What it unquestionably illustrates, however, is the chemistry between Michael Fassbender and Imogen Poots (who plays an exiled Pict "witch") - these two will be reunited in a new adaptation of Jayne Eyre. One could argue there's a lesson here about tolerance and trust, but that might be looking too deeply into things. Still, it works within its context by providing a plausible reason for the pace to briefly slow. The movie finds time for a quasi-love story, although its inclusion seems a little forced. The viewer doesn't have to employ too much imagination. When characters are run through, there's no question what's happening to them. When it comes to battle scenes, there's not too much fast cutting and things are spiced up with a liberal use of viscera. (Even the credits show a degree of invention.) None of the women appear too neat or clean, and the men possess the rugged look one expects from soldiers sent to patrol the farthest arm of the Empire. In fact, the whole film looks great, with Marshall having effectively captured the feel of the era. Some of the mountainscapes, captured by use of a helicopter, are nothing short of spectacular. Marshall, who helmed the underrated horror film, The Descent, has a flair for the visual. No one can claim the bloodshed was toned down in the quest for a PG-13 - and I consider that to be a positive quality. Centurion is less interested in exploring the difficulties of maintaining order around the edges of a sprawling empire than it is in providing a catalog of suitably brutal encounters. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as the viewer is aware that the goal of the film is to depict violence in an uncivilized world rather than to provide a history lesson. It's hard to go for more than a minute or two without seeing one or more of those activities. The men escape the assault on the Pict camp, but they are pursued by Etain and a small group of hunters who have sworn a blood oath to kill the Romans or not return.ĭespite the historical setting and writer/director Neil Marshall's use of a legend (the disappearance of the Ninth Legion) as the basis of the story, Centurion can be summed up in three words: running, maiming, and killing. His goal: lead the small, ragtag group to safety - but first rescue the general: a task that exists somewhere between difficult and suicidal. There are a mere handful of survivors, including Quintus, who takes command. But the legion is betrayed by their scout, the mute Brigantian Etain (Olga Kurylenko), and led into a trap. The Ninth is led by General Titus Virilus (Dominic West), who is part brawler and part skilled fighter and beloved by his men for both qualities. Escaping his imprisonment by the Picts, he struggles through inclement weather and hostile terrain to reach the Ninth Legion, to which he is attached for an assault on the barbarians. Quintus Dias (Michael Fassbender), a centurion in the Roman army, is the last survivor of a barbarian attack on a far-flung Roman garrison in the Scottish Highlands. It's "swords and sorcery" without the "sorcery" but with a double helping of "swords" to compensate. The film doesn't include many of the common staples of fantasy adventures - there are no magic or monsters - but the time period (117 A.D.) is friendly to the kinds of characters and motifs favored by the genre. There's a mild Conan the Barbarian flavor to Centurion - not necessarily in the way the plot moves, but in the general sense of grittiness as the heroes journey before a series of majestic backdrops while being pursued by an unstoppable evil.
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