouts include Imogen Poots as witch-in-exile Arianne, Riz Ahmed as the cook who's just a little too good with kitchen utensils, and Axelle Carolyn as a piqued Pict.

One of my favorite indie DPs (Sam McCurdy, who shot The Descent and also the gorgeous-looking Dread) is behind the camera, and he takes full advantage of the sweeping scenery, glinting metal, and stampeding steeds: Centurion feels like a much more expensive movie than it really is.

To be honest, this isn't a heavy historical story of strategists, nor is there a lot of character development (though attempts are made to humanize and layer some of the fighters and lovers, this just isn't that kind of movie). But the blood flows freely, the fireballs rage, and the slings and arrows are deadly accurate. What's more, the ending rocks — best downbeat finale I've seen in a long time.

Bringing to mind a super-slick and impeccably presented hybrid of 80s fantasy actioners like The Beastmaster, Conan The Barbarian, and The Red Sonja, then splicing in some Gladiator, Lord of the Rings and 300 swords and sandals epics, Centurion does just what it sets out to do: Entertain.

Centurion is in theaters on various dates in limited release, and video-on-demand July 30.


= = =
Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson


Stay tuned for Horror.com's exclusive on-camera interview with Neil Marshall and Axelle Carolyn talking about Centurion, and Ghost of Slaughterford (her directorial debut).

http://moviereviewfaqs.blogspot.com/2010/06/centurion.html

Monday, June 28, 2010
Centurion

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: During Roman times, a few honorable soldiers swashbuckled for their lives in a world of corrupt allies and enemies.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, Noel Clarke, David Morrissey, JJ Feild, Riz Ahmed, Ulrich Thomsen, Imogen Poots, Axelle Carolyn, Dave Legeno,

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. With battle scenes that are reminiscent of Inglorious Basterds but a much less emotionally compelling plot, this movie is made for guys who like bloody sword fights and the thrill of combat movies that take place during an age when men wore dresses.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: There are very few jokes, but they are as funny as they are rare.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but it will probably make you close your eyes and turn away from the screen a few times, as you scrunch up your face like you just bit into a lemon.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I'd consider it for Most Gratifying Murder of a Small to Medium-sized Child.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: The most standout thing about the acting is the incredible beauty of both Olga Kurylenko and Imogen Poots. And also finding out that (according to this movie) in Ancient Roman times, women apparently fought in battles, and men apparently had no issues with killing them brutally if need be.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: With a few well placed sweeping crane shots, Neil Marshall makes a small movie, with very few differing locations seem big in scale, but the battle scenes tend to be shot too close up, so that even during climactic moments, it's hard to tell who killed who and how.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: It relies mostly on voice over to move the story along between chase scenes and battles, but the most annoying part is actually the ending, which humiliates itself by desperately and blatantly begging for a sequel, instead of neatly wrapping everything up.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiQCofKrYAI

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Posted by Monique Elisabeth at 10:26 PM

http://mercifullyshortreviews.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/centurion/

Centurion
1 07 2010

Braveheart meets Zaitochi in this sword-and-sandal-and-sleet epic that may be splashed liberally with arterial blood, but doesn’t take itself too seriously. The Roman 9th legion headed by charismatic general Titus Virilus (Dominic West) rides north to crush the Picts with the Pictish-speaking centurion Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender, who must be used to being gore-soaked after Inglourious Basterds). The Picts ambush and slaughter them, then chase the handful of survivors led by Dias through a landscape that’s almost as hostile as the Scots. It’s not Gladiator, but it’s entertaining enough. 8/10

http://theocfilmsting.blogspot.com/2010/07/centurion.html

Sunday, 11 July 2010
Centurion
It’s fair to say that Neil Marshall has a pretty mixed CV. First up was flawed but fun Dog Soldiers, then came the nerve shredding excellence of The Descent (one of the most sweaty palmed experiences of the 2000’s) before a quick and sudden fall to earth with the overblown disaster that was Doomsday. Now Marshall has slipped quietly back into the mainstream with Centurion, a film that isn’t an immediate return to form, but is solid enough to hold its own. Centurion, tells the story of the Roman Ninth legion, and an incident of some dispute where some 4,000 men of the legion entered Scotland and were never seen again. Marshall ’s take is that they came across a tribe of people known as the Picts and much blood letting did ensue. Sorry, let me say that again. Much blood letting did ensue, as Marshall gets the camera right into the heart of the action as rivers of blood flow, limbs go flying and heads are decapitated. Amid the mayhem with have a mainly British cast (Dominic West and David Morrissey the best known) whilst the German / Irish actor Michael Fassbender gets the titular role. This is acted reasonably enough, with all participant's realising a degree of ham is required, despite the film trying to be as brutal as it can. One person who doesn’t get to say much though is the near wordless performance of Olga Kurylenko. Somewhat more pointless, than wordless I’d say, and a surprising decision by Marshall to have her character so, especially when you consider his background of getting strong performances from females. As this is, in effect, as chase movie, it doesn’t outstay his welcome and there is some cracking (though cold looking!) Scottish scenery to enjoy.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Hard to be too critical about this, but it's very unlikely to demand further viewings. Rating: 6/10.
Posted by The OC at 17:31

http://planetofthenerds.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/the-last-exorcism-centurion-l-a-film-festival-2010/

The second screening I saw was NEIL (DOG SOLDIERS, THE DESCENT, DOOMSDAY) MARSHALL’S latest genre-bending epic, CENTURION. MARSHALL himself came out to introduce the film to the enormous crowd in the amphitheatre that night and everyone went nuts. I’ve been a HUGE fan of his since DOG SOLDIERS and I’ve been looking forward to his latest foray into the “sword & biceps” genre for awhile now!

CENTURION is about a bloody war in 117 A.D. between the legendary Ninth Legion (the Roman army’s greatest warriors) and the savage and barbarous Pict Clan (whom are sworn to protect their lands at all costs from any invader). When the Ninth Legion faces an ambush, which results in the loss of most of its soldiers and the capture of their beloved general, the survivors must fight their way back from behind enemy lines!

