A tense, tough, and entertaining tale of Romans at war

Rating: 8/10 (10 August 2010)

Just finished watching "Centurion" on Comcast Video On Demand. First time I ever paid for a VOD flick. Score one for modern technology. "Centurion" is a sword and sandal version of an old fashioned war film. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I know Neil Marshall's last outing disappointed some critics and fans, but this one was am expertly crafted crowd pleaser that delivers the goods. It's a lean, mean and and seldom slackens the pace. The plot is centered on a group of Roman soldiers trying to elude some Pictish pursuers and make it back to Hadrian's Wall. For that reason, it reminded me of those low budget Korean War movies that Hollywood cranked out in the 1950's. Most of them were slow-paced depictions of a retreating platoon or squad cut off from their own lines. Marshall even gave his Romans a multi-cultural makeup that would have pleased Howard Hawks or William Welllman. In the old days the American unit always had a slow talking Texan, a tough kid from Brooklyn, a farm boy from Iowa, etc. Marshall's Roman cohort includes a Syrian, an African, a Tuscan farmer, a Greek, and the oddly clean cut son of a Roman gladiator. Hey, fine by me. I'm a big believer in film traditions.
Marshall wrote the script and it was plain to see he is a film buff, as he borrowed bits from a number of earlier films like "Butch Cassidy," "Last of the Mohicans," "Naked Prey," and others. Nothing wrong with that. Everybody does it and Marshall has tossed together an admirable mix of familiar, but revered, action set pieces served up with the frantic pace, CGI bloodletting, and super-model Amazons to appeal to modern audiences. The aerial photography of the Scotish highlands was wonderful and really gave the film a more epic scope. The major battle scene early in the film is first rate, though Marsahll lifted the rolling fireballs from Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus." The obligatory CGI blood sprays were there, but nothing like the crimson tidal waves of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand." I am not, however, a big fan of computerized frame blending to heighten the intensity of the action scenes. Seems artificial to me, but I am sure others are fine with it.
Like all cat-and-mouse chase films there are a few contrived scenes to allow the fleeing Romans inexplicable breathing room to spew manly dialog (hey, I like manly dialog) and even relax with a pretty girl. But overall, Marshall's narrative holds up and none of the characters do anything with swords or spears that seem totally implausible. The acting is solid and way above action film norms. My own personal opinion is that Great Britain produces the best actors in the world. Maybe that is why we Americans are using so many British transplants as leads in our films and TV series. Michael Fassbinder has that cool screen presence an action film star needs, plus he can act. Dominic West was very good as a tough-as-nails Roman general. I also liked David Morrisey and Liam Cunningham as two salt-of-the-earth foot soldiers. While I never really bought Olga Kurylenko as an unstoppable, force-of-nature warrior woman, she handled the fight scenes surprisingly well.
Overall, "Centurion" is a first-class film that I'll be adding to my DVD collection. I hope it does well enough at the box office to encourage the making of other historical action films. I have to hand it to the Brits for this one, "Solomon Kane," and the upcoming "Eagle of the Ninth" and "Ironclad." I don't think there are many US studios that would even consider making a film like "Centurion" nowadays. More's the pity.