Centurion DVD Reviews

http://www.punchdrunkcritics.com/2010/11/punch-drunk-dvds.html

How does a movie featuring the fast rising Michael Fassbender(Inglourious Basterds), Dominic West(The Wire), and directed by Neil Marshall(The Descent) not get a wide release? I don't know yet but I intend to find out how this Roman era war film slipped beneath the cracks.

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/this-week-in-dvd-november-2nd.php

Centurion

Pitch: Bloody action, Olga Kurylenko, and Axelle Carolyn. Every film should be so lucky…

Why Rent? A Roman legion heads into Pict territory to clear up resistance and is instead slaughtered. A handful of survivors are forced to make their way through enemy territory, but the odds are stacked against them. Michael Fassbender stars as the conflicted Roman unsure of his place in this war but sure of his will to survive, and he’ll need all the help he can get when the warriors come hunting for blood. Kurylenko plays a mute but deadly tracker. Director Neil Marshall has crafted a bloody (sometimes CGI), action filled romp that should satisfy folks looking for high-energy entertainment.

Extra Features? Behind the scenes, deleted scenes, outtakes, interviews, photo galleries, commentary

http://kymx.radio.com/2010/11/02/centurion-out-on-dvd/

CENTURION OUT ON DVD!!!
Mix96 Promotions

Movies/DVD's
11/2/2010
8:47 am

A HIGHLY ENJOYABLE ACTION ADVENTURE!!!Set during the war between Roman soldiers and Pict tribesmen during the 2nd century Roman conquest of Britain. Michael Fassbender stars as Quintus Dias, Roman centurion and son of a legendary gladiator who leads a group of soldiers on a raid of a Pict camp to rescue a captured general (Dominic West). The son of the Pict leader is murdered during the raid, and the Romans find themselves hunted by a seemingly unstoppable group of the Pict’s most vicious and skilled warriors, led by a beautiful and deadly tracker (Olga Kurylenko), and hell bent on revenge.

http://moviemoxie.blogspot.com/2010/11/dvd-releases-for-november-2-2010.html

Tuesday, 2 November, 2010
DVD Releases for November 2, 2010
Tuesday time - which means time to take a look at what's hitting this shelf this week Tuesday November 2, 2010 on DVD release. The biggie of the week is a clear choice as we have Toy Story 3, which I didn't get out to see in theatres but am hoping to catch up with at some point.

My pick of the week would be the sword & sandal-eque, and you have to -esque it because there is *no sand*, Centurion a interesting spin and different structure of an epic tale starring Michael Fassbender.

http://filmstadium.ca/?p=3473

Centurion(2010)

by DWEG on Nov.03, 2010, under REVIEWS

I have to say I may be bias cause I have liked every film Neil Marshall has directed, I loved Dog Soldiers and The Descent, and I even really liked Doomsday and now comes Centurion and for me Marshall is 4 for 4. This is a solid action movie, it is crisp and its brutal. It’s more realistic 300, with a better script and acting. It’s basically a film about what was left of a Roman Legion and their attempt to get home. Whats cool about it, is that they are the hunted, they are scared, their not trying to get revenge they just want to survive. I like the fact that he broke it down to just seven soldiers left. It is a recurring theme in Neil Marshall’s films, always a small group together battle huge odds. The film has a couple of things going for it and first is the cast, it is very strong for this kind of picture and it’s lead by Michael Fassbender, who I’m convinced will be a star, he is very good here. The other thing is Neil Marshall can shot the s$#! out of an action sequence and he does it here. I highly recommend this film to any action fan, to me it’s one of the better films I’ve seen in a while.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/11/03/centurion/

Centurion

By Joe Shearer » Posted Nov 3, 20101 Comment »

For those who found “Braveheart” too tame, I give you Neil Marshall’s latest, the fantastic “Centurion.”

Marshall (“The Descent,” “Doomsday”) specializes in affecting, entertaining gorefests, and this film is no different, with a bit of a twist: a history lesson along the way.

“Centurion” spotlights on the Roman Army’s legendary 9th Legion, which for all intents and purposes are the Roman version of a black ops or Green Beret unit. They’re elite soldiers brought in to win the fights no one else can.

They met their match, though, when the Romans invade England and run into the vicious Picts, guerilla fighters who understandably want these invaders out of their country.

The Romans send the 9th legion out to take down the Picts, but they’re ambushed and find the tables turned on them. The Roman general (Dominic West) is abducted, and a botched rescue leads to the death of the Pict king’s son, and the war is on, leaving Centurion Quentin Dias (Michael Fassbender) to lead the increasingly small legion.

Soon what’s left of the 9th finds themselves suddenly the prey as the Picts, led by the vicious warrior woman Etain (Olga Kurylenko), and the rest of the film is a struggle for survival.

Part of the film’s appeal is that there aren’t necessarily good guys or bad guys, only two sides in a war. The Picts are brutal and merciless, but are being invaded. The Romans are shown in some instances as noble and just, but at the same time they’re invading and conquering another country. It creates an interesting dynamic that doesn’t judge, but rather places them in their own time for us to observe.

The fight sequences are a cavalcade of carnage, shots that would make Mel Gibson flinch as heads, legs, arms, and other appendages roll at will. Marshall deftly combines practical effects and CG to a nice balance within his budget (which was quite low according to the making-of in the disc’s special features section). Blood sprays, splatters, globs, and chunks. They’re spectacular fight scenes, wonderfully filmed and merciless in their execution. These were brutal times, and so are these guys ready to lay a hurting on anyone.

The acting is routinely good as well, highlighted by Kurylenko’s standout performance as a mute wild woman. She more than holds her own in fight scenes with men; she makes you believe she should dominate these soldiers. Imogen Poots also makes a good showing as a woman exiled as a witch whom the surviving soldiers encounter.

Marshall is at the head of hotshot young filmmakers working today, making the films he wants to make with or without a big studio backing. Here he washes his film in blues and browns and creates a tremendous visual style heightened in a similar but subtler way than, say “300″ did.

The bonus features are surprisingly strong given this film’s low profile, with the aforementioned making-of, along with deleted scenes and outtakes and a commentary track.

If you’ve never experienced a Neil Marshall film, you should treat yourself. Why not start with “Centurion”?

Film: 4 Yaps
Extras: 3.5 Yaps

http://www.moviesonline.ca/2010/11/new-on-dvd-and-blu-ray-november-2nd-toy-story-3-the-pacific-the-goonies-and-more/

Centurion

I’m a big fan of Neil Marshall’s previous work, especially The Descent, but I haven’t been able to catch his latest film as yet. That said, the awesome cast ( Michael Fassbender, Dominic West and Noel Clarke) makes this historical actioner a solid rental option.

* Making of Centurion
* Deleted scenes
* Outtakes
* Interviews
* Behind the scenes
* Photo gallery
* HDNet: A Look at Centurion

http://www.discdish.com/index.php/2010/11/03/dvd-review-centurion/

DVD Review: Centurion
By
Irv
Published: 11/03/2010Posted in: Action, Adventure, Review
DVD Review: Centurion

STUDIO: Magnolia | DIRECTOR: Neil Marshall | CAST: Michael Fassbender, Olga Kurylenko, Dominic West, Noel Clarke, David Morrisey
RELEASE DATE: 11/2/10 | PRICE: DVD $26.98, Blu-ray $29.98
BONUSES: commentary, deleted scenes with commentary, outtakes, interviews, featurettes, more
SPECS: R | 98 min. | Action adventure | 2.35:1 widescreen | Dolby Digital 5.1 | English and Spanish subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

Centurion offers just the right kind of bloody and visceral experience to satisfy fans of such contemporary sword-and-sandal epic movies as Gladiator, 300 and Troy.