MICHAEL (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) FASSBENDER is great as one of the Romans trying to “bop” his way back home to Rome and OLGA KURYLENKO is one hot, dangerous warrior chick trying to kill him. You could make a drinking game out of how many times she shoots a Roman soldier in the back with an arrow.

The movie is beautifully shot in locations around the european wilderness and it just looks absolutely f#%@#&! gorgeous. Which is great, because the cinematography is constantly being splattered with geysers of blood and guts. Lots of beheadings, amputated limbs, eye gouges, crushed heads, stabbings and guttings to behold for all those gore-hounds out there.

I loved it! Great action and very good acting complement this muscular thriller, which features all of NEIL MARSHALL’S staples: gory violence, macho dialogue, tough female characters, and another back-against-the-wall plotline straight out of the JOHN CARPENTER/WALTER HILL playbook. In a way, CENTURION is like a medieval THE WARRIORS, mixed with SOUTHERN COMFORT, DELIVERANCE and ALIENS. It was cool.

That’s all to report on now, but this is gonna be a very exciting month and I’ll be reporting soon on some very awesome stuff (including my upcoming return to the SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON)! Nerd out!

http://filmreviews.net.au/?p=1423

CENTURION
Posted by Greg on July 19th, 2010

Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Neil Marshall
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, David Morrissey, Noel Clarke, Riz Ahmed, J J Feild, Liam Cunningham, Lmogen Poots, Axelle Carolyn, Ulrich Thomsen, Paul Freeman, Lee Ross, Peter Guinness.

British actor Michael Fassbender must be some sort of masochist, as he seems drawn towards physically demanding and punishing roles that see him suffer. His breakthrough role came in the unflinchingly tough drama Hunger, in which he played the infamous Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands. He also appeared in the horror thriller Eden Lake, which saw him beaten, chased through the woods and even trussed up with barbed wire. And now in his latest film Centurion he is put through the wringer again.

Centurion is a gritty action drama set in northern England in 117AD, at the height of the Roman invasion of Britain. For nearly twenty years though the Picts, a tribe of fierce warriors from the remote north of Britain, have successfully waged a guerilla war against the Roman conquerors. Fassbender plays Quintus, the sole surviving Roman soldier of a Pict attack on their remote outpost. He is captured and beaten by his captors until he somehow manages to escape. He meets up with the legendary ninth legion, led by the dangerous and ruthless General Virilius (Dominic West, from The Wire, etc). But the legion is attacked and all but decimated by the Picts. Quintus and a handful of survivors find themselves on the run behind enemy lines, and hunted relentlessly by Pict warriors led by the mute tracker Etain (former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko, from Quantum Of Solace).

Director Neil Marshall seems drawn towards these gruelling survival tales that pit a small group against a relentless, overwhelming enemy. Marshall previously directed Dog Soldiers, in which a small band of Special Forces soldiers battled against werewolves in the remote English countryside, and The Descent, a horror thriller in which a small group of female spelunkers battled against a supernatural force beneath the earth. There is something familiar and formulaic about the relentlessly paced Centurion. Marshall was obviously trying to emulate the intensity that Mel Gibson brought to his chase thriller Apocalypto, but unfortunately here we don’t really empathise with the characters, which somewhat mutes its impact.

Centurion is a gory and gratuitously blood soaked film, full of unnecessarily graphic and nasty edged violence. The sword fights become a bit tedious and repetitive after a while. The profane language is also far too contemporary and rings untrue, given the setting. It’s a bit patronising to think that mature and intelligent audiences need lots of profanity and graphic violence to draw them into a compelling story. Not that Centurion is a compelling story – but that’s beside the point!

Centurion has been beautifully shot by cinematographer Sam McCurdy, who has regularly collaborated with Marshall on his previous films. The natural, rugged beauty of the Scottish locations double wonderfully for the inhospitable terrain of northern England in the early part of the 2nd century.

**

http://mumoon.blogspot.com/2010/07/centurion-2010.html

Centurion 2010

Name: Centurion
Released: 2010
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, Thriller, War
Director: Neil Marshall
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, Noel Clarke, David Morrissey, JJ Feild, Axelle Carolyn, Riz Ahmed, Dave Legeno, Ulrich Thomsen, James Currie, Dhaffer L'Abidine, Hamish Moir, Imogen Poots, Rachael Stirling
Issued: USA, UK, Spain, Greece, Russia

Set in 117AD, Neil Marshall's story pits the Roman empire against the guerrilla Picts, who have halted the Roman invasion so much so that Rome decides on a last push. To the organized troops of Roman centurions, the Picts with their unorthodox techniques have the upper hand in a David and Goliath pattern, that it's up to Dominic West's General Virilus to lead an army, and with the help of Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender) who has escaped from the Picts, to show them the way. That sets the premise of an otherwise ordinary film that's focused on its battle sequences, and has a very simple, two phase narrative to waltz through.

One of the draws here is of course Michael Fassbender's presence. Of 300 and Eden Lake fame, he brings forth a sense of vulnerability to a warrior's role, bent on trying to keep alive than to go all out to kill. He leads Virilus' surviving men of 6 to a rescue mission, before turning tails and having the next half of the film centered on their escape back to safe haven, all the while being tracked by Olga Kurylenko's Etain, a mute Pict scout who's an excellent tracker.

In some ways, the story had resembled like a distant cousin of the magnificent seven, where a rag tag team of surviving Roman centurions get cobbled together for a mission to rescue their beloved General. And I mean really rag tag since they have a cook amongst their ranks. It's an offensive maneuver first, before going all defensive because of the lack of skills, and numerical advantage and savagery that the Picts pose. Olga Kurylenko chews up her scenes even as she's more clothed than her previous films, and gets plenty of physical action (with weapons that is) to show she's no pushover for action sequences.

http://twitchfilm.net/reviews/2010/07/fantasia-2010-centurion-review.php

Fantasia 2010: CENTURION Review

by Kurt Halfyard, July 24, 2010 2:17 PM

Action, Fantasia 2010, UK, Ireland, Australia & New Zealand
[Oh, Neil Marshall, we love you so. Since Centurion is playing the big Hall Theatre today at the Fantasia Film Festival, it is apropos to bring up Todd's thoughts on the film from our archives.]

