Centurion

As a former US Army infantry officer, I find it absurd that Hollywood can't help itself from constantly inserting these dominatrix females with physical and military prowess equal to men. Doesn't happen, never happened, won't happen. That's why women have a different standard on the Army PT test. That's why women have their own sports and Olympic events. That's why women have always in the history of warfare been the victims of war not the perpetrators. But woke producers simply must push their gender-bending agenda and try to brainwash the brainless masses into believing that gender is simply a state of mind. God forbid a movie reflects reality instead of their bizarre view of humanity.

Centurion is a good, well-filmed, recently-made Imperial Rome movie. And it's set in Roman Britain, which I like. The storyline is good, grounded in Roman history, and the costumes are authentic. They did their homework on this one. And the scenery is beautiful.Just a few points off, though, for the standard trope where the female actresses are all strikingly pretty with full, clean hair, and perfect teeth. This is supposed to be wild, untamed Britain, and the women look that good? Even the banished, ostracized, living-by-herself girl looks like she stepped out of a magazine. And her dress is in perfect condition.And as some others have noted, the battle scenes are a bit unbelievable. Heads get severed too easy, knives and spears penetrate too easily, blood spurts a bit too much and too far. The barbarians - who aren't a trained, professional army like the Romans - seem to fight awfully well and are expert marksmen with spears and arrows. Really? Not too sure about that....That aside, you'll like this movie. Very well-done.

They spent a lot of money on this. It's got the girl power thing going that movies seem to need lately. The beautiful mute character was likely a casting couch hire who can't act worth a crap so they created a character who can't talk. The Roman legion that got wiped out was in Germany. It was not as a result of a beautiful mute woman with remarkably well-done hair and makeup, but a German man whom the Romans trusted. This movie is very silly.

SPOILERS.If you're a fan of ancient Roman war movies, like I am, then you will enjoy this high-budget, well-produced, and well-acted movie.It's time period appears to coincide with the final construction stages of Hadrian's Wall, which would put it around 121 A.D., as 122 A.D. is considered to be the beginning of Hadrian's Wall. The plot overlaps the mysterious fate of the Ninth Legion.Even today, military historians and Roman history historians are not in consensus as to the true fate of the Ninth Legion. Most seem to believe it perished in southern Scotland. But some historians keep pointing to vague references of the Ninth Legion later stationed in the Near East where it perished in a war against Parthia. But there is little doubt the Ninth Legion did indeed suffer a massive nighttime attack on its nightly march camp. While the Ninth survived the assault it is thought that most of its legionaries were killed in the fighting, perhaps as many as two-thirds. From this actual historic occasion, the Ninth would have been either, totally reconstituted, or, following old Roman military tradition, its survivors doled out to other legions and the Ninth Legion standard retired. As an example, the three, destroyed legions of Governor Varus in the Teutoberger Wald (forest) in 9 AD were never reconstituted and the legions were never recreated elsewhere.In the movie, the Ninth Legion gets ambushed on the march by the cunning Scottish Caledonians and Pictish enemies and wiped out. This is how Varus' three legions were destroyed in the Teutoberger Forest, attacked while strung out in march file and unable to assume their standard, formidable legion formation.More, the Ninth Legion in the move is down to 1,500 legionaries, making it extremely vulnerable to being overwhelmed, which in the movie it was. The maximum theoretical strength of a legion was some, 5,200 men, although some historians put it as low as 4,800, others at 5,000. What historians have learned is that Roman legions were often not at full strength. In fact, historians believe it was seldom that a typical Roman legion was at full strength, unless it was prepared for war, then it would be brought up to full strength. The other exception was the creation of a new legion which obviously meant it started at at full strength. Wartime legions might often be at half strength for prolonged periods due to battlefield casualties, fatal injuries, and fatal illnesses. Even peacetime legions suffered casualties from illnesses and small losses from typical patrolling and policing duties, which slowly detracted from a legion's strength.If a understrength legion successfully garrisoned a peaceful province, there was little urgency to bring its numbers up to full strength. Legionaries were always needed at trouble spots around the empire. A peacetime understrength legion would be lucky to receive a few replacements and reinforcements from time to time. Hence, most legions actively recruited sons of legionaries locally and from any provincials who possessed Roman citizenship. The other way to was to rely heavily on auxiliary soldiers to help round out a province's Roman garrison, since auxiliary soldiers did not need Roman citizenship.Suffice to say, the movie Ninth Legion marches north with only 1,500 men instead of a full 4,800 or so. This makes a big difference. Plus, legions always left back men to man the fort or fortlet before marching out. The small force of only 1,500 men strung out on in marching profile get flanked and attacked by massive numbers of Scottish and Pictish enemy tribesmen and wiped out.NOTE: The director deliberately substituted the normal Roman legionary throwing pila (javelins) with auxiliary spears (hasta). Reportedly the director was uncomfortable using the typical pilum because he would be obliged to film the stunt actors throwing the pila. This would make for a serious safety hazard. So he made the substitution in the knowledge that few people actually know Roman military history .At the movie's beginning, Centurion Quintus is shown in a southern Scotland Roman fortlet, that is, a very small fort which typically garrisoned only around 32 legionaries. Often not even this full number was present, 8 legionaries might be detached to man a 8-man watch tower one mile away. Sometimes there would be a watchtower to the right and left of the fortlet, meaning that 16 men would be permanently absent. Unfortunately the fortlet was not part of a wall defensive fortification. It was a standalone fortification to police the frontier between Roman-controlled territory and the independent tribal territories to the north. When the Picts attack the forlet, it doesn't appear that even 16 legionaries were present, around ten to 12 men and only Quintus does any killing of the Picts, about three tribesmen, before he is knocked unconscious.