Set in 117 A.D., this spectacle from genre specialist Neal Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers) tells of Ancient Rome’s Ninth Legion’s march towards Scotland, only to encounter the guerilla-like Celtic group known as the Picts, who simply won’t have it. Leading the Romans is the brave centurion Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), whose fiercest combatant turns out to be a lethal mute Pict female warrior (Olga Kurylenko, Quantum of Solace).

While the budget for Centurion is obviously not on the scale of the aforementioned epics, Director/co-writer Marshall gets the most out of his rugged settings and fierce combat sequences. Fassbender, who was quite impressive in Inglourious Basterds and Hunger, shows he has the action hero goods, while The Wire’s Dominic West (playing a rowdy Roman general) and “Bond girl” Kurylenko are up to the demands of this rough-and-tumble period piece.

What makes Centurion most interesting—and confounding at the same time—is that that there are no clear good guys here. Despite the fact that Fassbender’s Quintus is seemingly the hero by way of his heroics, it’s hard to root for his Roman troops who specialize in savagery and pillaging on at least the same level as their Neanderthal-like Pict assailants. Marshall also draws allusions to other contemporary wars involving invading factions, most obviously Vietnam and the current Middle Eastern conflicts.

Among the bonus features are 15 minutes of deleted scenes with Marshall commenting on his reasons for omitting them from the films and a handful of outtakes that find the actors falling down and breaking up with laughter, which undoubtedly lightened up the mood of making a movie filled with so much graphic violence and savagery.

http://flicksided.com/2010/11/tuesday-dvd-throwdown-november-2-2010-new-releases/

Centurion

When the final credits were rolling I observed, out-loud, “that was one of the most outwardly violent films I’ve seen since Kill Bill”. That’s not far from the truth. Limbs are hacked clean off, stomachs are regularly impaled and the claret fluid sprays endlessly. Though the major difference is where Tarantino’s homage to the old chop-socky movies from Eastern cinema is cartoonish in its bloody visuals, Centurion is anything but tongue-in-cheek; here the blood, sweat and tears seep into the muddy vistas and bucolic rivers of Great Britain to intensify the atmosphere.

Director Neil Marshall (The Descent) has crafted a gritty movie that at its core is a simple ‘cat and mouse’ tale – and a highly entertaining one at that – but becomes much more thanks to the efficacious work from all the cast and crew. Marshall himself executes a few impressive sequences, the most outstanding being the initial ambush on the Ninth Legion, showing once again he knows how to stretch a small budget with minimalistic techniques and a passionate approach. Director of photography Sam McCurdy provides a suitably grimy and grainy look that, although at times is too dim, sets the ideal tone for the film. Perhaps Marshall should have monitored the editing closer though, Chris Gill’s frenetic cutting very nearly ruins a couple of the fight scenes.

Major Hollywood star in the waiting Michael Fassbender (played the German-impersonating British Lieutentant in Inglourious Basterds) is undoubtedly the standout among the acting contingent. As the titular soldier, Fassbender makes for a charismatic leading man that convinces in both the physical and dramatic elements of the role. I eagerly wait to see what he does as the young Magneto in the upcoming X-Men prequel. Elsewhere The Wire alumni Dominic West is rough around the edges as the gruff General Virilus, Olga Kurylenko is positively bad-ass as the mute, monomaniacal warrior hell-bent on revenge and BBC favorite David Morrisey adds clout in his supporting role of Bothos.

A grubby, gory delight. RENT IT. ***/5

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20101105/NEWS/101109823/1005?p=2&tc=pg&tc=ar

CENTURION'

I've been a pretty unabashed supporter of the genre-hopping director Neil Marshall, whose contemporary horror classic 'The Descent' thrilled and terrified, and whose John Carpenter-inspired 'Doomsday' finally answered the long-standing question of just what a hybrid between 'Escape from New York' and 'Braveheart' would look like. With 'Centurion,' his latest super-violent, straight action film, I feel like he's slipped a bit. Not that 'Doomsday' contained any great substance or anything, but it did offer a little more to chew on than this Roman Empire-set actioner. 'Centurion' stars Michael Fassbender ('Inglourious Basterds') as a Roman soldier taken captive by the vicious Picts, the residents of England during the time the Roman Empire was expanding their empire westward. He escapes and is found by a traveling legion led by a charismatic general (Dominic West). When the legion is all but wiped out by a vicious ambush, he and five other survivors find themselves trapped behind enemy lines, fighting for survival and avoiding the mute, deadly Pict scout (Olga Kuryenko) tasked with hunting them down. 'Centurion' is every bit as violent as you'd hope, anyway. $26.98 DVD, $29.98 Blu-ray.

http://www.theblurayblog.com/2010/11/centurion-blu-ray-disc-review/

Centurion Blu-ray Disc Review
By Howard ⋅ November 5, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment
Filed Under Dominic West, E1, E1 Films, Michael Fassbender, Neil Marshall, Olga Kurylenko

CENTURION (2010, Blu-ray released November 2, 2010 – MSRP $32.99 CAN, $29.98 US)

Centurion Blu-ray DiscCenturion is a film based in historical fact, that attempts to offer a possible explanation for the disappearance of an entire legion of Roman soldiers in the mists of what would eventually become Scotland more than a millennia ago. At the center of the tale is the son of a gladiator and a small band of unlucky Roman soldiers.

Michael Fassbender (300, Jonah Hex), Dominic West (The Wire) and Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace) star in this visually stunning, bloody affair of battles and conquest. It’s 117 AD and the Roman Empire is struggling to gain control over northern Britain. Pict (early Celts) warriors, employing the earliest guerrilla warfare tactics, have held them off for some time and everyone is wishing that the vicious business of war would come to an end.

Fassbender is a centurion with a strong survival instinct that vows allegiance to General Virilus (West) for a final attempt at securing northern Britain for the Empire with the aid of Etain (Kurylenko), a mute warrior scout. The Pict warriors are depicted as cunning and barbaric, while the Romans, even with their shinier wardrobe, are by no means any nicer.

While it isn’t always clear who you should root for when watching this film, it is clear that you will be swept away by the awesome 1080p transfer. The breathtaking vistas of the mountain ranges and the beautiful landscapes of Scotland are spectacular. Extra work went into the production just to capture the weather conditions and traverse the terrain, which was often quite difficult, to give that sense of authenticity. The battle scenes, which are quite graphic, are wonderfully filmed and will have you mouth-gaped more than once. The colors are just rich enough without ever jumping out at you and the contrast is well defined, even with a fair amount of the story taking place at night. Blacks are deep without ever crushing any detail.