Put aside any thoughts of typical costume epics here. Neil Marshall's Centurion will stomach none of that Gladiator talk. A world away from your typical ancient Rome film, this is lean and hungry stuff, as efficient in its story telling as in its brutality. If Ridley Scott cast Russell Crowe to be the new coming of Charlton Heston then what Marshall has done here is make Michael Fassbender into Steve McQueen - a taciturn, seventies style reluctant hero on the run for survival in a world where all the moral lines have blurred out to gray.

Fassbender is Quintus Dias, second in command of the most northerly Roman garrison of the long, protracted war to conquer Britain. It is not going well. It has been going not well for many, many years. It is going so not well, in fact, that the garrison is overrun by Pictish warriors who kill everyone present and burn it to the ground, sparing only Dias' life when he swears at one of them in their own language. Thinking he may be useful, they take him prisoner and haul him off to their own stronghold as prisoner.

The destruction of the garrison proves the last straw for the local governor who decides to put an end to things once and for all. He sends his strongest legion, the 9th, into the far north in a show of strength to subdue the natives, sending a trusted - and beautiful - native guide with them. They save Dias - good thing - but end up slaughtered themselves when their guide proves to be a traitor embedded in their culture for years to gain their trust and lure them to their death. Only a small handful survive. But, trapped this deep behind enemy lines, how much is that survival worth? And so begins a lengthy race for survival.

Shot in a cold, sparse style clearly meant to mimic the hostile beauty of the natural landscape that Marshall uses to such great effect, Centurion takes a small band of stellar actors - Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko and David Morrissey are all hugely charismatic, though Noel Clarke seems weirdly out of place in this time period - and breaks them down to their most basic components. The entire film is fight or flight, nothing more. Fight and kill when you have to, run away if you think you can escape. Marshall throws you into it immediately, he makes the stakes clearly apparent right from the beginning, and he keeps the pressure on right until the very end. This is bloody, desperate stuff.

The question here is whether fight or flight is enough to make a movie. Marshall's got more than enough technical chops to pull off his set pieces and his cast wear the skins of their characters with total comfort but is there enough story, enough connecting tissue to pull a string of very strong moments into a cohesive whole? At what point does lean become starved? I would say yes, there is enough there, but just barely. In the story department, Centurion is feeling a little bit gaunt with just enough in play to keep the audience invested and caring about Dias and his small band of men.

What is interesting is whether Marshall really thinks we should care about these men. Because on that point he is deliberately murky and there are clear parallels to be drawn here between the scenario Marshall paints of Roman occupied Scotland and the current situation in the middle east. Think about it. Occupying army of vastly superior numbers and wealth stymied by a local population poorly equipped but fierce and employing guerrilla tactics to harry and disorient. A long term spy embedded within the Roman's own ranks to gain their trust and learn their ways and destroy them from within. Sound familiar? Because if you're willing to draw that comparison then Marshall has some hard things to say about the nature of military occupation. Are the Picts nasty, brutal people? Absolutely. But their leader was nothing but a farmer until Roman soldiers killed his wife to make a point. And the traitorous guide? The survivor of a slaughtered village who watched her mother raped before being raped herself and having her tongue cut out. To a great degree the Picts are a problem that the Romans brought upon themselves, or at least a problem that they made far worse than it had to be. On the Roman side, not a lot of nobility to be found. In their quest to gain ground they are unpleasantly prone to turn on one another.

Whether a specific comment on a specific scenario or a more general condemnation of warfare, there is no doubt that Marshall here is picturing a world where there really isn't a good side or a bad side. There is only life and death and a lot of ground to cover without being noticed if one isn't going to be forcibly and violently turned into the other.

http://www.altmedia.net.au/movie-centurion/22019

MOVIE: CENTURION

Author:
James Harkness
Posted:
Monday, 26 July 2010

Fatigued by Hollywood’s often blundering, effects-driven blockbusters? Never fear, Neil Marshall’s Centurion, an irreverent, gore-splattered survival thriller, offers salvation. In 117 AD, the legendary Roman Ninth Legion is ambushed and slaughtered by the barbaric Picts while marching through Scotland’s bleak wilderness. Barely surviving the fracas, a motley crew of Roman grunts, and their de-facto leader Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), struggle to survive behind enemy lines whilst they’re relentlessly pursued by a deadly huntress; the mute Etain (Olga Kurylenko). Respectfully plundering a handful of historical epics, Centurion plays out like Gladiator minus the pretensions of grandeur; 300 sans the macho posturing and oiled pectorals; and Apocalypto without the…well, Mayans. As with Marshall’s previous cult hits (Dog Soldiers, The Descent), Centurion proves the English director has a knack for crafting taut, edge-of-your-seat thrillers that lovingly embrace the tropes of b-grade genre flicks, while distilling them to their core values. Best of all, Centurion is a rollicking good yarn. (JH)

http://www.freemooviesonline.com/fmo-blog/2010/07/centurion-opens-august-27th/

Up Next: “Centurion” Opens August 27th
Jul - 27

“Centurion” is a classic thriller, written and directed by Neil Marshall, the movie is set in the far off time period of AD 117 when civilization as we know it was just developing under the spread of the Roman Empire. Battles were fought to capture lands from Egypt to Spain, reaching as far East as the Black Sea.

The movie is a behind the scenes look at one of the legends of the Ninth Legion under the command of General Virilus. The battle to conquer a country were never easy, but in the end the Roman centurions and the massive ranks of warriors had always succeeded. The latest campaign in northern Britain orders to hunt down the Picts, kill their leader Gorlacon and every single one of his men is expected to be a true test of skills.