Script — good lines, but too conscious of its attempt to offer up good lines.So so much simply makes no sense. A plot to drive a double-wide chariot through.Kinda seems to want to be a Gaelic '300' ... which also suffers from the ol' sucky story thing.Though of course that's not why why one watches such a flick ... just hoped for better from DW, at least.Sigh.I'd say watch it with the sound off to avoid the script but unfortunately the music is pretty good, too, so prolly just realize what you're getting into and it'll be OK. You can have it on while you cook dinner, which will surely be more fulfilling than this tripe.Cheers,Paul

Well acted, and definitely delivering a feel for reality. Nobody really knows what it was like back then, but the movie creates a nice simulation. Probably, no such Legion was lost in Britain at that time (the Ninth may have been lost somewhere, but probably on the continent), but, well, it might have happened similarly. I like the idea of the hero surviving and ending up with a good woman. Who could object to that?

Watchable nonsense. It's alright to pass the time. The warrior woman hunting them was annoying as hell - why is it all modern made dramas and films just have to have a woman with "attitude/sass/reminding us all constantly that "SHE IS A WOMAN?"Bore off...😒Fassbander was well...Fassbander. As usual his Irish lilt comes through in every film or drama he's in....and he's supposed to be doing an English accent....It's an ok film. Not one of the best though but passes the time.

