Decent enough.

Rating: 6/10 (3 December 2011)

I will say right off the bat that I am not a historian, by any stretch of the imagination; however, I do have a liking for films that deal with most eras of history, especially the Roman Empire. With this in mind and my liking for Michael Fassbender, I decided to give this film a try.
My overall consensus: this film was neither terrific or horrifically bad, but there were more bad aspects than good. One thing that rather grated on my nerves was the lack of character development. I understand that it is difficult to fully develop seven or so characters but having them tell their backstories in one scene seems almost like a pitiful attempt. Speaking of said scene, the only character who doesn't say anything about their past is Centurion Quintus. For being the main character, there really wasn't much of a reason to care for him.
The first forty five minutes or so of the film are certainly the best. After that, it descends into a rather formulaic chase film, where characters are killed off left and right and all we can really do is shrug. The film also features a brief romantic subplot that is never really explored and truly feels unnecessary until the end of the film.
The film wasn't without its positive aspects, however. For those who are fans of gory battle scenes, Centurion certainly delivers, featuring some good hack and slash battles with gratuitous blood involved. Michael Fassbender also does a decent enough job in his role, working with the script he had to become the only character I really cared about. Overall, if you are a fan of dubiously accurate historical films (like I am), then Centurion certainly isn't a waste of an hour and a half. If this isn't your preferred genre, then I'd recommend giving it a pass.