Directed By Neil Marshall
Starring Michael Fassbender, David Morrissey, Olga Kurylenko and Dominic West
You might feel the sudden urge to take a shower and gargle mouthwash after watching Centurion. It’s a film that’s so filled with grime, gore and jetting sprays of crimson that by the time the credits roll you can practically taste the thick, copperish tang of blood in your mouth. Director Neil Marshall’s propensity towards filling his films with enough plasma to fund the entire Karo Syrup industry should come as no surprise to those who’ve seen his previous films (Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Doomsday) though, and thankfully, the gore is merely the gooey window dressing for a crowd-pleasingly brutal, ferociously fun hack-em-up action flick.
In 117 AD, the Roman Empire’s attempted rule over the entirety of Britain is hampered only by the Picts – a fierce, savage group who have kept the Romans at bay with guerilla warfare. In an attempt to wipe them out for good, the fearless, elite 9th Legion are sent into Caledonia (Scotland, to us future folk) to unleash some Roman bloodlust. When the legion is ambushed and slaughtered, a small band of survivors stuck behind enemy lines must run and fight their way back to the safety of Roman territory with savage, merciless Pict warrior Etain (Olga Kurylenko) hot on their heels.
Those expecting a historically-accurate depiction of Roman history are watching the wrong movie; Marshall’s is a lean, driven action film above all else, while his characters’ anachronistic dialogue would more likely be heard at the local pub than ancient Rome. Which is oddly fitting as the cast exudes the amiable, laddish pub-house camaraderie that worked so damn well in Dog Soldiers. It certainly helps that Marshall has assembled such an impressive cast of truly great, charismatic character actors who can spin sparsely-scripted straw into character gold effortlessly.
Michael Fassbender is quickly becoming one of the most overwhelmingly talented actors of his generation, and while the material doesn’t afford him the opportunity to stretch his abilities, he makes for an incredibly natural, impressive action lead. The oft-overlooked and criminally underrated David Morrissey (State of Play), Marsall movie regular Liam Cunningham and the stellar Dominic West (The Wire’s Jimmy McNulty) all deliver an immensely welcome collective head-butt of gruff, manly charisma, while Noel Clarke is fine but struggles to bury his ‘Sarf Lahndan’ accent under an unconvincing refined imperial brogue. Olga Kurylenko is given perhaps the toughest task, playing an entirely mute character, but she handles it with gusto, managing to be fiercely expressive and intimidating even without dialogue.
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It’s Olga’s Etain and her Pict clan that evoke Centurion’s more interesting elements amidst the crowd-rousing blood-letting; Marshall doesn’t take the easy out and make them nameless, faceless savages driven only by a lust for blood. Instead, the Picts are painted with perhaps as much motive and sympathy as the collective army of Rome – after all, they’re the natives who find their land invaded, forced to endure atrocities at the hands of imperialist soldiers. The comparisons to current world events are evident and Marshall smuggles in sly political subtext with impressive finesse.
Sadly, with such a focus on delivering a lean, exhilarating and relentless action/chase film, Marshall occasionally glosses over important chunks of plot (like Fassbender’s initial escape, which is quickly forgotten and unexplained) and character, which is entirely limited to a brief campfire bonding scene and hackneyed narration. Marshall and his effects team misguidedly toss in cartoonish CG blood during the gruesome battles, and while it’s more elegantly implemented than other movies (like the ironically-titled Blood: The Last Vampire – a film bathed in so much pixel plasma that it seems the last 5 minutes of Blade threw up on it), it’s still distracting and unnecessary. The intense desire to throw viewers right into the gory mayhem slightly backfires, too; the film is noticeably front-loaded with action, peaking in the opening act with the most involving, epic action set-pieces and losing steam in the last half hour, ending with a couple of small-scale punch-ups.
Centurion is rough around the edges and noticeably flawed, but while Marshall doesn’t aim with the precision of a Pict arrow, his ‘hurl an entire armory at the audience’s face’ approach is nonetheless a wildly effective one. A large-scale, blood-splattered dose of incredibly fun action carnage, it’s a film let down by an imbalanced pace and a complete lack of character development. But still, those looking for a fun, fast action flick won’t be disappointed by the often dizzying rate at which Centurion tosses creative limb-chopping, skull-slicing entertainment their way.
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On the DVD:
First up on the bonus features block is a lively commentary by Neil Marshall and a few members of the crew. Marshall’s an entertaining speaker, refreshingly honest and candid about the film’s failings, admitting that the voiceover (a last-minute addition not in the script) doesn’t work well and that he’d remove it given the chance now. It’s an engaging, informative track, and there’s not a quiet moment throughout, covering everything from early script changes, location choices, effects work to post-production edits.
Next up is a 30 minute ‘Making Of’ documentary split into four featurettes (with a ‘Play All’ option) that benefits wildly from having a great crew and a cast of fun actors who have little inclination to waste time giving EPK soundbites. Ditching the superficial pleasantries, the documentary skips right to the interesting meat and potatoes of the film-making process, looking at the staging of the flaming boulder scene, the mechanics of some of the numerous action scenes, the prosthetics and blood work. There’s also some wonderfully funny moments with the cast, like Dominic West providing commentary as Olga fights his stuntman while West lounges in a chair.
A batch of deleted scenes (with commentary), mostly snatched from the opening 15 minutes, features more of Paul Freeman’s Roman governor and seductive schemer Rachel Stirling as they initially plan to sent the 9th Legion into Caledonia. There’s also added scenes of Dominic West rallying the troops and later encountering the slaughtered bodies of Roman soldiers as they head into Caledonia, and a moment with the central group attempting to protect a pneumonia-ridden Leonidas (Dimitri Leonidas) from the elements. It’s not hard to see why it was all excised – while West is awesome and there are some welcome character beats, much of the scenes are redundant and would’ve slowed the opening pace drastically. Nonetheless, it’s all interesting to see and a welcome inclusion.
Rounding out the ample features are a gallery of production design photos, a fun, but short selection of outtakes (really only worth it for West clearly having a blast gurning his way through a death scene) and the film’s trailer. On the whole, it’s an impressively stacked disc well worth picking up.
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Centurion is available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray on 16th August 2010.
Click here to order the DVD from Amazon.co.uk.