But nothing could have prepared them for what they were about to face. As they marched forward 3,000 men strong to conquer this land, they have been under the watchful eyeof the Picts, one of the most feared tribes in history.

No one is sure where they came from; some say they are the descendents of Vikings, but everyone agreed that their fighting style was unlike anything the Romans had ever seen. An almost invisible enemy who was difficult to combat, this tribe was known for their savage and brutal attacks.

Even with this knowledge, the commander orders the troops to move forward through the forest to their next destination. What the Romans soon discover is that the task of eliminating this enemy will not be easy. Suddenly they are caught completely off-guard in an ambush. Confused as they try to defend their troops from the guerrilla style tactics of this merciless tribe, General Virilus is captured and taken away while the restof the soldiers are massacred leaving only seven survivors.

Among these stands Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), a Centurion, the son of a gladiator who leads this small troop of what is left of the Ninth Legion from the terror of the attack they survived. Now they are duty bound to find a way to rescue their General. But they are far from home and don’t know the terrain. Without supplies or extra weapons they are in a desperate situation to survive and a race against time to save Virilus and make it safely back to Rome.

http://twitchfilm.net/reviews/2010/07/fantasia-2010-centurion.php

FanTasia 2010: Centurion

by Andrew Mack, July 26, 2010 7:46 PM
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Action, Fantasia 2010, UK, Ireland, Australia & New Zealand
Centurion-poster.jpg
Michael Fassbender is Centurion Quintus Dius. He is in charge of the legion that the northern most part of the rule of the Roman Empire. One night the garrison is attacked by an army of Picts, the local peoples who inhabited the northern lands and defended what is now Scotland and Britain from the Roman invasion. His garrison is decimated but he is left alive and taken to one of the local Pict rulers, Gorlacon. In reaction to the taking of the garrison Rome's most powerful Legion, The Ninth, is sent into the North as a show of force against this guerrilla force. Guided by Etain, an expert in tracking, they march on. Meanwhile, Dius has managed to escape his captors and sprints into the care of this legion, led by Maximus. Dius joins this legion and sees how devoted the men are to Maximus. Truly he is a great leader of men. Dius goes with the legion, back into the North.
But Etain has led them into a trap and the Night Legion is slaughtered by the Pict army. Only a scrap of soldiers remain alongside Dius. They know Maximus has been taken back to the village and they go in the dark of night and try to free him. One of the soldiers does something terrible during the botched rescue attempt so Gorlacon sends Etain out with other warriors to hunt down these remaining Romans and kill them. Now Dius must lead this small band of men back South to safe territory before Etain and her warriors can track them down. The race for survival begins.

Centurion features possibly more running across mountains and fields than a Peter Jackson LOTR film! Fortunately for Marshall he chose to film in the Scottish Highlands which is just gorgeous territory. Neil makes great use of the wide angle lens with some well spotted territory. Centurion is certainly full of sweeping and majestic images which only emphasize the isolation of these lone survivors; The depth of Neil's technical skills of which there is no
question.

And there is no shortage of action and blood in Centurion though I felt some of it was cut too fast to really appreciate what was happening on screen. 'Wait! Did that guy just lose the top of his head?' 'Which limb did they just cut off?' But overall for what is billed as an action film certainly lives up to expectations. After a couple doses of mass violence and death Neil's film narrows in on two groups of no more that half a dozen people each and we watch them try to outwit each other; one group yearning to survive, the other yearning to kill. The structure of Neil's film is simple enough. Introduce Romans. Set up Romans. Romans and Picts die. Chase Romans. Romans and Picts die. Many Romans and Picts have died. Many.

And when it's time for a Marshall film it must be time for beautiful and deadly women. Once again Neil Marshall has strong powerful women characters in his film. Where he started back with The Descent, continuing with Doomsday, Centurion carries the torch and has no shortage of deadly femmes. What is known of Pict history is that if you could pick up a sword you could fight, including women, so Neil cannot be accused of pandering to fanboys with females donned in the skins of wild animals shooting arrows and swinging spears. Though we do appreciate their attractiveness. Olga Kurylenko certainly is exciting as Etain. Neil's wife, Axelle Carolyn, moves up from background extra in Doomsday to part of the chase party and has one of the more memorable deaths. Good on you girl.

The one difficulty I had with the film was trying to empathize with the Romans. After all, they are the invaders and the Picts are merely defending their homeland. So there's that. The soldiers and centurions get the raw end of the deal because they are simply the hammer of Rome and where they are told to go fight they go. But I kept thinking to myself that these guys marched upon Britain and tried to conquer it and that's just not cricket with me. So yeah. Good on you Picts. Way to kill those Roman... bastards...

What?

How many made it back?

Bastards!

http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=33177


Review: Centurion
by: Chris Bumbray Jul. 28, 2010


Plot: A Roman Centurion- Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), who’s stationed in Scotland, is captured by a band of Pictish warriors. He’s rescued by the Roman Ninth legion, led by Titus Flavius Virilus (Dominic West), but when that legion is ambushed by their duplicitous Pict Scout (Olga Kurylenko), Dias once again finds himself trapped behind enemy lines- this time with a small group of the legion’s survivors. In order to make it back to the Roman line, they will have to navigate the treacherous countryside, all the while being stalked by a tribe of Picts who’ve sworn to wipe out them out.

Review: CENTURION is something of a departure for director Neil Marshall- who’s mostly known for his horror flicks like THE DESCENT, and DOG SOLDIERS. CENTURION is something different, in that it’s a hard core action flick set in the time of ancient Rome. Like his other films, it’s a taut, lean piece of work, running about ninety minutes and loaded to the gills with bone-crunching, limb chopping carnage.


