1. KundK

   6

   People expecting a sanitized, Gladiator-like epic, might be in for a nasty (or lovely) surprise. There is little honour in this survival story and even less glory. There are, however, many majestic and harsh landscapes and even more brutal, deservedly R-rated spear-to-the-mouth type slayings. In essence, this is “Northern Comfortâ€� with Scotland for Louisiana, Picts for Cajuns and Romans for Guardsmen. The Walter Hill movie clearly had undertones of Vietnam, but here only the pretentious will immediately see parallels with Afghanistan and War on Terror in general. After an ambush and a botched rescue mission which turns into a war crime, a small, diverse and multiethnic band of imperial soldiers is trying to escape from deep behind the enemy lines and they soon find that the only way to survive is to adopt the guerrilla tactics of their foes – the savage and merciless freedom fighters led by an almost supernaturally capable female tracker (Kurylenko). The prevailing feeling is that of despair and nihilism as our questionable heroes get killed one by one at the hands of the Picts but also abandoned and betrayed by amoral Roman politicians. The main reasons I cannot give this a score better than 6/10 (which in my book stands for “worth a watchâ€�) are poor characterisation on both sides of the conflict, the cheesy and completely unnecessary narration and clunky plotting. Cheep looking and juvenile opening credits do not help either. Also, the top billed Dominic West has no more than 15 minutes of screen time which is kind of dishonest. If you liked Marshall’s previous movies (especially “Dog Soldiersâ€�) and are not put off by the flying limbs and the rivers of blood (it seems most weapons here are vorpal and critical hits abound), you will not be disappointed. If you are the gloomy sort who thought “Valhalla Risingâ€� was an underrated art-house gem of awesome glacial beauty, if you were entertained by the silly but lush and dreamy “Pathfinderâ€� or you were not utterly disgusted by “King Arthurâ€�, you might really like this gritty, feel-bad-movie-of–the-year. However, the weak of stomach and the sunny of disposition should stay several spear lengths away, safely behind Hadrian’s Wall with the weaklings who do not paint their bodies blue, braid their magnificent moustaches and charge naked at their enemies.… Expand

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2. JennetP

   5

   This film inserts itself into a couple of historical gaps: first, what happened to the soldiers of the Ninth Legion; second, what were the Picts really like? "Centurion" comes up with much more sinister answers than historians venture, but, hey, it's a movie, right? Problem is, the film can't decide whether it wants to be a kind of anti-epic or a simple chase film. As one who steps out for popcorn when a film "cuts to the chase," I'm much more interested in the former, so I enjoyed those scenes in which the Romans betray the "civilizing" values they claimed to be taking to "the barbarians." Fight scenes, too, were pretty engaging, though I was a little surprised that the giant fireballs from "Troy" managed to roll all the way to the Scottish highlands. Moreover, I genuinely didn't see the ending coming, which was a treat. But the vast stretches of film in which pursuer followed pursued I found eye-rollingly dull, despite some novel characters and gorgeous scenery.… Expand

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3. Forbichoff

   3

   awful. just awful. neil marshall is showing he really has absolutely no talent left after dog soldiers and the descent, i shouldn't really have to mention doomsday... but this movie is filled with cgi blood, pretentious acting and dialogue, horrible editing, and some really stupid PC stuff that was unnecessary and weren't realistic in the realm of the story. garbage. avoid.… Expand

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     3 of 6 users said yes

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