Centurion (2010)
Directed by Neil Marshall
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.
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4 films that influenced Centurion
What critics say influenced Centurion
Marshall’s latest effort, Centurion, fuses elements of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator with the Rambo series, telling the story of a Roman soldier dropped behind enemy lines and forced to survive with only his wits and superior fighting skills.
In what feels like Gladiator mixed with Conan and Lord of the Rings, Marshall takes us back to the year AD 117.
While Marshall’s screenplay, brought to life amidst the spectacular Scottish wilderness, may raise questions of historical veracity ( Marshall freely admits he used his imagination to fill in the gaps), Centurion, unlike the more conservative Gladiator, pulls no punches in its portrayal of battle.
Imagine a flick like Braveheart, 300, Gladiator, or King Arthur, only those films have just been stripped of all those boring scenes about kings and princes, peasants and slaves, taxes and trades, and all that jazz.
Comparisons with over-applauded Gladiator will surface, but less pretentious Centurion holds its own.
Without the scale (or the budget, a modest $10 million) of a "Gladiator," the filmmaker is betting on the relative novelty of the story.
Still, Marshall is having enough fun smashing the skulls of talented actors while knocking off every men-on-a-mission and survival flick ever made (from "The Naked Prey" to "Apocalypto") that I enjoyed it as a solid beer-theater watch.
But compared with, say, Mel Gibson 's " Apocalypto ," which featured this sort of stuff in practically every frame, Marshall's film is downright Disneyish.
Also obvious is the influence of Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto in its chase sequences and action beats, and while Gibbo’s Mayan’s on the run thriller is by far the superior film, there is much to like in Marshall’s take on the disappearance of the Ninth Legion, a Roman army who disappeared during their attempted occupation of Northern Ireland.
"Centurion" has been described as a knockoff of "Apocalypto" and "Gladiator," and it's true that director Marshall is a lusty borrower (the movie is also very "Lord of the Rings" in its use of landscape).
Former Bond girl Olga Kurylenko glowers and slinks as a mute Pict scout and tracker who relentlessly hunts them through the dramatic landscape, looking less like a warrior queen than a 1st century cover girl, and Dominic West is the macho General Virilus (Marshall’s tribute to Life of Brian‘s Biggus Dickus?) who gets to be all tortured martyr as he passes the torch to Quintus: “Get them home!”
Set in 117AD, Michael Fassbender (Hunger, Inglourious Basterds, Fish Tank) drives the story as Quintus Dias, a Roman officer stationed at what he calls "the arsehole of the world" - northern Britain.
The excellent Michael Fassbender (Hunger, Inglourious Basterds) stars as Quintus Dias, a Roman soldier who’s the sole survivor of a Pict raid on a frontier fort.
A territory war is being waged between Roman armed forces and a vicious cluster of tribes known as the Picts- and Roman Centurion Quintas Dias (rising star Michael Fassbender, Inglourious Basterds) bare-chested and bound, is on the run from his Pictish captors.
Michael Fassbender as Centurion Quintus Dias: Fassbender was brilliant as Lt. Archie Hicox in Inglourious Basterds.
In "Centurion," Michael Fassbender ("Inglourious Basterds") stars as Roman Centurion Quintus Dias, who is stationed on the northern frontier of the Empire's British territory, ca.
Fashioning a fantasy around the legendary missing Roman Ninth Legion, Marshall has cannily cast the versatile Michael Fassbender ( Eden Lake , Inglourious Basterds ) as principled Roman warrior Quintus Dias.