Posted by Kristen D on July 27, 2010
Set in a bleak and unforgiving winter in the second century AD, Centurion makes you appreciate the fact that it’s the 21st century and you’re in a warm cinema cramming fistfuls of popcorn into your mouth. You wouldn’t be a Roman soldier for quids!
It's directed by Neil Marshall, who gave us The Descent, a terrifying and compelling horror flick a couple of years back, so we were pumped for his latest offering. Centurion is an epic action adventure, which is essentially a classic chase film. But instead of cars and guns, you have horses and swords.
Basically, the Romans are on a mission to wipe out the head of a tribe called the Picts, and therefore open themselves up to a bloody and vicious revenge attack. Their leader, General Virilus (The Wire’s Dominic West), is captured during the attack, but seven men manage to escape, and a relentless chase ensues.
The Picts are incredible warriors and their leader, Etain, is played here by Bond girl Olga Kurylenko. She’s hot in a very modern way, but dressed in the look of the time: all perky fur-covered boobs, perfect teeth, smoky eyes and an angry snarl. And boy can she fight. Grrr.
The locations, costumes and design in general are spectacular, and it gave us a lot of hope, but the plot let us down a bit. It’s gritty and brutal and fast-paced, but as is the danger with these kinds of films, the action takes centre stage, rather than the characters. We wanted our hearts to be ripped out when they were slaughtered in a bloody mist, but instead, we just felt a bit numb.
Speaking of bloody mist, there is a fantastic amount of violence in Centurion. Who would have guessed there were so many ways to split a skull? We weren’t quite sure what was choc top crunching and what was bone crunching; it all sounded fairly similar. But by that time, we were a bit desensitised and were hungry for more violence.
And more choc top.
This isn’t a history lesson, and it doesn’t pretend to be. But if you love violence and hot, half-naked warrior women (that classic action film combination), then Centurion is the perfect escape.
centurion, film, neil marshall, olga kurylenko