Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at
3:43 pm

Set in 117AD, Neil Marshall%27s 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%27s up to Dominic West%27s 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%27s 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%27s presence. Of 300 and Eden Lake fame, he brings forth a sense of vulnerability to a warrior%27s role, bent on trying to keep alive than to go all out to kill. He leads Virilus%27 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%27s Etain, a mute Pict scout who%27s 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%27s 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%27s more clothed than her previous films, and gets plenty of physical action (with weapons that is) to show she%27s no pushover for action sequences.
Information:
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%27Abidine, Hamish Moir, Imogen Poots, Rachael Stirling
Issued: USA, UK, Spain, Greece, Russia
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