Centurion (2010)

ridiculous rating

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Despite Neil Marshall at the helm and a quality cast, Centurion was quite poor. There was no character development, quality dialogue, heart, story, you name it. Basically it's lots of fighting and blood and not much else. A group of men I didn't care about, on the run through the mountains chased by a savage mute woman.

Listen, I'm a big fan of Michael Fassbender, a big fan of war movies, and a big fan of historical films. This, however, didn't hit the depth that I was hoping. It had nice historical significance, showed a side of the Roman Empire I hadn't seen before, but I was lost wondering who I was supposed to be rooting for, I couldn't feel the emotion that the characters were trying to portray on screen, and I was distracted by heavy violence that felt was put in the movie "just because." They tried to make this an impactful film, with emotion that you would find in Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, and We Were Soldiers, it just didn't hit it. It's worth seeing if you enjoy these type of war films, just don't expect to be blown away or to have your life changed.

There are many reasons for liking. this movie. I loved the cinematography and the casting. And the action scenes were done very well. A lot of violence and gore, but done with a surprisingly good taste. But it seriously lacked believable plot and character development. I know that making this kind of films are expensive and hard but they could have paid a few pounds more to the scriptwriter to make a true epic. Men are just meat here and the women...a little more... The talented cast could have made more of their roles. Obviously the Hollywood credo of action and entertainment makes money corrupted this film like so many others. Still highly recommended despite its faults.

It's silly. What did you expect? 10 lines of text on this would probably contain more substance than the movie. It's a low-budget chop-em-up sword and sandal effort. About as plausible as a Popeye cartoon with a load of portentous waffling about "honour" (as opposed to "honor") etc. That said it's more entertaining than watching emulsion paint dry and less painful than root canal treatment. It amazes me that people review this sort of meaningless light entertainment as if it bore the slightest relationship to the historical events or period which it's supposed to depict. That's "de-Pict" in this case. You've seen worse - whether you were aware of the fact I can't possibly know.