The audio is the best feature of the film. The sounds of soldiers marching, of hooves clopping, of clanging swords and falling trees all rumble and resound through your sound system with outstanding clarity and power. The dts-HD MA 5.1 surround soundtrack delivers clear center speaker dialogue, but also adds to the atmosphere, offering background ambiance, enriching the entire experience. And, the original music provided by composer Ilan Eshkeri (The Young Victoria) only augments the epic-feel to the soundtrack.

Extras include a commentary track, cast and crew interviews, a short featurette, deleted scenes and production photos. Also, a behind-the-scenes look at Centurion (“Blood, Fire and Fury“) provides background on the myth of the disappearance of the 9th Legion of Rome. The Blu-ray also offers (rarely seen nowadays) outtakes and B-Roll camera footage. I always find this sort of addition fun and interesting—It’s usually raw behind-the-scenes fare and gives better sense of what things were like on-set.

Chases, battles, blood and lore make Centurion an entertaining film to see (and hear!). Neil Marshall (Writer/Director) assembled an outstanding crew and technical team to deliver an exciting look at harsh battles and legends on the front lines of a changing nation.

http://thevideostation.com/blog/2010/11/05/centurion-reviewed-by-david/

CENTURION – Reviewed by David

Theories abound in history circles as to what exactly befell the Ninth Legion, a unit of Rome’s ancient army first commanded by Caesar that up and disappeared around A.D. 117. Descent director Neil Marshall’s Centurion is one of those theories, and an entertaining, blood-soaked action flick that one could basically be summed up as Gladiator with more gore.

It centers around a Roman soldier (Michael Fassbender) who joins up with the Legion after escaping from the Picts, a confederation of Celtic tribes living in what would later become Scotland who have successfully resisted the Roman Empire’s expansion. Ordered to eradicate the barbaric Picts once and for all, the Legion is ambushed and only Fassbender and a few other men survive.

After which the film drops the history lesson pretense and turns into a survival tale as the men desperately attempt to get home, the Picts hot on their trail a la Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid thanks to a mute Brigantian scout (Olga Kurylenko) who really has it out for Romans.

Marshall goes for an epic feel here, via sweeping shots of snow-covered mountains and ominous-sounding dialogue, like “Even the land wanted us dead.” It looks so cold and harsh that I wondered how a shirtless Fassbender didn’t freeze to death while fleeing from his captors.

Of course, the stark beauty of the thing is somewhat overshadowed by the gallons of fake blood Marshall loves to spill in his movies. Characters get beheaded, speared, axed, sliced, diced and rammed into trees. One character gets an arrow stuck right into her eye, while early on a Roman soldier gets a sword through his leg as he’s relieving himself.

And Marshall directs it all with his usual intense energy, crafting some great set pieces, like the Pict ambush of the Romans that features the awesome sight of flaming boulders rolling down towards the doomed soldiers. Even better is the climactic skirmish in an abandoned Roman fort where Fassbender faces off with the beautiful but vicious Kurylenko.

Acting-wise, only Dominic West (The Wire) brings any real color to the show as the Legion’s manly commander. Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) makes an effectively noble soldier, while Imogen Poots shines as a Pict exile. Her tenuous romance with Fassbender lets the film quiet down, if only briefly, and allows for some actual emotional warmth amid all the brutal bloodshed. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Action/Adventure/Drama/History

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 11/2/10

http://moviemoxie.blogspot.com/2010/11/centurion-dvd-review.html

Thursday, 4 November, 2010
Centurion (DVD Review)
Photobucket
Courtesy of eOne Films

Writer/Dir: Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Doomsday)
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Olga Kyrylenko, Dominic West, Liam Cunningham, Noel Clarke, Ulrich Thomsen, Imogen Poots
UK, 2010 (DVD Release)

Reason to see: Epic. Sword & Sandal-y. Awesome cast including Michael Fassbender. That's all good in my book!

Centurion made my Most Anticipated Films of the Year list for 2010, and I put it on that list even though it didn't have a Toronto theatrical release. But it did play at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival and now makes it's way on to DVD for all to enjoy in it's glory and its interesting spin on an epic tale.

It's an epic sword and ... as there aren't sandals we can go with sword & snow tale, it stars Michael Fassbender (Hunger) as Quintus Dias, a Roman soldier whom is amongst the ranks fighting against a long and deadlocked struggle against the Picts. Olga Kyrylenko (The Quantum of Solace) stars as Etain, a fierce tracker and hunter that's a real force to be reckoned with and I have to say she was extremely impressive, skillful and strong.

The film takes a step outside the comfort zone of the epic formula by choosing to focus on a fairly contained time period and surrounding incidents, giving an epic style slice of life of a centurion where you really don't know what is going to happen. I have to give it kudos for going with something different, but, I did that left me wondering why tell *this* story? That question along with not being entirely sure who I wanted to cheer for, left me a little off kilter. In this set up I'd usually be cheering for the Picts, who are led by Ulrich Thomsen (Fear Me Not / Den du frygter) but they are so brutal that I couldn't cheer for them. I was also a little leery with the intermittent voice overs, which I cringe at in epics as they tend to be used to help the audience make sure we know where we are but I found here it was clear enough by the story they were showing us and therefore a little too much.

But, the films is gorgeous to watch from a visual perspective, with many a sweeping overhead shots along with bloody and brutal battles along the way. The acting is strong overall and the casting was great. I although I found the Picts to be brutal, I did love the looks & feel of their ferociousness as well as the fact that they had several women warriors amongst them.

DVD Extras:

* Feature Commentary with director Neil Marshal, production designer Simon Bowles, special make-up effects designer Paul Hyett and director of photography Sam McCurdy - quite an enjoyable commentary that has a jovial and entertaining tone including lots of stories on the challenges of the film, changes to the story and structure of the film during the film making process including the reasons behind why some things were changed and the fight to keep others things in along with quite a bit on the production side of things in terms of locations, make-up and effects. Sidenote: Sam McCurdy comes into the commentary at 52 minutes into the film.
* Blood Fire & Fury: Behind the Scenes of Centurion (4 Behind the Scenes, 26 minutes) Flip clips, behind the scenes footage and interviews with writer/director Neil Marshall, actors Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, JJ Feild, David Morrissey, Olga Kyrylenko, Dave Legno and Axelle Carolyn, producer Robert Jones, cinematographer Sam McCurdy, production desinger Simon Bowles, special effects designer Paul Hyett, prosthetics technician Demetris Robinson, stunt coordinator Paul Herbert on a variety of subjects including the legend of the Ninth Legion, the Picts warfare style and dialect choices, getting around on locations, the down & dirty visual style, creation or sets on location and creation of the special effects, gore, fighting, stunts and battle sequences.
* Centurion Featurette (3 minutes) film clips behind the scenes, interview with writer/director Neil Marshall, producer Robert Jones and actors Dominic West, Michael Fassbender, Olga Kyrylenko, Noel Clarke & Axelle Carolyn, on the story of the Ninth Legion, the Picts, the inspiration behind the film, the focus of the film and the characters of Quintus, Titus and Etain.
* Deleted Scenes with Commentary by director Neil Marshall (8 minutes) 6 deleted scenes with optional audio commentary discussing reasons behind why scenes deleted, what the scenes brought, if wanted to keep it in or take it out.
* Interviews with Cast and Crew (24 minutes) Interviews with writer/director Neil Marshall (5 minutes) producer Robert Jones (5 minutes), actors Michael Fassbender (4 minutes), Dominic West (4 minutes), Olga Kyrylenko (3 minutes) and Noel Clarke (3 minutes) including the inspiration behind the film, story the Ninth Legion, draw to the film, the characters, what the actors brought to the film, working together, the overall visual style of the film and what will attract people to the film. The Dominic West interview is particularly entertaining.
* Selected Clips (11 minutes) 10 clips from the film.
* Production Design Photo Gallery (4 minutes) slide show of photos from the models to locations to creation of sets on location to cast on set all shown to music.
* Outtakes (6 minutes) several outtakes ranging from mistakes to goofs to gags.
* B-Roll Footage (11 minutes) B-roll footage of preparation and filming of several of the battle sequences and locations.

