Review: Centurion

Centurion tells the tale of the missing ‘Ninth Legion’, the elite Ninth Legion were presumably slaughtered during Roman occupied Britain, Neil Marshal’s fictional Centurion threads an action based thriller into the fabric of history and tries its very best to fill in those gaps.

Neil Marshall knows how to film scenery, during the intro of Centurion we are treated to some awesome aerial photography in a similar vein to The Descent, backed up with a beautiful score from Ilan Eshkeri (which kinda had a similar tempo to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon…. But maybe that’s just me?) Anyway, the flick basically follows centurion Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender) leader of a small band of survivors from the Ninth Legion. They’re hopelessly stuck far behind enemy lines in Pict territory and are continuously hunted down by a group of fierce Picts and there tracker Etain (Olga Kurylenko). As I was saying before, Centurion looks great! Filmed on what I would presume is a shoe size budget, as with all epics these days Centurion has been treated to a bleach coloured bypass and depending on your point of view – it’s either an artistic bonus or a pain in the arse… Personally, for a film like Centurion… I think it works. I think it probably helps disguise any rough edges that it may have otherwise displayed.

In fact two colours seem to stand out, the Pict’s blue tribal markings displayed on their bodies and the red guts ‘n’ gore…. and my, doesn’t this film have a ton of it! Centurion pulls no punches during depictions of graphic violence, heads are decapitated, arms and limbs are cut off and eyes are gouged. In fact the violence almost boarders on the verge of an ‘Itchy and Scratchy’ cartoon, but if you’re deranged like me… you’ll fucking love it! Michael Fassbender continues his escalation up the Hollywood hierarchy and he impress’s as the noble Quintus Dias. Fassbender shows vulnerability in his character as he is given what feels like an impossible task – charged with getting the surviving members of the ninth legion back behind Hadrian’s Wall and into Roman territory. Dominic ‘McNulty’ West is reliable as Titus Flavius Virilus, it’s just a shame West isn’t given more screen time with his roles, especially after his fantastic portrayal in ‘The Wire’.

Then there is the beautiful Olga Kurylenko as ‘Pict’ tracker/hunter Etain, she’s the face of our villains in this flick and she does a good job of making us/audience feel sorry for her because of her tormented past and yet at the same time, we want this traitorous bitch to die. Other than our three main leads though, the rest of the cast is pretty forgettable, they’re just kind of there for cannon fodders sake. Neil Marshall might not have attained the lofty heights of The Descent (The Descent in my opinion is one of the best made horror films of the last decade), but Centurion is an awesome well made little picture that’s just a little rough around the edges. The film looks beautiful, has great actors and has a great score to boot. Unfortunately though, a few missing character beats, a predictable plot and a slightly rushed ending stop Centurion from reaching the upper echelons of awesomeness.

Centurion is a well made little fpicture and whether you’re a fan of this genre or not – you should definitely give it a try! Clocking in at just over 90 minutes, it’ll be rude not to.

***½ (3½ out of 5)