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Centurion (2009 Film)

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Click here...IMDB link for Centurion film

 

The summary says: "Britain, A.D. 117. Quintus Dias, the sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus' legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the Earth and destroy their leader, Gorlacon"

 

And you can see a clip of it here: click here, link for film clip

 

It is directed by the fellow who made the enjoyable horror flick, Dog Soldiers.

 

I really, really hope it does not suck.

 

It will be out this year.

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Sounds a bit like the re-working of Eagle of the Ninth, wasn't that supposed to be made into a film a while back? I also heard that the director behind Dog Soldiers would have been the one behind the Eagle of the Ninth film. I suppose he might have scrapped that one film and done this instead?

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The demise of the VIIII Hispana in Caledonia was considered standard knowledge some years ago, as it was based in Eboracum, there is no record of its presence in Britannia later than 109 and it was out of the legion lists at least since Marcus Aurelius' reign (161-180). In fact, this seemed to be the perfect explanation for the timing of the Hadrian

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Sounds a bit like the re-working of Eagle of the Ninth, wasn't that supposed to be made into a film a while back? I also heard that the director behind Dog Soldiers would have been the one behind the Eagle of the Ninth film. I suppose he might have scrapped that one film and done this instead?

 

It appears that there may be a seperate film being made that follows Rosemary Suttcliff's story a bit more closely than Centurion does.

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showto...amp;#entry93533

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'There was this legion that could beat... anybody... it could beat the Spanish and could beat anybody...there was 3000 men in a legion'

Roman general with stirrups... a very dubious fantasy type weapon wielded by the heavily made - up warrior queen, who simply states how nice it is to ride horses... by Jove, it sucks already!! I feel genuinely saddened for the committed re-enactors who as extras must be boiling with rage at the main players for not even reading the most basic information on the characters or people they are supposed to be playing.

Edited by Northern Neil

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A goth pict queen. Nice!

 

Isn't she the latest Bond girl?

 

I'm a big fan of Dominic West though, I think he's really good in "The Wire"

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I have to agree with NN on this one....unfortunately.

 

"It's very physical...it's all about fighting and being on a horse"...

 

GAH!!!!

 

I still want to see it, but I don't have high hopes. :)

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The use of Scottish locations suggests that the budget was not enough for getting New Zealand.

The poor choice of Latin names for the main characters, and the apparent presence of some barbarian-like moustaches among them, suggest a limited investigation of the social background.

The use of the demonym "Pict" and Ms. Kurylenko make-up suggest that anachronisms have not worried Mr. Marshall.

As a whole, it seems that hollywoodesque action will prevail over historicity whenever in conflict.

 

So as a humble romanophile, I think the best one can expect is a reasonable reenactment of the legionaries tactics, equipment and weaponry.

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Judging from the trailers, the depicted Roman military equipment seems quite uniform: there are virtually no pila, only hastae; mostly loricae segmentata, with some squamata for the officers;

gladii and Gallic helmets.

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Sounds a bit like the re-working of Eagle of the Ninth, wasn't that supposed to be made into a film a while back? I also heard that the director behind Dog Soldiers would have been the one behind the Eagle of the Ninth film. I suppose he might have scrapped that one film and done this instead?

 

It appears that there may be a seperate film being made that follows Rosemary Suttcliff's story a bit more closely than Centurion does.

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showto...amp;#entry93533

 

I thought I'd read about it before, thanks for that GPM!

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New update on Centurion.

 

The film has been finished. Unfortunately the future doesn't look too rosy for the film. Test audiences hated it. The director was given orders to re-edit the film. The test audience hated it even more. Now the director's hoping it's third time lucky.

 

Film critics and movie sites have smelt blood, and they are already moving in for the kill. I've read previews of the film that are totally dismissive of it, even though all we have about it is a brief summary of the plot and about five photographs. There isn't even a trailer.

 

Movie critics tend to look out for stuff like delays, especially if the film isn't shown to critics before. I think this one's going to be a critical flop even before its release. A shame really, as the photographs look pretty cool.

 

Here's some photos -

 

centurion05.jpg

 

 

centurion03.jpg

 

 

centurion04.jpg

Edited by DecimusCaesar

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The dark beauty of a Pict queen is rather cute. But I'm afraid I am going to skip this one.

Edited by Ursus

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The dark beauty of a Pict queen is rather cute. But I'm afraid I am going to skip this one.

 

I'm not sure about it myself. If it gets good reviews I might go see it in the cinema. If not then I'll get in DVD. But if the film is terrible I'll avoid it altogether, like The Last Legion.

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