Centurion is available on DVD as of November 2, 2010. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'll watch it again, repeatedly
I recommend it for fans of epics

Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2010

http://cdanddvdburners.info/2010/11/07/dvd-dvdblu-ray-breakdown-november-2-2010/

Centurion – A indeed underrated movie, Centurion was an beguiling low-budget action film. It’s a tarnish the movie usually done $6 million worldwide on a $12 million budget, but it’s been a unusual thoroughfare for Neil Marshall’s ultimate film, that was moreover expelled On Demand and saw scarcely all of its box office over general waters.

As usual, the DVD/Blu-ray let go gives the world a second luck to see a estimable movie. We gave it a plain 3 out of 5 stars , but it plays stronger than that. If you similar to violence, penetrate and intensity, Centurion will broach it all. Michael Fassbender continues to uncover his strength as an actor, but Olga Kurylenko shines as the tongue-tied femme fatale sport down the movie’s patrol of “heroes.”

Magnolia isn’t releasing the many in-depth home video of all time, but there is lots to go around. Marshall fans will obtain a good peek in to the prolongation of his bloody action.

http://frommidnight.blogspot.com/2010/11/centurion.html

November 6, 2010
Centurion
(2010, Dir. by Neil Marshall.)

I know next to nothing about European history. I also don't know much about Europe. Like, I have trouble figuring out what is and is not a part of Great Britain. I know that a lot of people from across the pond read this blog, and I apologize thoroughly for my ignorance. I'm all for a cup of tea and I thank you all for Hammer Films, Rowan Atkinson, and (of course), Sean Freakin' Connery.

My point is that Centurion - in which a horde of Romans (alleged to be the mysterious Ninth Legion) try to fend off something called the Picts and end up running for their lives in 117 A.D. - didn't strike a historical chord with me. I'm OK with that - trying to sort out every war's point and purpose hurts my cranium - and I instead chose to look at Centurion as a bit of fun with a lot of blood. That resulted in me finding this a highly entertaining action film.

One topic I don't need a history lesson on is director Neil Marshall, who I've long loved loudly. I've found much to love about each of his four films, and approached Centurion with the kind of anticipation that most save for Harry Potter or Twilight or True Blood films. (Yes, I know there's no True Blood films...YET.) Marshall has quickly become an institution to me, even when in his most derivative works (like his 2008 actioner Doomsday).

Centurion can definitely be seen as a response to the popularity of recent sword and sandal entertainment like 300 and Spartacus: Blood and Sand, but I found that Marshall's film more closely resembled his debut feature, the werewolves vs. soldiers flick Dog Soldiers. I've been a big fan of that film since the day it appeared on DVD (if I recall correctly, I covered it in one of my first DVD columns back in Box Office Boredom's heyday), and I wasn't long into Centurion before I started seeing the similarities. After some military set up that involves a Centurion (Inglourious Basterds' Michael Fassbender) teaming up with a General (Dominic West) and a tracker (the latest Bond gal, Olga Kurylenko); Centurion becomes a survival flick. Like Dog Soldiers, the film ends up following a small group of soldiers who survive a surprise attack and are left on the run for their life. Plus, when you consider the copious amounts of blood and use of survival tactics, Centurion seems more like a horror film than a historical drama. (And, Dog Soldiers co-star Liam Cunningham makes a welcome return as one of the potential survivors. And there is at least one shot of the full moon.)

In line with his two previous action films (counting Dog Soldiers alongside Doomsday for a minute), Centurion keeps a brisk pace and doesn't stall much between violent set pieces. These scenes are framed well, and feature more than enough bloodletting to keep action and horror fans pleased. The moments that do surrounded them are filled with sweeping shots of the men trying to escape across the Scottish terrain (accompanied by a fantastic score by Ilan Eshkeri) and some brief exposition regarding the Centurion's character and the brutality of the Picts. The film looks about as good as you could expect it to, especially on a modest $12 million budget; Marshall once again succeeds in creating an efficient film that feels like a big budget spectacle.

Something else that jumped out at me, for the fourth time in four films, is that Marshall puts a large burden of his violence on the shoulders of female characters. Though it seemed primarily a plot device when he gave the lone female character in Dog Soldiers a crucial role in the fate of the characters, he followed that with an all-female cast in The Descent and a female lead in Doomsday - and in both of those cases he gave the "tough guy" roles to women. This time out he gives Kurylenko plenty of chances to be a big bad mama on screen, and also offers up his wife, Axelle Carolyn, as another Pict hunter who scores plenty of vicious kills. Though these characters aren't deep in any regards - and I think I can count their combined lines of dialogue on one hand - it's incredibly relevant that Marshall again puts women on an equal playing field with men. He even gives them the upper hand in several situations, and these two characters are far more intimidating to the viewer than the bland Pict "king" who is the Romans' initial target. This doesn't feel like it's a sensational technique in which Marshall just wants to draw the male gaze toward these women - it feels like Marshall truly wants to honor these women by showing them at their bloody best. He has shown us through these four films that both men and women can kick butt in his world, and Centurion is no exception to that rule.

Centurion is a nice next step in Marshall's filmography, as it stays true to his intense, up-tempo style and offers enjoyably violent carnage; adding up to a fine bit of entertainment that kept me hooked for just under 100 minutes. It might not be the best film I've seen lately based on its story or characters, but in a year that's been short on macho cinema it's an incredibly welcome diversion.

Midnight Review by The Mike at 2:30 AM

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/22345

DVD Review: Neil Marshall's 'Centurion'
Sunday, November 7, 2010

By: David Harley

Violent historical epics are a somewhat rare commodity, but scarcer are the ones that are actually worth watching. Neil Marshall – who is revered by horror fans for The Descent and loved by almost no one for the action/sci-fi/exploitation monstrosity Doomsday – follows up his genre studio mish-mash by taking a stab at the all-but-forgotten subgenre with Centurion, which comes complete with rolling fireballs and grandiose melee weapon skirmishes. Unfortunately, the film never elevates beyond being average for a variety of reasons, leaving viewers with something merely on the level with Dog Soldiers in terms of entertainment.

Centurion DVDCenturion tells the story of Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), the survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman fort, who teams up with the General Virilus’ (Dominic West) Ninth Legion of Rome to wipe out the Picts and their leader, Gorlacon (Ulrich Thomsen). After the band of men fall into a trap behind enemy lines and Virilus is captured, Dias assumes command of the Legion and races back to the Roman frontier, evading a vicious band of Pict troops led by the vengeful Etain (Olga Kurylenko).

