CINEMA: Centurion

May 02, 2010

Written by: Dee Pilgrim

From intellectual and aesthetic to bloody and brutal – the second historical movie this week is all about gore and rage and ravening heathens.

The setting this time is 117 AD Britain where Centurion Quintus (Michael Fassbender) is the only survivor of a raid by the Picts on his fort. With no comrades left to fight with he joins the legendary Ninth Legion under the command of its charismatic leader General Virilus (Dominic West) in a mass push into Pict territory in an attempt to kill their head man Gorlacon (Ulrich Thomsen) and the mute assassin Etain (Olga Kurylenko). But the Romans make the fundamental mistake of underestimating their enemy and the Picts massacre most of them leaving Quintus and a ragtag band of weary warriors to flee for their lives, the Picts in hot pursuit.

There’s some nice support work here by the likes of Liam Cunningham, Riz Ahmed and David Morrissey as the Centurions having to survive on their wits and little else and although the fight scenes are extremely well handled they do come to dominate the movie, leaving little space for more understanding of the Roman characters and absolutely none for finding out what makes the Picts tick.

Centurion is workmanlike and soldierly rather than being inspiring or surprising – a bit of a slog rather than an exhilarating dash.

Author: Dee Pilgrim

Dee always knew she wanted to make her living from writing and so trained as a journalist before working for a variety of music and women’s titles including Sounds, Company, Cosmopolitan, Ms London, New Woman, and Girl About Town. After going freelance she concentrated on celebrity interviews and film, theatre, music and restaurant reviews. Her love of film goes back to her very first cinema experience at the age of five when her mother took her to see Bambi. She cried. At one time she was the Film Editor for NOW magazine and also the secretary for the film section of the Critics’ Circle and the celebrity coordinator for its annual film awards’ event. She has written a number of books for teenagers through Trotman Publishing, including five Real Life Guides to vocational careers (including Carpentry, Plumbing and Catering), and also three books on Real Life Issues (Money, Bereavement and Self Harm). Her favourite film is still Bladerunner.