Centurion [Blu-ray] [2010]

This was more than keeping up it surpassed Boudica Rise of the Warrior Queen

Unlike the big-budget disappointment of 'Clash of the Titans', 'Centurion' is rather low-key, with no real big-name stars or any whiz-bang 3D gimmicks. Fortunately, 'Centurion' is everything 'Clash of the Titans' should have been. There's an interesting quest story, some good acting, atmospheric mise-en-scene and - more importantly - plenty of blood-and-guts action. This is not your Hollywood sword-and-sandals movie, polished within an inch of its life and designed to please everyone.The plot is fairly straightforward. Quintus Dias (the brilliant Michael Fassbender) is the lone survivor of a raid from the savage Picts, based in northern Britain. Dias marches with the ninth legion, led by General Virilus (Dominic West) to eliminate the Picts. When the legion is ambushed and Virilus is taken captive, it's up to Dias and a small band of soldiers to rescue Virilus, defeat the Picts and return to the Roman frontier.The spectacular violence is the highlight of the film. This is not for the squeamish, as blood flows from the opening battle and doesn't stop until the end: there's decapitated limbs, beheadings and lots of throat slittings. While there's plenty of violence, it never ventures into "gore porn" territory. The fight scenes are edited so quickly that sometimes it's hard to pick up who's killing who in the mess of bodies. As a viewer, it's best to just sit back and watch the carnage, which is far more entertaining and realistic than COTT, and certainly earns its MA rating (with a bit of swearing thrown in). Probably the most brutal is Pict warrior Etain (Olga Kurylenko), who has an almost animalistic-like ability to track enemies. While - due to her character being mute - Kurylenko has no dialogue, she makes up for it by matching it blow-for-blow with the male characters. Like most films of this nature, there is a romantic sub-plot, between Dias and Arian (Imogen Poots), a Pict witch who has been doomed to a life of solitude and briefly houses Dias and his soldiers. Fortunately, the romantic sub-plot is only really hinted at and isn't there just for the sake of it.Though the mise-en-scene is quite murky, this adds to the film's atmosphere and helps to draw you into the story, as well as providing a stark contrast to all the blood. The score is quite unobtrusive-the only times you really notice it is in the quieter scenes, which helps establish the relationship between Dias and his soldiers, often punctuated with dark humour. Its running time (just under 100 minutes) is reasonable as well, and doesn't feel like it drags on.If you like films with plenty of violence, then see 'Centurion', sit back, and enjoy the ride.

Fight or Die, says the front cover slogan. And that is pretty much what you'll see for the duration of the movie. However, it's pretty effective, the visceral and overly bloody hand to hand combat linked together with a genuine narrative that hangs together well, despite a few minor logic flaws along the way.Michael Fassbender is convincing in the leading role, as the Centurion who becomes attached to the 9th Legion. The 9th are led by the fearless General played by Dominic West. However, the legion is attacked by the Picts as they march into Northern Scotland, and the General captured. Only 6 men led by the Centurion survive, and they decide they must first attempt a rescue of the General before they return home... however they are being hunted down by a Pict tracker with uncanny abilities (Olga Kurylenko). Kurylenko is interesting in the role... Even covered up in bulky skins, face painted over and wearing an almost permanent snarl on her face, she still looks a little too gorgeous for the role. However, her physicality won me over, as she almost convinces that a young woman could go mano a mano (so to speak) with highly trained veteran legionaries.One thing the movie really has going for it is the look. Period movies can so often show the shortcomings of a limited budget - but here the production values are excellent. We believe we are looking at the 9th, and the Roman armour and trappings look the biz. The scenery is sumptuous. After all, this is Scotland - albeit some of the bleaker parts, with either snow or drizzle in many scenes.. not necessarily the tourist board approved stuff.So it's no masterpiece, but fairly and squarely tackles Hollywood at its own game, and comes away without egg on its face. The more you think about it, the more questions you might have, and if you're a historian - well, this is as close to the reality of what happened to the 9th as Gladiator was to how Emperor Commodus died. But having said that - it's good fun, it didn't flag, held my interest, and felt like it had its own voice.

I really liked this movie. As a sword and sandal movie it exceeded my expectations. I liked the presentation of the action in the movie and the story was good enough to keep my attention.For me it was sone of the best action I have seen in a movie. It was brutal, vicious, bloody and desperate.Also, the movie was humourous in places. I have to say that I laughed at some of the dialogue especially at the beginning of the movie. And I found the characters in the movie interesting, even though there was not much depth.The story was in the end a typical escape from enemy territory affair such as Stalingrad, Black Hawk down or the Warriors. But it was the sort of movie that I found myself routing for both sides. The story follows a group of Romans trying to escape from enemy territory while being pursued by ruthless Picts. But it is often difficult to sympathise with Romans who are probably guilty of all sorts of atrocities and invaded a country with the aim of destroying its people.So the movies was slightly ambiguous as the Romans were not all good and the Picts were not evil just for the sake of being evil. They had their reasons for being ruthless.The movie is not perfect. There is a lot of running about varied countryside which did not fit together and there are some parts where I would question how the hero knows certain things and how they manage to escape their pursuers. But for me, they are relatively minor in relation to the movie as a whole.For me the ending was predictable, especially as you approach the end of the movie. But I actually quite liked it. It is only sad that it could not have been made more off.

Filme sind ja bekanntlich Geschmackssache aber der muss einfach sein.

Efficient delivery of your product, thank you - pity the film was such crap.

Bel film

"Centurion" a été réalisé par Neil Marshall, celui qui nous a offert le génial "the descent". Cette fois pas de monstres mais une bande de légionnaires romains qui ont tout intérêt à courir plus vite que les pictes ! L'action est permanente, les combats, sanglants, très réussis. A aucun moment le film ne fait cheap du fait du nombre de figurants dans l'attaque de la légion au début, là ou nombre de productions du meme type alignent péniblement une demi douzaine de combattants. La petite amourette de milieu de film dure 3 minutes et demi. Les images sont belles. Vraiment un très bon film pour fans de "gladiator" ou "l'aigle de la 9eme légion". 4.5 / 5

Excelente película para los entusiastas de la historia y de la cultura grecolatina.