In fact, CENTURION, despite its setting, doesn’t have all that much in common with other Roman epics like GLADIATOR or SPARTACUS, but is more like a Walter Hill flick like THE WARRIORS, or SOUTHERN COMFORT (Marshall himself acknowledged both films in the Q&A following the Fantasia Film Fest screening). It’s basically just a tight story about a group of soldiers caught behind enemy lines, and having to fight their way to freedom. The fact that they’re Romans only means that instead of bullets, we get swords and arrows. The dialogue is also modernized- with loads of "fucks"and "s$@%$!" instead of thee's and thou's.

As an action flick, CENTURION definitely delivers. The film wastes no time in plunging into carnage, with the film opening with a Pictish assault on a Roman barracks, which only leaves one survivor- Fassbender’s Quintus. After he makes his escape, he takes up with West’s group of soldiers. Within minutes, they’re all slaughtered and West is captured- leaving Quintus to take command of the handful of survivors. The rest of the film is a chase through the countryside, with the action barely letting up for a second.


In the lead, Fassbender makes an excellent action hero. He’s one of those up and coming guys that may well have what it takes to become a mega-star and his upcoming role as Magneto in X-MEN FIRST CLASS could propel him into the big time. CENTURION’s the first time I’ve seen him anchor a film like this (although he did have a small role in 300), and he gives the role more heft than it might have had with someone else in the lead. He got himself into great shape for the role, and he pulls off the numerous sword fights very well- no doubt thanks to some excellent choreography, and sharp editing.


Other than Fassbender, the meatiest role goes to former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko, who plays the mute Pict warrior, determined to slaughter our Roman heroes in order to avenge the atrocities the Roman armies have commited on her people- and she’s excellent . The point is made that the Picts aren’t necessarily the bad guys here, as the Romans are the invaders, but after about twenty minutes that idea is pushed into the background, and we’re clearly meant to sympathize with the Romans.

The numerous battle scenes are quite good, and distinctly R-Rated, with lots of heads, and limbs being chopped off in gory fashion. The audience seemed to really go for the action throughout, with lots of whopping and cheering throughout. The only time the film really started to lag was in the last half hour, when an unnecessary romantic subplot is tacked on, with Fassbender falling for an outcast Pict girl played by the beautiful Imogen Poots. I suppose this subplot was added to make the Romans more sympathetic, and to guarantee a happy ending- but it struck me as too much of an afterthought.

However, despite this flaw, I still liked CENTURION. It’s a fun action flick that’s worth checking out, especially if you enjoy these types of brawny action flicks (and really, who doesn’t?). It’s not particularly deep, but it’s entertaining, and a good flick to watch with a few beers, and a few buds.

Grade: 7/10

http://thecouch.com.au/2010/07/centurion/

Centurion
// Jul 28th, 2010

* Written & directed by Neil Marshall
* Starring Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko & David Morrissey
* Runtime 94 mins
* Classification: M

Centurion

IT is the year AD 117, the Roman Empire stretches from Egypt to Spain and East as far as the Black Sea. In northern Britain (what is now Scotland), the relentless onslaught of conquest has ground to a halt in face of the guerrilla tactics of an elusive enemy, the savage and terrifying tribes known as the Picts (the Scots).

Written and directed by Neil Marshall (Doomsday, The Descent, Dog Soldiers) this is a brutal chase movie that’s more about swords, spears and axes than sandals, but it could have done with a lot more character-development. While it may be cheese it’s not a bad vintage.

Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender) the sole survivor of a Picts raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus’(Dominic West) legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the earth and destroy their leader Gorlacon (Ulrich Thomsen).

When the legion is ambushed and General Virilus is taken captive. Quintus faces a desperate struggle to keep his small platoon alive behind enemy lines, evading remorseless Pict pursuers over harsh terrain. Enduring the harsh terrain and evading their remorseless Pict pursuers led by revenge-hungry Pict Warrior Etain (Olga Kurylenko), the band of soldiers race to rescue their General and to reach the safety of the Roman frontier.

Two and a half stars/5

http://www.trespassmag.com/review-centurion/

Review: Centurion
By James Mitchell on Jul 28, 2010

Based on a 2,000 year old legend that tells of the mysterious disappearance of the invading Roman Ninth Legion in Scotland, Centurion opens in AD 117 as the Roman Empire’s mass land occupation reaches a stalemate in Britain’s north. A territory war is being waged between Roman armed forces and a vicious cluster of tribes known as the Picts- and Roman Centurion Quintas Dias (rising star Michael Fassbender, Inglourious Basterds) bare-chested and bound, is on the run from his Pictish captors. Saved by the Ninth Legion, led by General Titus Virilus (Dominic West, The Wire), Quintas’ loyalty is secured and he vows to lead the Legion’s few remaining soldiers to asylum after they survive a bloody attack by the Picts.

What follows is a game of cat and mouse as the small band of men fight for survival in the freezing, forbidding Scottish Highlands, the Picts, spear-headed (pardon the pun) by the cold blooded super huntress Etain (former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko) in dogged pursuit.

While Marshall’s screenplay, brought to life amidst the spectacular Scottish wilderness, may raise questions of historical veracity ( Marshall freely admits he used his imagination to fill in the gaps), Centurion, unlike the more conservative Gladiator, pulls no punches in its portrayal of battle. Ultra violent and gruesome, this is bloodletting on a grand scale. As the endless crimson tide spurts, almost comically at times, you can’t help but think that along with the grisly veracity, Marshall (who proved to be a gore lover with The Descent and Dog Soldiers) is getting a kick out of the blood sport. Look out for the stomach churning arrow-through-the-eyeball scene.

But there’s more than blood on display here. Sure it’s a dark tale with imagery filtered in murky blues and greens but amongst the bleakness there’s ample suspense, a touch of humour and romance and some reasonably well rounded characters. Fassbender brings understated gravitas to proceedings while Kurylenko, whose Etain has been rendered mute by the Romans, does surprisingly well in conjuring up pure evil. Whether the history books concur or not, this is one poster girl for lethal girl power way ahead of her time.