I give this movie five stars even if I did not like some details. I liked most of "Centurion" very much and many scenes are simply unforgettable! This review contains SPOILERS!The action is set in year 117 AD, in the country which today is called Scotland but which Romans named Caledonia. This harsh and inhospitable land was inhabited by tribes which Romans called first Caledonians and later Picts. Caledonia was the only part of main British island which was not controlled by Roman Empire and Caledonians/Picts resisted fiercely all attempts of conquest - and in fact, in Ist and IInd centuries, frequently attacked Roman part of the island. The movie describes an episode of those Pictish wars, although because of lack of precise sources, it is not exactly based on real events and the names of the main leaders (Roman general Virilus and Pictish king Gorlacon) are fictive.To avoid spoilers I will not say much more about the plot - but please be aware that this is a very brutal and bloody movie, full of scenes of realistically described close quarters combat, but also of torture and murder. I believe this realism is ultimately an asset, but many people (and I think most women) will certainly find "Centurion" too shocking to watch. Under no circumstances children or younger teenagers should be allowed to see this movie - and I would in fact deeply recommend to restrict it only to those who are aged 18 years or more."Centurion" shows a great deal of incredibly beautiful images of nature in northern part of Scotland (especially Cairngorms mountains and Badenoch district), attempting to show how did it look in times when its population was still scarce and nature mostly remained wild and untouched, with wolves and deers more easily met than humans. The forest scenes were filmed in natural parks in England. Those settings alone are a good reason to see "Centurion" as they are simply impossible to describe - you simply must see them! For that reason also I would really recommend to watch it on the biggest possible screen.Actors play well and the characters are interesting and well thought. Michael Fassbinder plays the main hero, centurion Quintus Dias, and his performance is very honest. However, two other actors steal the show from him: Dominic West and especially Olga Kurylenko.Dominic West already showed how versatile actor he was playing the ambiguous character of detective McNulty in "The Wire" but also the abject Spartan politician Theron in "300". Here he portrays the Roman general Virilus in another excellent performance. It was a pleasure to watch him.But the REAL performance is that of Olga Kurylenko, who plays Etain, a silent, never smiling Briton tracker/scout working for Romans. Etain can not speak (when she was a child her tongue was cut off) but still, her character dominates the whole movie - and it is not only because of the great beauty of Ms Kurylenko, as she is mostly wrapped in furs and her face is partly hidden by blue war paintings. Really, I found this character fascinating and totally unforgettable and I am certain she will mark you too!And finally a special mention for Imogen Poots, a very cute and absolutely lovely British actress who plays Pictish sorceress, Arian, and the gorgeous Belgian actress Axelle Carolyn (who is also the wife of the director of the movie, Neil Marshal), who plays Pictish female warrior, Aeron. This importance accorded to women is another point in favor of this movie. In Pictish society women were mostly equals of men and most of them were also warriors, to the point that some fought in battles carrying babies attached on their backs!Now, the one thing I did not totally like in this movie is the flawed representation of the way in which roman legions marched, camped and especially fought. When watching "Centurion" you must inevitably ask the question "But how come those guys could conquer so many countries and build a three continent empire?" The answer is, those guys did not - but the real legions did, because they made war totally differently than pictured in this film. And this is a pity, because there clearly was an effort to stick to historical reality - like for example the fact that in this movie Roman soliders wear "lorica segmentata" armour, which in those times just replaced the previously used "lorica hamata" (chain mail). But the effort was not made when the tactics are described.I will just focus on the biggest issue - fighting tactics. Roman regular infantry was so dangerous because it used a mixture of missile and close combat weapons. The enemy was first engaged with highly specialized heavy javelins, the "pilum", of which every infantryman carried two: one lighter and one heavier. The lighter javelin was thrown first (because it had a longer range), then the heavier and then only the legion would close the ranks in a shield wall and engage the enemy with short but quite heavy Roman swords "gladius". The important thing is that Roman swords were perfectly adapted for stabbing (with an upward thrust) but rather poorly suited for slashing. Or in "Centurion" NOT EVEN ONE "pilum" is thrown and in fact Roman soldiers do not even carry them. Instead all of them have classical long spears - which in reality would be used only by a small minority of eldest soldiers (whose arms were not so strong and their eyes not so good anymore) for protection against a possible cavalry charge. Also Roman soldiers slash wildly at their enemies with their short swords, without even trying to use them efficiently...There is also the little point of a general who walks through hostile wild country without any flank guard, even if he has some nimble footed auxiliary light infantry suited for this task - one of the heroes, Leonidas, is after all a lightly equipped Greek slinger. And of course any such expedition should relay for all reconnaissance only on one indigenous tracker and two Roman cavalrymen, giving a total of three (yes, three!) horse riding scouts for the security of a whole army (the Ninth Legion and all its "auxillia").However, although I certainly did not like that part of the movie, all the rest was so good and made on me such a strong impression, that I simply couldn't take one star off the rating. I loved this movie in cinema and I will certainly buy the DVD!

I bought this as a Christmas present, and it was well received.Books you might like to read Cold Steel on the Rocks We Are Cold Steel Kalter Stahl auf den FelsenCold Steel on the RocksWe Are Cold SteelKalter Stahl auf den Felsen

Arrived before due date and was as advertised

I really liked this film, i am a big fan of micheal fassbender, and felt the scenery was was beautiful as it showed the beauty of scotland, but also the action was good and kept me wanting to watch more... I would recommend this film to people who like action and have an interest in the history of the Roman Empire in England...