The most interesting aspect of the film, and coincidentally its greatest fault, is that it tells the story from the Roman point-of-view, with the Picts being presented as the antagonists. Historically speaking, Romans are the ones viewed as barbaric and villainous during the 2nd century. It’s a somewhat unique way to explore this chapter in history, considering that horror is the only genre that has successfully had audiences root for the villain on a fairly consistent basis. Regardless, even with full knowledge of the historical context behind the film, the angle would have worked had it not been for the numerous discussions about how the Romans raped and pillaged everything in their path – more specifically, what they did to Etain and her village. It leaves viewers with no one to root for and, in turn, you end up not really caring what happens to anyone because, essentially, they’re all bad guys.

Aside from The Descent, writing has never been Marshall’s strongest suit (that distinction would fall on building tension and action) and Centurion is no exception. The most puzzling part of the script is the introduction of exiled witch Arian (Imogen Poots), is supposed to be a love interest for Dias but there’s no basis for their non-existent relationship, nor is there any chemistry between them. Their few scenes together basically serve as a bridge between the second act and the climax and the only reason for her inclusion in the story is to have somewhere for him to go before the credits roll – which does make sense taking the film’s resolve into account.

Since there is very little character development in the film, the action takes the forefront which is both a blessing and a curse. The action is expertly choreographed and looks beautiful thanks to DP Sam McCurdy, whose style has perfectly bonded with Marshall’s since their work on Dog Soldiers. It is, without a doubt, the film’s strongest attribute. However, aside from a scene early on with the aforementioned fireballs, there is really no variation in the action; in fact, most of the action scenes might as well be considered looped footage, since they mirror each other so closely. Beautiful looking looped footage, but repetitive none the less. Seeing a head loped off loses its luster after it’s been done thirty times in ninety minutes.

Centurion, in a way, proves that Marshall learned from the big mistakes of Doomsday; it’s focused, it makes sense, and while other films might have covered the same ground in the past, it certainly doesn’t rip scenes from them tit-for-tat. Beautiful looking and action packed, Centurion is certainly what the doctor ordered if you’re just looking for a superficial experience. But without character development or a strong stand-out performance, it’s destined for nothing more than lazy Saturday afternoon reruns on USA.

Special Features

Commentary –A informative track featuring Marshall, cinematographer Sam McCurdy (who chimes in later than everyone else), sFx designer Paul Hyett, and production designer Simon Bowles. It’s more of a technical track, rather than one where everyone just rambles, and considering the design and look of the film is its highlight, it’s appreciated.

Blood, Fire, & Fury: Behind The Scenes Of Centurion (26:24) – A decent behind-the-scenes doc that’s split into four parts. The Lost Legion focuses on the legend and story behind the film; Getting Down And Dirty features on-set stories and showcases the authenticity of the film; Guts And Gore is about the practical splatter effects, and walks viewers through a few scenes; and Fireballs, Stunts And Mayhem gives more insight into the effects, this time going through the bigger, action oriented ones, and the training involved in doing them.

Deleted Scene With Commentary (7:58) – Six deleted scenes featuring nothing of interest, with optional commentary from Marshall.

Outtakes (6:14) – Nothing laugh out loud funny, further proving my theory that only Apatow outtake montages are worth watching.

HDNet: A Look At Centurion (04:49) – A pretty typical EPK, featuring interviews with Marshall, West, Kurylenko and Fassbinder, behind-the-scenes footage, and clips from the finished film. It’s really nothing you haven’t heard or seen from watching the other special features on the disc. Considering that it’s basically an On-Demand advertisement for the film, it’s exactly what it’s supposed to be.

Interviews With Cast And Crew (25:41) – Several extensive interviews with Marshall, producer Robert Jones, Fassbender, West, Kurylenko, and Noel Clarke.

Production Design Photo Galleries (4:15) – A slideshow of concept art, the beginning of which is very interesting as they show the process of starting with miniatures and all the changes they go through before production designers start to actually build structures to be used in the film.

Behind The Scenes Footage (11:14) – A lot of b-roll and raw footage from the film, with the majority of it being from action-heavy scenes.

Film: 2.5/5

DVD: 3/5

http://lakeconews.com/content/view/16804/923/

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

It’s been awhile since a decent gladiator movie involving swords, sandals and Roman centurions.

Set during the second century Roman conquest of Britain, “Centurion” is a relentless action picture featuring the war between Roman soldiers and Pict tribesmen.

Michael Fassbender stars as Quintus Dias, Roman centurion and sole survivor of a Pictish raid led by his father, a legendary gladiator, to rescue a captured general (Dominic West).

The son of the Pict leader is murdered during the raid, and the Romans find themselves hunted by a brutal group of the Pict’s most skilled warriors.

Faced with the desperate struggle to stay alive behind enemy lines, Quintus and his platoon come head to head with the unstoppable Pict warriors hellbent on revenge and led by a beautiful and deadly tracker (Olga Kurylenko, best known as a Bond girl in “Quantum of Solace”).

“Centurion,” available on DVD and Blu-ray, is a no-nonsense action flick.

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/centurionbluray.php

Case Number 20058

Buy Centurion (Blu-Ray) at Amazon
Centurion (Blu-Ray)

Magnolia Pictures // 2009 // 98 Minutes // Rated R
Reviewed by Judge David Johnson // November 8th, 2010

All Rise...

Judge David Johnson dressed up as a Centurion for Halloween and was promptly punched in the face by a Visigoth.
The Charge

History is written in blood.
Opening Statement

From Neil Marshall (The Descent), an under-the-radar slice of period bad-assery that should appeal to anyone who gets a kick out of Alpha males running through the woods and stabbing barbarians in the solar plexus.
Facts of the Case

What happened to the Ninth Legion? This mythic tale of a Roman army that vanished in the wilderness of Britain in 117 AD has been a source of fiction-spinning for some time. So why not take a stab at it (both literally and figuratively)?

Marshall has crafted a simple, familiar narrative: a Roman soldier named Quintus (Michael Fassbender, the "we will fight in the shade" guy from 300) escapes captivity from the brutal, indigenous Picts and ends up with the famous Ninth Legion. Under the command of a well-regarded general (Dominic West, 300), the Legion has been given orders to pacify the wilds of Britain and wipe out the Picts and their guerilla warfare.

None of that happens of course, and, a bloody massacre later, only a handful of Romans survive, trapped deep within the enemy's borders, a band of merciless fighters led by a bodacious warrior princess (Olga Kurylenko).

The Evidence

I don't know if Neil Marshall had any high-minded ideas for allegory when he set out to make Centurion (I recall reading an interview where he implied some sort of contemporary metaphor), but, regardless, the fruit of this brutal, fleet-of-foot film is not to speak truth to power; it's to spill blood and weave a satisfying B-movie adventure.

Centurion had been on my radar for a while as I am an absolute pushover for this kind of period, sword-swinging action. Its hyper-limited release never brought it within proximity, so I was left pining.

Finally, it is in my hands and I am happy to report that Marshall's fearsome little opus is a treat; a fast-moving, sinew-spewing, red-meat affair. He's taken a story that we've all seen at some point in our entertainment exposure, set it against a cool historical backdrop, populated it with bad-asses from top to bottom and turned on the gas.