Centurion isn’t perfect but Marshall does bring a fresh spin to the sword-and-sandals genre giving it a modern sensibility; from rapid-fire action sequences to no-nonsense parlance – “When will people learn not to f&#! with the Ninth?” fumes Virulus – and a tongue-in-cheek sensibility.

While it may not be in the same league as Gladiator in terms of spectacle (fear not role players, there’s sufficiently epic battle-porn on display) Centurion prefers to travel a darker path with a focus on the relentlessness of survival. If you can stomach the blood, it’s a suitably slick and thrilling ride.

Centurion is released nationally on Thursday the 29th of July.

Director: Neil Marshall.

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, David Morrissey.

http://www.ology.com/movie-reviews/centurion

Movie Review: Centurion
By BENNY GAMMERMAN

Michael Fassbender is running
opening August 27, 2010
genre Action/Adventure
runtime 97min
director Neil Marshall
starring Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko
rating
2
mpaa rating R

If you like blood and guts and swords and sandals, look no further. If you like anything else along with those things, you might be a tad let down.

Neil Marshall, director of Dog Soldiers and The Descent, now brings us Centurion, a tale set in 117 AD - the height of the Roman Empire. In northern Britain, however, the conquest has reached a standstill at the hands of the savage Pict tribes. Quintus (Michael Fassbender) is the sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort. He joins up with the legendary Ninth Legion, led by the mighty General Virilus (Dominic West), who are marching north to wipe out the Picts and their leader Gorlacon (cousin of Megatron). When the legion is ambushed and Virilus taken hostage, Quintus must band together with the remains of the Ninth in an attempt to survive in harsh, unfamiliar territory.

First things first, the opening credit sequence is awesome. Endless flyovers of icy terrain with the text hanging in midair... epic. And the movie does deliver in the epicness vein. All hyperbole aside, I'd go so far as to say that a solid third of the film's runtime is devoted to pure body shots. As in - sword to crotch, arrow to head, boulder to torso, axe to leg, etc. The second third is comprised of more flyover shots of the group traveling, sometimes on horseback, sometimes not. The final third leaves room for dialogue such as this:

ARIANNE - Good luck, Roman.

QUINTUS - Good luck, wench.

and

VIRILUS - When will people learn not to f*ck with the Ninth?

Suffice it to say, the action is clearly the film's strong suit. And what action it is! Ligaments, limbs, organs, bones, blood (of both the practical and CGI variety) - all go flying about willy-nilly. The editing is simple, energetic, and effective. Everything looks great. But in end, there are two kinds of films - those that don't have young, sexy, mute, mascara'd she-wolf bounty hunters... and those that do. Guess which one this is. Centurion is available on video-on-demand on the Xbox Live Marketplace and Amazon.com today.

Sum...ology: For fans of a bloody good time ONLY.

(SIDENOTE: The role of Arianne is played by a lovely actress named Imogen Poots. 'Imogen Poots' is a hysterical name.)

http://www.killerfilm.com/film_reviews/read/centurion-review-36252

Centurion – Review
Submitted by Jason Bene on July 30, 2010 – 7:02 am

Neil Marshall, Eli Roth, Alejandre Aja, Darren Lynn Bousman, James Wan, Rob Zombie, Leigh Wannell, and Greg McLean make up ‘The Splat Pack’ – a term coined by Alan Jones about a collection of filmmakers, who, since 2002, have directed a large number of horror films. I think all of these gentlemen are talented in their own right, but I’d have to say Alejandre Aja is my favorite, and after careful thought, the individual that I think is the best figure for the future of violent cinema lie in the bloodstained paws of British auteur Neil Marshall.

His movie debut was the 2002 lycanthropic actioneer Dog Soldiers, and he followed it up with what many consider to be his best flick, the claustrophic creature feature The Descent. My personal favorite movie in his ouvre is the kick-ass apocalyptic thriller Doomsday, which sees Marshall traveling back to the early 80’s and pantomiming Escape from New York and The Road Warrior.

Neil Marshall was one of seven directors who were being looked at to take the mantle of this summer’s Robert Rodriguez produced sequel Predators. Suppposedly, he was in “close talks” to direct it. Nimrod Antal [Vacancy] was chosen instead, and Marshall moved forward to write and direct Centurion. Can he continue his streak of winners and keep that batting average at a thousand? Let’s find out.

It’s 1127 A.D., and the Roman Empire is mopping the floor with people left and right in their domination that stretches from Egypt to Spain. They meet their match in the guerrilla tactics of an enemy that has a bone, an arm, a leg, and a head to pick with them – the tribal warriors the ’Picts’.

The Ninth Legion are the equivalent of the Los Angeles Lakers in that we don’t take any crap from anybody world, or in cinematic terms, they are a small version of the 300 Spartans. Led by General Virilus [Dominic West], and Quintos [Michael Fassbender], the lone survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, they charge forward with orders from their head honcho to wipe them out and remove their leader [Gorlacon] by any means possible.

The front lines are headed by a ’scout’ [disguised as a Roman] who is not what she appears to be. Etain [Olga Kurylenko] was born and raised as a ’Pict’ after Romans murdered her parents and sliced her tongue off and raped her as a young girl. She leads them into a gory ambush where Virilus ends up being taken captive and the small band of soldiers must fight an enemy who knows the terrain like the back of their hand.

What works best is Marshall’s command of the ferocious hack and slash combat scenes where the red sauce flies in all directions. The violence is gritty and grounded in reality, giving the scenes real power and realism to them. The film’s polished monochromatic glow gives a rich juxtaposition to the splashes of blood.

However, the overall vibe of the film is hollow as the script gets muddled in the trenches. Who are we supposed to be rooting for here? The Romans are not a likable motley crew of warriors. Sure, they are only doing their job and following orders from their leaders, but their loyalty to them is misplaced and I couldn’t back a clan of ruthless killers. I sided with the impoverished ‘Picts’, who had every right to take out every Roman soldier that they could.

