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Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, David Morrissey, Noel Clarke ... see more see more... , Rizwan Ahmed , J.J. Feild , Axelle Carolyn , Liam Cunningham , Andreas Wisniewski , Dave Legeno , Imogen Poots , Lee Ross , Ulrich Thomsen , Ryan Atkinson , Paul Freeman , Eoin Macken , Rachael Stirling , Michael Carter , Tom Mannion , Peter Guinness , Dimitri Leonidas , Dhaffer L'Abidine , Simon Chadwick , Jake Maskall , Dermot Keaney , Dylan Brown

CENTURION is set during the war between Roman soldiers and Pict tribesmen during the 2nd century Roman conquest of Britain. Michael Fassbender stars as Quintus Dias, Roman centurion and son of a legen... read more read more...dary gladiator who leads a group of soldiers on a raid of a Pict camp to rescue a captured general (Dominic West). The son of the Pict leader is murdered during the raid, and the Romans find themselves hunted by a seemingly unstoppable group of the Pict's most vicious and skilled warriors, led by a beautiful and deadly tracker (Olga Kurylenko), and hell bent on revenge.-- (C) Magnolia

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43% liked it

44,552 ratings

Critics

59% liked it

102 critics

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: Neil Marshall

Release Date: August 27, 2010

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DVD Release Date: November 2, 2010

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Flixster Reviews (2,328)

  • jmanard52
    November 13, 2010
    jmanard52
    amazing visuals and a decent story but somehow feels like it could have been so much better.
  • Nathang110
    December 24, 2011
    Nathang110
    "This is neither the beginning nor end of my story" Centurion answers the question of what happened to the ninth legion. Its full of violence, blood, and history. Michael Fassbender performs very well as a roman hero. The rest of the cast performs admirably enough. The plot is th... read morein, but intriguing. The movie brings to mind films like King Arthur or The Eagle, yet surpasses it easily, falling right underneath excellent tales like Gladiator, Braveheart, or Kingdom of Heaven (d.c.). If a fan of the genre, one will enjoy.
  • EightThirty
    November 7, 2011
    EightThirty
    26/06/2011 (PS3)

    Suitable for a good night at home! Action and brutality, risks and despair, hope and fear. Although I've seen this plot a many times I still find myself amused when it is done well.

    Truly Barbaric and no shortage of warriors hacking limbs and skewering their ... read moreenemies hearts or kidneys. The movie looks awesome and the scenery is very fitting to the story.

    No disappointments but then again no bars raised in my personal interests. Still... Its not a bad sitting at all.
  • puffchunk
    June 19, 2011
    puffchunk
    Cool time period, costumes, etc. The story was alright. It somewhat fell apart after a while, but overall I enjoyed it.
  • jjnxn
    June 12, 2011
    jjnxn
    Dull
  • fb732260458
    May 12, 2011
    fb732260458
    A relentless, self-indulgent mess of a film that is light on plot and heavy on action. Really heavy on action.
  • xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    May 5, 2011
    xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    Fight or die.

    Great Movie! It has it all. Well made and some good acting. Nice cinematography and good story, loved it because it caught me off guard.

    It is A.D. 117 and the Roman garrisons are struggling to contain the Picts, the Celtic inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands. T... read morehe Picts under their king, Gorlacon, are perfecting guerilla warfare and are eliminating Roman outposts one by one. Centurion Quintus Dias is the only survivor of a Pictish raid and is taken prisoner. In the meantime, the Roman governor of Britannia wants to obtain favour with the central administration, hoping to secure a transfer back to the comforts of Rome. He dispatches the Ninth Legion to the front under General Titus Flavius Virilus, providing him with a mute female Brigantian scout, Etain.

    As the legion marches north, they encounter and save Dias, who has escaped. Etain betrays the legion to Gorlacon: the Romans walk into a trap and are annihilated. Dias, with six others, elude death and capture. They learn that Virilus has been taken prisoner and set out to rescue him. They find the Pictish settlement and sneak in at night, but fail to break the general's chains. As they retreat, one of them kills Gorlacon's young son. The next morning, after the dead boy is burned, the general is given a sword and made to duel with Etain, who kills him.