Again, the story should be familiar—our heroes are stranded in enemy territory and have to fight their way out. The missing Ninth Legion myth gives Marshall an ideal canvas to paint on and pitting the handful of surviving Romans (who default to the Alpha setting) against a relentless barbarian attack makes for a tense stand-off. Stripped of their comrades and technology, the Romans are on less-than-equal footing with their adversaries.

At first glance, Olga Kurylenko would seem an odd casting choice for the main heavy, but she's an inspired choice. Marshall follows his trend of injecting strong female characters in his films and I love that the girl power displayed in Centurion happens to occupy the deranged, terrifying villain role. After a short time I reckon you won't even consider her gender, and just root for her to eventually meet the business end of a spear.

There are some okay character moments strewn about (the General's noble fate, Quintus's transformation from conscientious objector to killing machine) and a few plotlines that seem forced (an out-of-the-blue romance with an isolated farmgirl who looks like she works at a Revlon counter, the unsatisfying Final Bad Guy faceoff), but the meat of the film is the mayhem and Marshall delivers. The Roman massacre is a raw and gory and after that you're looking at a straight-up chase movie that culminates in an exciting showdown in an abandoned fort.

Centurion runs out of fuel at the end, though, at that point, I've already had my fill of sublime Roman-on-Pict havoc, earning the enterprise an endorsement.

If this sounds attractive to you in the least, you must watch it on Blu-ray. It is made for high-definition. Though the film takes on a stylistic, washed-out "gritty" tone, the detailing is top-shelf. You will soak in all the gore gag these guys have cooked up for you (and there are some wet ones, friend) and when Marshall pulls back to set the action or track our heroes as they haul balls through the mountain-tops, the boosted resolution will transmit some breathtaking scenic landscapes. A killer audio mix awaits to punish your system, headed by an active, pounding 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.

Extras: a well-done behind-the-scene featurette, deleted scenes with commentary, outtakes, cast and crew interviews, some nifty on-set footage, photo galleries, the HDNet "Look at Centurion) and feature commentary from Marshall and crew.
Closing Statement

It won't redefine filmmaking, but for some blood-stained period thrills, Centurion delivers.
The Verdict

Not Guilty. For the Ninth!

http://www.brutalashell.com/2010/11/blu-ray-review-centurion/

Blu-ray Review: Centurion
7 November 2010 No Comment

Blu-ray Review: Centurion (2010)
Directed by: Neil Marshall
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, Axelle Carolyn, Imogen Poots
Review by: Robert Saucedo

More grounded than Zack Snyder’s 300 yet less heady than the HBO show Rome, Neil Marshall’s Centurion is the sword and sandals historical action film for those who enjoy spending Saturday afternoons watching TNT New Classics and pounding back some Keystone Ice.

The film, set during the first century, details the Roman Ninth Legion’s suicide mission to march into Caledonia and wipe out the Picts, a guerilla army of natives unwilling to bow before Roman rule. Marshall, who has quickly established himself as a fresh filmmaker worth watching with his work on films such as Dog Soldiers and The Descent, fills the movie with enough blood-soaked carnage to turn the tried and true story of a band of soldiers on the run into something that, if not original, is at least entertaining.

Michael Fassbender is Quintus Dias, a centurion and the sole survivor of a Pictish attack on a frontier outpost. Captured by the Picts, Dias is taken to their camp and tortured before managing to escape. In a bit of luck, Dias runs into the Roman Ninth Legion, a squad of soldiers headed to the Picts’ camp to wipe the forest dwelling rebels into oblivion.

Leading the Ninth Legion is Titus Flavius Virilus, a cocky yet likable commander played by Dominic West. Virilus quickly takes Dias into his legion. Unfortunately for Dias, this proves to be the wrong time to join the Ninth Legion as the squadron is ambushed and nearly decimated by a Pict sneak attack.

Soon, Dias is but one of a small group of legionaries on the run from a Pict death squad — desperate to get out of enemy territory and back into the safety zone of the Roman empire.

Leading the Pict hunting pack is Etain, a mute warrior played by Olga Kurylenko that is just about more animal than human.

While the specifics of the story may be new to audiences, the basic story structure of Centurion is nothing they haven’t already seen before. What helps to set Marshall’s film apart from the rest, though, is the brutal battles between the Stormtrooper-like Roman centurions and the Ewok-esque Picts.

Death, whether from axe to the face or arrow through the chest, rains down hard upon the fleeing centurions. Don’t get attached to any one character for too long — this is not a movie of happy endings.

Luckily, audiences won’t have too hard of a time keeping their emotional distance from Marshall’s characters. While he pumps up the violence to an 11, character development sputters along in the film as almost an afterthought.
Besides Dias (who is given plenty of unnecessary voice-over narration), none of the other characters (Pict or Roman) are provided any real character building scenes. There are a few moments where characters are given a chance to distinguish themselves from the rest of the crowd with superficial traits such as weapon skills or unethical choices but for the most part the characters remain the first century equivalent of Red Shirts.

One thing Marshall doesn’t give the short stick to, though, is the breathtaking scenery. Centurion looks fantastic — with the film being shot in the snow-capped hills of Scotland. Wide sweeping panoramas help the sometimes tedious plot go down smoothly.

The visuals of Centurion are made even better by the crisp image courtesy of Blu-ray. Full of gritty, stylized action, Centurion is a great choice to show off your home theater system. My only complaint, though, is that the sharp image and colors really spotlight the film’s overuse of CGI blood.

Special features on the disc include a commentary track from Marshall, director of photography Sam McCurdy, production designer Simon Bowles and SFX guy Paul Hyett. Informative and as entertaining as most commentaries go, the track is a great listen if you’re a big fan of the movie but not essential to all those who weren’t immediately prompted to go and buy historical reenactment gear after watching the film. You know who you are.

A nearly thirty-minute documentary called “Blood, Fire & Fury: Behind the Scenes of Centurion” is the centerpiece of the special effects collection. Broken into four segments, the doc explores the historical story of the film, pre-production and the film’s stunt work.

Eight minutes of deleted scenes (six in total) are included with director’s commentary. Nothing in this set of exercised scenes is essential viewing.

Nearly 26 minutes of interviews are included with Marshall, producer Robert Jones and a selection of the film’s actors.

There are 11 minutes of behind the scenes footage, a short outtake reel and some production design artwork. The only feature in high definition included is a five-minute promo for the film from HDNet.

Centurion will not be accused of being overly original or clever. It’s a simple film with a simple story to tell — one that Neil Marshall gleefully lays out in a series of shotgun blasts to that part of our brains that causes grown men (and women) to spend an entire night playing Halo. The movie is brutal, it’s to the point and it’s effective. What more could you ask for in a historical epic in this post-300 era?

http://www.papermag.com/2010/11/centurion_on_dvd_blu-ray.php


Centurion On DVD & Blu-ray
By Dennis Dermody
CenturionDVD_.jpg
Out on DVD and Blu-ray is the rousing, gory, action film Centurion (Magnolia Home Entertainment). I missed this in theaters and would have gone considering the director Neil Marshall made one of my favorite films, The Descent. The fact that the film stars Dominic West (The Wire) and Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) doesn't hurt either. Centurion takes place in AD 117 and centers around the mythic ninth Legion, a Roman battalion who marched into Scotland and vanished. In this film they are out to fight the barbarian Picts and are led by General Virilus (West) who has a Pitct scout, the mysterious mute Etain (Olga Kurylenko). When the army is ambushed and Virilus is captured, Quintas (Fassbender) and a rouge team of survivors try to rescue him. The cinematography and vistas are breathtaking. The action is outrageously brutal and gruesome, and there's as much arterial spray as there is in the rather gory Starz series Spartacus Blood and Sand. The cast is just terrific, and it's a lot of fun.