This is by no means a bad film, just a fairly mundane one that is a small dent in Neil’s armor that can easily be fixed. Here’s hoping Marshall comes back with a vengeance and inks a deal with Ghosthouse Pictures and Sam Raimi and makes Burst 3D.

Rating: ★★½☆☆

http://blastr.com/2010/07/post-33.php

Centurion's warriors make those guys from 300 look like wimps

Forget the ab-flexing, over-stylized, waxed chests of 300. Those pretty boys would last about five seconds in the brutal battles of Centurion, the new action flick from bloodthirsty writer/director Neil Marshall (Doomsday, The Descent). Although the director has rarely shied from bloodshed, Centurion marks a new level of gritty, gory brutality, even for Marshall. Think Saving Private Ryan in the second century.
Centurion's warriors make those guys from 300 look like wimps

As the legend goes, the Roman Ninth Legion marched into Scotland around A.D. 117 only to vanish into thin air. Tall tales of their mysterious disappearance range from starvation to more far-fetched, supernaturally tinged theories. Marshall grew up near Hadrian's Wall, built shortly after the events of Centurion, which piqued his interest to explore the history behind the period. His take theorizes a series of deadly battles between the Romans and the Picts, a mysterious group of tribesmen once inhabiting the area that later became Scotland.

Michael Fassbender headlines the cast as Quintus Dius, a centurion leading a raid on a Pict camp to rescue their beloved General Virilus (Dominic West). The mission goes awry when an unsavory centurion senselessly murders the son of the Pict leader, leading the tribesmen to a relentless hunt of the fleeing Romans. The Picts are out for revenge, medieval-style.

Now, with the story and historical mumbo-jumbo out of the way, let's get to the good part. Centurion is an all-out, balls-to-the-wall action movie, first and foremost. Sure, there's some story and a little historical background sprinkled along the way, but action is what this is all about, not giving audiences a chance to catch their breath in between beheadings. The adrenaline pumps from the opening frames as warriors slice and dice heads and limbs, splattering enough blood on the lens to make other Roman tales feel tame by comparison. From start to finish, there is rarely a break in the action.

Gone is the stylization of more modern sword-and-sandal warfare epics or the slow-motion muscle flexing and facial grimaces of Braveheart or Gladiator. Marshall's action is quick, chaotic and real, reveling in the violence at every turn. Thw writer/director also expertly utilizes sound to up the action ante, adding ear-piercingly brutal clangs and slices to match the chaos and keep audiences on their toes. The most amazing feat here is simply how he manages to pack so much into each battle sequence, perfectly choreographing each detailed battle with visual eye candy in all directions.

Part of the reason Centurion is so entertaining is how taut Marshall's storytelling is. Where a Scott (Ridley or Tony), Spielberg or Mann behind the lens would never consider turning in an edit of any period piece shorter than 150 minutes, Centurion is a brisk, adrenaline-infused 97 minutes. Marshall minimizes the moments of calm to keep the intensity high, which may at times result in slightly less developed characters or an arguably thinner storyline, but he also manages to make this historically tinged tale wildly entertaining for a new generation of ever-shorter attention spans.

All the while, Marshall still manages to craft some truly memorable characters among the endless chaos. Dominic West, as Virilus, scores his best feature role to date, a battle-worn man's man with a sense of humor. As a huge fan of The Wire, I've been saying for a while now that West should be a star, and Marshall really explores his potential. West's to-the-death standoff with the ruthless female Pict warrior Etain (Olga Kurylenko) is one of the movie's highlights. Kurylenko, a supermodel who sheds every bit of girliness to dig deep into the fearless, unstoppable Etain, is one of the great screen villains of recent time, male or female. 90 pounds or not, if this chick charged you with sword in air, you'd be running too.

Led by Fassbender, the Romans of the Ninth Legion are raging balls of testosterone, warts and all. They are fearless and ruthless, covered in scars and driven only by their loyalty to Rome. Sure, 300 was a nice visual treat, but the gritty, sweaty brutality of these centurions makes the action feel more realistic and jarring, even in the context of a flick more concerned with entertainment value than history lessons.

What Neil Marshall has delivered with Centurion is a sort of B-movie Roman battle flick of olden times, albeit with a level of violence that is nothing if not modern and groundbreaking. It's not for the faint of heart and probably not for those looking to learn something. But action aficionados are gonna love it.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/entertainment/centurion/story-e6frg30c-1225899480138

Centurion

* Ben McEachen, in STE
* From: The Sunday Times
* July 31, 2010 7:39PM

Michael Fassbender on the run in Centurion Source: The Sunday Times

IMPALINGS. Beheadings. Arrows in eyes. Tomahawks in skulls. Neck slittings. Swords driven through internal organs.

Welcome to on-screen carnage, circa 2nd century in the north of England, as enterprising director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) decorates a lean, mean story of survival with grisly fighting.

Like a mini version of Gladiator with the blood/brutality count going off the charts, Centurion stretches a modest budget to produce an expansive yet simple “epic”.

One of the Inglourious Basterds and a rising international star, Michael Fassbender is Roman soldier Quintus Dias, who we meet in a memorable opening sequence as he runs through the snow, shackled and shirtless.

Such stark, cinema-tastic imagery populates Centurion, which offers a grimy, lived-in scope to its impressive costumes, make-up, extras and locations.

This non-glossy approach befits Marshall’s sinewy exercise, telling how Rome’s infamous Ninth Legion was smashed by the Picts, a ruthless tribe of Scottish guerrilla warriors.Their vicious resistance to Rome’s invasion forces the Ninth’s remnant, led by Dias, to flee for distant safety.

Aside from having copious violence, Centurion is one long chase. Marshall keeps the heart rate up but the cat-and-mouse scarper through spectacular English wilds soon becomes formulaic, especially the helicopter camera-work (similar to The Lord of the Rings) showing blokes jogging across mountain tops. And then they jog some more. And some more.

To shake things up, Dias and his depleting cohorts hide in the remote home of conveniently stunning – and single – Arian (Imogen Poots).

