Centurion’s Olga Kurylenko Is Our Pict Of The Week

Posted by on March 16th, 2009   Filed under: Action
Source: Empire

Not one to follow a trend precisely, director Neil Marshall is trading sandals for snowshoes with Centurion, his tale of the legendary Ninth Legion of the Roman Empire and their battle with the Picts. Empire has blessed us with the first glimpse of recent Bond girl Olga Kurylenko done up as a Pictish warrior.

While I adored both Dog Soldiers and The Descent, the honeymoon was over with Neil Marshall’s third film Doomsday. That’s as close as I’ve ever been to walking out of a theatre early. So while I’m always up for some historical savagery, I must admit that I’m approaching Centurion with the cautious skepticism of the freshly heartbroken. It doesn’t help that the plot reminds me of one of my favourite Conan stories, Beyond The Black River. I wish I knew how to quit you, Neil.



  • Bob The Slob

    Why did you hate doomsday? just curious.

  • 1138

    I too liked Dog Soldiers and Descent but absolutely had no interest in seeing Doomsday. That looked bad with a Capital “B”!!!

    But I am still willing to give Marshall a chance. 2 solid movies out of 3 isn’t bad by Hollywood standards.

  • AdamH

    Haven’t sat down to watch The Descent yet but Doomsday was freakin awesome! Sooper xcited about this too!

  • Damndirtyape

    Looks like more typical hollywood sillyness.. 120lb woman “warriors” in face paint. lol

    Already had enough of that crap with Keira Knightley in “Arthur”

  • Bob the Slob: It was mainly the cinematography during the action sequences that I didn’t like about Doomsday.

    Damndirtyape: Are there weight classes in seeking vengeance?

  • I thought Doomsday was a horrible ripoff of both Snake Plissken & Mad Max adventures that only satisfied me in two instances of brutally realistic gore. The Descent was decent. I’ll need a trailer to decide if I’ll watch this one.

  • Damndirtyape

    >> Are there weight classes in seeking vengeance?

    No weight classes:)

    Female soldiers certainly occurred in history (The Celts did in fact use them frequently) But they certainly were not as frail as Kira Knightly, who weighs 115 and has no appreciable muscle mass. A warbow draw weight is 100-180 lbs. Grown men trained for years to develop the upper body strength to pull a bow correctly. A trained female is lucky to pull 30

    The frequent image of lithe hot chicks prancing around in armor and weilding heavy bows and swords is hollywood fiction to attract teenage boys. So my remark was more about the casting decisions of those roles than the fact that women did occasionally fight alongside men.

    At least when you see that archetype of women with guns (The Laura Croft type) it makes a little more sense because firearms are the great equalizer.

  • Bob The Slob

    I hated Doomsday when i first saw it…I gave it a negative review…then I watched it a few more times and fell in love with it…especially after hearing marshall himself talk about what he was trying to do…he was intentionally ripping off carpenter and miller…it was, in a sense, one huge Fan film…So far Marshall hasn’t let me down. However, i can see where other would hate doomsday.

  • Andreas

    >>I thought Doomsday was a horrible ripoff of both Snake Plissken & Mad Max adventures.

    I thought that was sort of the intent from Marshall. An homage if you will I guess…

    Personally I wouldn´t give Doomsday more than 3/5 stars its okey but I prefer his previous films.

  • paulm

    I loved “Dog Soldiers” and “The Descent”, though I haven’t seen “Doomsday” yet. I like Marshall’s style, and I loved “Arthur”, so I can’t wait to see this.

  • What does Dudley Moore have to do with anything?

    I’m all for ripping off Carpenter and Miller. Some of Italy’s greatest movies have done so. I just wish Marshall had done it well.

  • Paul Andrews

    Doomsday is an homage to Carpenter and Miller. That’s well enough documented, so those who think it’s a ripoff have missed the point somewhat. I thought it was refreshing to see the good old 80’s action format done again, and it’s always amusing when Sean Pertwee is in a film to see how horribly he dies.

  • James

    I have been working on the set of centurion, and its looking really good. olga is awesome two no where near as bad as Keira Knightley in “Arthur”

  • Saor Alba

    How stupid are you people? The Picts weren’t even documented as “Picts” until 297AD,you fannies! Why can’t Hollywood just fuck off and leave our history alone until they can at least get the basics right? They couldn’t even get the grammar re. Pict,Picts,Pictish etc,. correct!