This story was published on Nov. 9, 2010

http://mcbastardsmausoleum.blogspot.com/2010/11/dvd-review-centurion-2009.html

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
DVD Review: Centurion (2009)

CENTURION (2009)
Magnet Releasing / Magnolia Home Entertainment


RATING: R
RUNNING TIME: 98 Min.
DIRECTOR: Neil Marshall
CAST: Michael Fassbender (Centurion Quintus Dias), Dominic West (General Titus Flavius Virilius), Olga Kurylenko (Etain), Noel Clarke (Macros), Liam Cunningham (Brick), David Morrissey (Bothos), JJ Feild (Thax), Dimitri Leonidas (Leonidas), Imogen Poots (Arianne), Ulrich Thomsen (Gorlacon), David Legeni (Vortix), Axelle Carolyn (Aeron)
TAGLINE: Fight or Die

SYNOPSIS: AD 117. The Roman Empire stretches from Egypt to Spain, and East as far as the Black Sea. But in northern Britain, the relentless onslaught of conquest has ground to a halt in face of the guerrilla tactics of an elusive enemy: the savage and terrifying Picts. Quintus Dias (Fassbender), sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus’ (West) legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the earth. However, when the legion is ambushed and Virilus is taken captive, Quintus faces a desperate struggle to keep his small platoon alive behind enemy lines. Enduring the harsh terrain and evading their remorseless Pict pursuers, the band of soldiers race to rescue their General and to reach the safety of the Roman frontier.



FILM: Neil Marshall is one of my favorite genre filmmakers today and has been since his debut with the action-horror film DOG SOLDIERS (2002), a great entry into the werewolf pantheon. He then went on to make THE DESCENT (2005) about a group of spelunking women trapped in a cave with carnivorous creatures and then the genre mash-up DOOMSDAY (2008) which received negative press for borrowing heavily from John Carpenter's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) and MAD MAX (1979). That was the point though, it's an homage to classic genre films and it completely rocked. His latest entry is the swords and sandal battle-epic CENTURION (2010).


Centurion is a stripped-down battle epic depicting the Roman Empire's Ninth Legion as they crusade to eradicate the Picts, a united band of Celtic tribes in the highlands of Scotland. They've perfected a unique style of guerrilla warfare that proves to be quite troubling for the Romans. The Ninth Legion led by General Virilius (West) are joined by Centurion Quintas Dias whom they've rescued from the Picts after he was taken prisoner during a raid on his Roman frontier fort. While on march against their enemy the Legion are ambushed by the Pict and a bloody battle ensues. It begins as flaming boulders break through the Roman line of defense and the Picts savagely assault the Romans. Only a handful survive the battle and led by Quintas Dias they make a desperate attempt to recover General Virilus, whose been taken prisoner, and return to the safety of the Roman frontier. Michael Fassbender is great as Quintas and I count myself as a fan. Aside from appearing in films like 300 (2006), EDEN LAKE (2008) and Quentin Tarantino's WW2 epic INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009) he's set to portray Magneto in the upcoming X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and possibly Peter Jackson's THE HOBBIT. Definitely a guy to keep an eye on.


During the attempt to free Virilus from the Picts one of the Roman soldiers kills the young son of the Pict leader Gorlacon (Ulrich Thomsen) who swears vengeance and sends the huntress Etain in pursuit of the fleeing Romans to claim their heads. Etain (Klrylenko) is a mute tracker whose sworn vengeance against the Romans herself for the rape/murder of her mother and family. She is a skilled warrior and has uncanny tracking abilities. After Fassbender's Quintus it's Kurylenko's portrayal of Etain that is my second favorite character in the film, she's merciless and completely bad-ass. Good storytelling from Marshall, I really enjoyed the camaraderie amongst the Romans, great characters though nothing too deep, more well-developed caricatures - and that's all I needed. I must also mention Dominic West who gives a commanding performance as the respected and beloved General Virilus. My least favorite aspect of the majority of swords and sandals films is the usually extended running time and the long lulls in action but Centurion really gets to the meat of the story without being bogged down by a lot of melodramatic fluff.

Marshall excels at survival-horror and Centurion is one gigantic chase film set in the beautiful Scottish Highland of north Britain. The battle scenes are brilliantly bloody and full of vivid bloodletting. A good amount of the blood in Centurion is CGI but it is well rendered, thick and voluminous and it looks great. Limbs are severed as heads are cleaved, heads on pikes, and just a ton of sheer physical brutality. During these scenes people are popping like blood filled balloons and if that's your thing you'll not be disappointed, great gore. I love the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy but you can only watch people walk and run for so long before you wanna see some heads roll and Centurion does not disappoint in that respect.


A small issue for me with the film was I found myself rooting for the Picts. The film is designed so that we identify with the Romans but in the back of my mind I wanted to cheer on the Picts who were farmers and common folk forced to take up arms against the mighty Roman Empire to defend their homeland and way of life. Regardless, history shows the Pict were victorious over the Roman Empire in the end, so there's that.

DVD: The Centurion Region 1 DVD from Magnet Releasing is presented in the anamorphic scope aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and it gorgeously captures the magnificent terrain of northern Britain and the bloody battlefields. The film has a 5.1 Dolby Digital EX soundtrack that really kicks in during the bloody and brutal battle scenes. The DVD is well-stocked with over 3 hours of supplemental materials including a great 4-part behind-the-scenes featurette. My only nit-picky complaint is that there are no English subtitles. Special Features include:

- Blood, Fire and Fury: Behind the Scenes of Centurion (26:22)
- Deleted Scenes with Commentary (7:57)
- Outtakes (6:14)
- Interviews with Cast & Crew - Neil Marshall, Robert Jones, Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, Noel Clarke (25:30)
- Behind the Scenes Footage (11:11)
- Photo Galleries (4:15)
- HDNet: A Look at Centurion (4:48)
- Commentary with Neil Marshal and Crew (98 min)
- Trailer Gallery - Monsters, The Oxford Murders, Barry Munday, I'm Still Here, The Walking Dead (9:09)

VERDICT: Centurion is an adventurous action-packed historical epic full of battle worn soldiers spilling blood at every turn. I love Neil Marshall's filmography and I think this is his most well crafted film yet but the best is yet to come from this talented writer-director. A very high recommend from me, get this one now.
**** (4 out of 5 stars)

http://www.centurionmovie.com/
http://www.magpictures.com/
www.twitter.com/MagnoliaPics
www.twitter.com/MagnetReleasing

- McBASTARD

Aw, great! I do love watching it. It's one to watch over and over. He's very tender during his scenes with Imogene, which he'll be working with in Jane Eyre too.

http://www.figures.com/forums/news/11876-dvd-review-centurion.html

DVD REVIEW: Centurion
Neil Marshall's violent sword-and-sandals adventure...