This detour into brief tenderness is shameless padding, holding off a bloodthirsty showdown between Dias’s troops and the Pict pack, led by mute warrior princess Etain (Olga Kurylenko).

Also briefly featuring The Wire star Dominic West, Centurion ignites when its thrusting edits and visual style act as extensions of the body blows unleashed. In between the confronting conflict, though, the impact is dialled down.

CENTURION (MA) 97 mins
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Olga Kurylenko, Dominic West, David Morrissey
Three and a half stars

http://reviews.media-culture.org.au/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4077

Cinema: Centurion
Posted on Monday, August 02 @ 15:51:21 EST by Michael Dalton


In the new film Centurion, director Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) seems to have borrowed liberally from blockbusters of recent years to create a gritty, engaging adventure set in AD 117. More than ever audiences are sensing influences from previous outings, chiefly in visual terms, and here in Centurion, the violence of 300, terrains recalling Lord Of The Rings, atmosphere reminiscent of Robin Hood and even the profanity of Scorsese blend together into an exciting game of cat and mouse.

The tale itself is based on a legend more than 2,000 years old. It attempts to essay the strange disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion in Scotland. Beginning with the Roman Empire’s land occupation reaching a stalemate of sorts in Britain’s North, a war is waged between a vicious tribe known as the Picts and the armed forces of Rome. Centurion Quintas Dias (Michael Fassbender) has escaped the clutches of the Picts and, poised for slaughter, is narrowly rescued by the Ninth Legion’s leader General Titus Virilus (Dominic West). Before long the Ninth Legion is attacked and massacred, Virilus is taken prisoner and Dias assembles the few remaining members to rescue the general. Unbeknownst to Dias, one of his men murders the young son of the leader of the Picts during the rescue attempt and so begins a battle of survival for Dias and his men as they are pursued across the Scottish Highlands by the Picts, led by cold-blooded hunter Etain (Olga Kurylenko).

While Marshall admits he played with historical accuracy in order to fill in gaps (little is known for sure of the events), there is gravity in Centurion and it’s due largely to the horrific battle sequences. Bloody on a grand scale, a cringe-worthy trail of carnage is splattered across the screen. The men feast on the raw meat of an animal (inside and out), an arrow splits an eyeball and decapitation is the order of the day. Fassbender, first seen shirtless stumbling across a snow-covered mountain, is a handsome hero, honourable and true, and a born leader. Despite the limitations of the role, he does a fine job beginning as a victim and morphing into a fierce, determined leader more clued in than his predecessor. West does a superb job as Virilus, gutsy and loud while Kurylenko, made up to look like a punk demon, is flat-out chilling in a mute role that demands her eyes blaze as she swings weapons at her preys’ jugular. Tense, nervy and thrilling, if the makers had the nerve, this is what Clash Of The Titans could’ve been.

Centurion

(2010)

Director: Neil Marshall

Screenplay: Neil Marshall

Editing: Chris Gill

Cinematography: Sam McCurdy

Score: Ilan Eshkeri

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, David Morrissey, Noel Clarke

http://www.disassociated.com/2010/08/02/centurion/

Centurion
posted by John Lampard on Monday, 2 August, 2010 at 11:56 am
3 stars

The premise

Centurion, directed by UK filmmaker Neil Marshall, who also wrote the screenplay, is the film adaptation of the legendary disappearance of the Roman Empire’s Ninth Legion, reputedly at the hands of the warring Picts, somewhere in what is now Scotland, in AD117.

In reality about the only thing historians agree on is that the Ninth Legion – a Roman legion was an infantry force of 3000 to 5000 soldiers and officers – did vanish without explanation, but no one knows exactly where or how. There is apparently some evidence of the legion’s presence in the Netherlands, and then much further east, in Judaea, after AD117.

While the Ninth Legion did come close to annihilation in Britain however, in AD61, during a rebellion against Roman rule lead by Queen Boudicca, their ultimate fate truly remains the stuff of legend… for the time being at least.
The play

It is AD117, and the Roman Governor of Britain has received orders from the Emperor to bring the currently unconquered northern part of Britain under Roman control, using whatever means necessary. He orders the commander of the Ninth Legion, General Virilus (Dominic West), to march north immediately, and subdue the Picts.

The Picts were an alliance of Celtic tribes who inhabited what is now Scotland until about the tenth century, and had managed to repel every other Roman incursion, thanks to their use of guerrilla warfare tactics, and their intimate knowledge of the region, something that gave them the upper-hand over the otherwise powerful Roman legions.

While wary of his enemy, Virilus nevertheless set off for Scotland with his troops, where they were inevitably attacked by the Picts, under the command of Gorlacon (Ulrich Thomsen). While Virilus was one of a few Romans to survive, he was kidnapped by the Picts, and taken back to one of their villages.

Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), a centurion, together with a handful of Roman survivors – including Macros (Noel Clarke), Bothos (David Morrissey) – then set about trying to return to Roman lines. They figured the best plan – anticipating their Pict pursuers would go south – was to first head north, then west, then finally south.

Needless to say the Picts set off north hot on their trail, led by Etain (Olga Kurylenko), a highly skilled warrior and tracker, and a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues across the snowy, frozen, highlands of Caledonia.
The wrap

Students of history probably aren’t going to walk away from “Centurion” having learnt much, and while the depictions of life on both sides of the line are accurate enough, this is essentially a war action story, complete with plenty of gritty battle scenes, with many a limb being lopped, and heads a-rolling, literally.

While a lot here is based on speculation, for instance little is actually known about the Picts and how they lived, a few liberties are taken in the name of story telling. Perhaps the most glaring is the attitude of the Roman Governor in Britain.

On learning the fate of the legion, he decides the best idea is say no more about it, thinking word of its rout will reflect badly on his leadership. Considering the legion was actually based in Britain, in the city of York to be precise, how the minor detail of its absence from barracks was ever meant to be explained away eluded me.

Perhaps though that was also part of the legend of the Ninth’s disappearance…