    The seven decide to return south via a long detour over the mountains, while Etain with a Pict detachment are sent on horseback to track and kill them, in revenge for the king's son. They eventually catch up with the fugitives, who have to jump off a cliff and into a stream. One is killed by arrows while two separate, pursued by wolves. Dias and his best fighter attempt a night raid on the Pictish camp, while Etain and her warriors do the same. Several men are killed. Dias and his two followers happen upon a hut in the forest and befriend Arianne, who lives there. She shelters them and when Etain comes, she confronts her while the Romans hide under the floorboards. The next morning they leave Arianne and find the closest garrison abandoned: an order on a wall informs them that Roman troops have retreated south, to Hadrian's Wall. As they see Etain approach, they set up a trap inside the fort. A battle ensues, Dias kills Etain, and he and one wounded companion emerge victorious. By chance they reunite with one of their lost companions, who earlier killed Gorlacon's son, and wounded another Roman soldier to leave as bait for a pack of wolves hunting them. Upon reaching Hadrian's Wall, the lost companion worries Dias, who says that he will report his crimes and the two men fight with Dias as the victor. Dias' other companion, in Pictish clothing, is shot by Roman soldiers by mistake. When Dias enters the camp he reports the situation to the governor. The governor has decided to have all Ninth Legion veterans killed, so that his record is not tainted by a military failure. The governor's daughter is trusted with making sure that Dias is also killed. Dias evades the attempt on his life and returns to Arianne in the forest.
  • Beefy
    January 25, 2011
    Beefy
    Gritty little medieval film gets knocked down half a star by using CG BLOOD. Grrrrr. I hate that! Sucks you right out of the film. Practical effects are where it's at. The film would have been far more visceral.
  • cosmo313
    January 20, 2011
    cosmo313
    The "Legend of the Ninth Legion" is a very popular story, so popular in fact that two films about it exist, with both being released within a year of one another. First was this one, next will be the upcoming "The Eagle". I get why it's a popular story: it's filled with mystery, ... read moreintrigue, action, it's open to interpretation and speculation, and it deals with an interesting chapter in Roman history. Plus, hisotircal epics are just fun movies anway.

    This film however, is less of an epic, and more of a historical action film. I would expect no less than that from Neil Marshall- a director whose work I've come to really enjoy, because it is entertaining and aesthetically pleasing, but also because Marshall is a good director who has talent and fulfills an audiences desire to see gore and action done with style, flair, and craft.

    Since there's no real consensus as to what happeneed to the Ninth, this allows for a lot of leeway. This particular film is basically a giant chase film. Think Apocalypto but with Romans and Picts with a major lift albeit an earned one) from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and that's what this movie delivers. It tires to blend nonstop action with a but of commentary on honor, duty, and deep themes about war, politics, man versus nature, and man versus man, which I commend the filmmakers for, but in the end, this is really just a superbly well made blood and guts actioner. I'm all for blending pure action with substance, but it is hard to do well, and, even though I consider myself a fan of Marshall's work, I don't think he has quite the chops (yet) to pull this off convincingly. He is at least a little less ambitious and more focused here than he was with Doomsday, which is good, but the film doesn't quite earn the 4 stars I would love to give it. It comes close though.

    Perhaps had the story and characters been fleshed out more, then I'd be able to comfortably change my grade. With that said, the performances are pretty good. There's nothing Oscar worthy here, but all things considered, the performances are pretty decent. Even Olga Kurylenko is good. Maybe it's telling that her character has no tongue, but I thought she did alright playing the role of the revenge driven warrior woman archetype. West and Fassbender fill out their roles nicely aswell.

    You might think I'm treating what on the surface (and for the most part basically is) appears to be just a standard priod piece action film too kindly or in the same manner that I would an art film, but I call them like I see them. Marshall might make genre films, but he treats them like critically lauded auteurs treat their film. This type of praise is earned because he, like Rob Zombie, does actually show skill and craftsmanship, even if they use it for the types of movies most disregard.

    I like the blood and mayhem, but would have liked a bit more (and better handled) substance. But that's fine because the cinematogrpahy is excellent, the pacing is just right, and the music is fitting as well. I'm torn on a specific grade, so let's just call it a split between a straight B and a low B+.

    It's a step back in the right direction, but here's to hoping Marshall's next film really puts him back on track.
  • lewiskendell
    January 9, 2011
    lewiskendell
    "Now she hunts Romans. Now we are the prey."