The so called "sword-and-sandals" movie genre has never been more popular. Blockbuster films like Gladiator and 300 opened the doors, but it was the recent hit TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand that tore those doors right off their hinges. Fans want bloody Roman and Greek action-adventure, and they want it now. Enter Magnolia Pictures' CENTURION, Neil Marshall's (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) violent take on the subject matter.

The year is 117 AD and the Roman Empire has encountered a snag in their plans for world conquest: the Picts, savage inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands. The film opens with Centurion Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender) as the only survivor of a Pictish raid. Captured (and tourtured), the rough-and-tough soldier soon manages escape, stumbling upon a garrison of fellow Romans: the Ninth Legion. While seemingly safe in the company of 3,000 troops led by the jeering Commander Gratus (Andreas Wisniewski ), Dias and the Ninth Legion are brutally overcome by the untraditional guerrilla warfare tactics of the Picts. Surviving the onslaught, Dias and a handful of soldiers are forced to participate in a tense game of cat and mouse; outrunning a posse of Picts led by an almost supernatural female tracker named Etain (Olga Kurylenko).

Centurion earns high marks for its vicious portrayal of bladed combat. I've seen A LOT of hack-and-slash movies and Centurion has by far the most stabbings, beheadings, cleavings and dismemberments in the first half then any movie I can recall. It's all filmed very aggressive and realsitic too, unlike the over the top, stylized approach taken by 300. Oh, there's a style to Centurion's bloody action - like the collage-like sequence of slaughter when the Ninth Legion is destroyed - but it's a raw, gory style more akin to Rambo then the slo-mo fountains of CGI blood in Spartacus. That said, fans of violent swordplay will immensely enjoy Centurion.

Centurion does stray from the action mid-way, turning the film into more of a suspenseful (and slower paced) soldiers-on-the-run story. It'll still hold your attention, especially wanting to know the outcome, but the switch is rather unexpected and jarring after being assaulted with intense battles for so long.

Acting is also a hit and miss. While all the actors in Centurion appear talented, that talent is sadly underused. For example, I never fully saw Quintus Dias as the starring hero with a purpose, appearing much like a typical (albeit skilled) soldier thrust from one situation to the next. His character lacked any real depth or soul. The late (and shallow) explaination that his father was once a great gladiator explained why he could fight, but nothing more. Almost to hammer home my point, Olga Kurylenko's character as Etain is mute and does not speak one line of dialogue. Centurion's actors and the characters they portray fill the screen with a commanding charisma, but alas come across very one dimensional. It all works from an action and visual standpoint, but not so much as a drama.

And look good Centurion does. From the bleak greys of the remote wilderness settings to the fantastic costume designs, Centurion packs a high-production look and feel (it was made for $12 million - cheap by Hollywood standards). What I particularily liked was the gritty realism - not just the combat - but the attention to detail, such as the scars on many of the soldier's faces from years of battle.

Special Features on the Centurion DVD include writer-director/crew commentary, deleted scenes and an entertaining "making of" documentary called "Blood, Fire & Fury: Behind the Scenes of Centurion". With so many bare-bone DVD releases these days (have to buy the "Special Edition" or blu-ray for extras!), it's great to see Centurion slip these Special Features in.

Centurion doesn't deliver another blockbuster movie to the sword-and-sandals genre, but it DOES bring a bloody good time. Those that need an action fix set in Roman times will find plenty to like about Centurion. With a great visual tone, hyper-violent combat and a charismatic cast, Centurion is an awesome way to spend 97 minutes of your time.

Don't forget to ENTER our Centurion DVD Giveaway!

Magnolia Pictures' Centurion is rated R for sequences of strong violence and language. It is available now on DVD wherever fine home video is sold.

- Jeff Saylor

http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/centurion/1856

DVD REVIEW
Centurion
***½

by Chuck Bowen on November 7, 2010

So many genre films are so stuffed with pointless sound and incident that you can't help but feel as if you're watching the film and the corresponding DVD outtakes at once. Seemingly no footage has been parsed for you, as the filmmakers have apparently made no decisions. (A movie about giant robots, based on a commercial for toys, has no right to a running time exceeding Ikiru's.) Sadly, genre films valuing storytelling efficiency have been largely relegated to release patterns that were once reserved for "art films," and writer-director Neil Marshall's Centurion is such an example.

Marshall has a number of predilections that can lend themselves to over-interpretation, particularly a penchant for warrior women. He likes to shoot his women—normally fashioned to resemble bikers from 1980s future-shock action films—up close as they sweat and bleed in intimate down-and-dirty battles that usually conclude with an ax destroying someone's head. Marshall's confrontations are faintly sexual, but that's mostly a byproduct of his simple horror-movie fetish. It cheapens deeper horror movies to look for more in Marshall's work, and it misrepresents a promising director who makes efficient, pleasurable, no-nonsense genre films.

Centurion, set in 117 AD, concerns the legendary Roman Ninth Legion's misguided attempt to fold Britain into their vast empire—which stretched, as the film tells us, "from Egypt to Spain, and East as far as the Black Sea." The problem is a fierce tribe of guerrilla warriors called the Picts, who butcher the Ninth immediately, leaving a few scramblers in a race across the barren northern British countryside for their lives. The initial tension of the film springs from an idle curiosity. You wonder how Marshall is going to get around an obvious problem: The assumption that he's asking you to cheer a vast empire's campaign to enslave a smaller nation that has found a clever means of retaliation. To his credit, Marshall is aware of this pitfall, and his story resolves itself in a manner that underlines Rome's egomania and hypocrisy—exhibiting more empathy and common sense than respected Oscar-pandering gore films such as the stupid, pompous Gladiator.

But Centurion, in the Marshall tradition, is mostly about blood and guts. The film is refreshingly pared of the faux-history lessons that plague these kinds of films, thankfully reducing the formula to a series of manly proclamations, foot races, near-escapes, and the more-than-occasional arrow or sword that pierces an extremely vital appendage, and Marshall's characteristically blunt staging has never been more effective. Centurion is the kind of B movie you watch on a Saturday night, your entire reaction encapsulated in one critically dodgy but apropos sentiment: "It kicks ass."
Image/Sound:

The DVD vividly maintains the film's deliberately harsh and ugly color scheme, which is primarily a series of various stark whites and muddy browns. (The brutal snow-capped mountains pop out at you.) The sound mix is also excellent: The medleys of swords clanging and arrows flying fully justify your expectations of this sort of film.
Extras:

The extras are plentiful, enthusiastic, and, in the typical DVD tradition, mostly redundant. The writer-director/crew commentary is compromised of traditional making-of anecdotes, which are repeated with faint variation throughout the various other interviews and behind-the-scenes features. You can watch "Blood, Fire & Fury: Behind the Scenes of Centurion," if you're so inclined, and comfortably skip the rest.
Overall:

Centurion is the kind of B movie you watch on a Saturday night, your entire reaction encapsulated in one critically dodgy but apropos sentiment: "It kicks ass."