Centurion - 2010

Director:

Neil Marshall

Writer:

Neil Marshall (writer)

Rating:

Rated R for sequences of strong bloody violence, grisly images and language.

Runtime:

97 min | Finland:130 min

Global Certifications:

Ireland:15A | UK:15 | Netherlands:16 | USA:R (certificate #46164) | Norway:15 | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA | South Korea:18

Release Date:

23 April 2010 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | Thriller | War

Cast Of Character’s:

Michael Fassbender … Centurion Quintus Dias
Andreas Wisniewski … Commander Gratus
Dave Legeno … Vortix
Axelle Carolyn … Aeron
Dominic West … General Titus Virilus
Dhaffer L’Abidine … Arm Wrestling Opponent
JJ Feild … Thax
Lee Ross … Septus
David Morrissey … Bothos
Simon Chadwick … Carlisle Messenger
Ulrich Thomsen … Gorlacon
Ryan Atkinson … Gorlacon’s Son
Paul Freeman … Governor Agricola
Olga Kurylenko … Etain
Jake Maskall … Roman Officer Argos
Eoin Macken … Achivir
Dermot Keaney … Pict Hunter
Liam Cunningham … Brick
Noel Clarke … Macros
Dimitri Leonidas … Leonidas
Riz Ahmed … Tarak
Imogen Poots … Arianne
Dylan Brown … Roman Guard
Rachael Stirling … Druzilla
Michael Carter … General Antoninus
Tom Mannion … General Tesio
Peter Guinness … General Cassius

IMDB & Pathe Productions Said:

Britain, A.D. 117. Quintus Dias, the sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus’ legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the Earth and destroy their leader, Gorlacon. Written by Anonymous

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 and destroy their leader Gorlacon. But when the legion is ambushed on unfamiliar ground, and Virilus 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 led by revenge-hungry Pict Warrior Etain (Kurylenko), the band of soldiers race to rescue their General and to reach the safety of the Roman frontier. Written by Pathé Productions

DVD Archive Said:

Ok, to make its easier for everyone to understand the review that we do, we have decided to opt out of the hokery-pokery that just seems to repeat the Plot aka The Summary aka The Synopsis!  What we’re gonna do is tell you it straight, instead of messing about with recaps and all that jazz.

Before we sat down to watch Centurion, the debate on whether the film was cut or uncut was called into question, as you can appreciate, we have some youngsters here that screamed their little heads off watching The Box!  But in the end we got to discover for ourselves whether this was the Director’s Cut or not, and as it turned out, the film was definitely an 18 Certificate.

From the offset of the film you see this guy running through the snow with bound hands and half-naked!  Through the running the guy playing the guy running is telling the story.  Immediately after the words “…But that was not the beginning or the end of my story…” the credits start descending from the backdrop of snowy mountains towards the screen.  So, why do we mention this?  Well, we just thought that having never seen any titles roll like that on any other films [only the Superman movies from the 1980's come close] it had to be written for the record.

The fighting sequences in this film are fast, furious, gritty, gory and totally insane for theatrics that quite literally look too real not to be, if you know what we’re saying?  Spartacus: Blood & Sand, is the best example that we could possibly give this film, if not a pinch of Solomon Kane sprinkled in for good measure.  With sword fighting scenes that leave the losers stricken of their hands, arms, legs and, of course, not forgetting their heads, too, we found the brutality of Roman Battles both bloody and good.

Although the film only lasted 97 minutes, or there about, one true question popped into ones head, and that was, “Would one still be able to keep their breakfast, dinner, tea and supper down by the end of the extended version?”  Because, yes, there is a longer version out there which has lashings [forgive the pun] of even more slicing and dicing action sequences, as well as an extended tale of the Centurions who went through hell to return back to Rome…but never got there.  Have I spoilt the movie?  No.

As we all know the story of the Gladiator’s and centurions, one story that is being highlighted here in full on Technicolor is that of the 9th Legion.  And, to most of us born in the 1960′s, educated in the 1980′s, will know only too well that history is indeed one of the most sincere controversies in time.  Nonetheless, the execution of facts, coupled with narration, savagery and blood curdling special effects shows without doubt that the right Director can also write his own production, too.

A full synopsis of this movie will be added shortly, especially as some people are getting confused with the Summary of the reviews, before realising that they have just read half the spoilers.  For the benefit of those who have the same problem, we are putting “Complete Spoilers” onto a page of its own over the next few weeks.

Getting back to it, if you want a Lads Night In, then Centurion should definitely be on your list, along with Solomon Kane and a few beers or smokes.  Centurion will be revisited, again and again, especially by us here at The Archive and The Network, just as other films have, like Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Mysterious Island, Legend Of The Seeker and The Last Templar.

The DVD Archive Rating:

8/10 [for blood and gore]

Centurion Trailer:

© MKDS67/GWN.2010