    Centurion isn't a historical epic, it's a historical action flick. You won't get the grandeur and scope of a movie like Gladiator, but if you're looking for some violence and would like to substitute swords and arrows for shotguns and... read more Uzis, then you could do a lot worse.

    Michael Fassbender and Olga Kurylenko star on opposite sides of this movie. Fassbender is a Roman centurion in Britain who has been among the only survivors of two attacks by the warring Picts on his fellow soldiers. Kurylenko is a mute Pictish woman working with the Romans, who turns out to be more than she seems. Both of the stars prove credible in their action scenes, which are the main showpieces of the movie.

    The battles are what you'd expect from (director) Neil Marshall - visceral, brutal, and with copious amounts of blood. They occur frequently, and they never fail to have a high body count. If you're at all familiar with the story/legend of the Ninth Legion (which Centurion was adapted from), then you know not to expect many of the main characters to survive. You also probably know that there really aren't any true "good guys". The Romans are fighting to control the territory they've conquered, and the Picts are fighting for revenge and freedom. Both sides do some terrible things, but the Romans are presented as our main characters here, and therefore, our protagonists.

    This is a much more simple and conventional movie than Marshall's other work like The Descent and Doomsday, and it's probably his most mainstream flick, as well. But, there's nothing wrong with a straight-forward action movie if it's entertaining. I probably won't rush to own Centurion or see it again, but it was certainly worth seeing once. Fans of Imogen Poots will definitely want to check this out, as she has a nice (if somewhat brief) role.

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Critic Reviews

Ben Sachs
January 3, 2011
Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader

Auteur cinema of a very narrow stripe, this personalizes a familiar genre to advance a singularly pessimistic view of humanity. Full Review

Ann Hornaday
September 3, 2010
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Centurion wraps itself in talk of duty and honor, but really it's just another cinematic death-trip. Full Review

Peter Rainer
September 2, 2010
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

Marshall is big on desaturated imagery, which imparts to the film's copious amounts of hemoglobin the look of squid ink. Full Review

Anthony Lane
August 30, 2010
Anthony Lane, New Yorker

The film has a resigned bitterness, hard to shake off, that feels right for the experience of tough guys, from whatever period of history, who find themselves at the tattered edge of what they take to... Full Review

Joe Neumaier
August 27, 2010
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News

Marshall shows off the breathtaking landscape, but with interiors, he populates the ale houses and encampments with cliches. Full Review

Rob Nelson
August 27, 2010
Rob Nelson, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Bloody well done. Full Review

Leslie Felperin
August 27, 2010
Leslie Felperin, Variety

Rousing if slightly predictable. Full Review

John DeFore
August 27, 2010
John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

Unpretentious swords-and-sandals film crafts a tight survival drama out of Roman Empire lore. Full Review

Amy Biancolli
August 27, 2010
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

There are, by my count, six standard types of violence in film these days: Tarantino, comic book, Scorsese, martial arts, horror and stupid. That's right: stupid. For an example, look no further than ... Full Review

Roger Moore
August 27, 2010
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

It's a darned entertaining outing from a director who knows action, loves narration and doesn't share Hollywood's fear of period pieces that don't involve Greek gods. Full Review

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    • Arianne: Her soul is an empty vessel, only roman blood can fill.
    • Centurion Quintus Dias: My name is Quintus Dias, I am a soldier of Rome, and this neither the beginning nor the end of my story.
    • Centurion Quintus Dias: In the chaos of battle, when the ground beneath your feet is a slurry of blood, puke, piss and the entrails of friends and enemies alike, it's easy to turn to the gods for salvation. But it's soldiers who do the fighting, and soldiers who do the dying, and the gods never get their feet wet.
  • Fight or die.
  • Centurion was written originally by director Neil Marshall under the working title Ninth Legion
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  • This actor has starred in Die Another Day, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, is a ghost in Harry Potter and appeared in Rat Race. Other characters he's played include Sir Lancelot the Brave, Tim the Enchanter and a Roman Centurion.  Answer »
  • Which actor spoke the line "Truly this man is the Son of God" in a cameo appearance as a Roman Centurion in the 1961 film "King of Kings"?  Answer »
  • The greatest story ever told is about the life and death of Christ who appeared as a centurion when christ was crucified?   Answer »
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