Well, since I’ve already seen it, I don’t have to rely on reviews, but, eh, I don’t trust IMDB ratings at all. Have you ever read the message boards over there?! Even crappy movies can get high ratings there if they appeal to the lowest common denominator. I Am Legend is at 7.1 on IMDB and I thought it was pretty damned awful.
Rotten Tomatoes is a little more dependable to me, and they’ve got *Centurion *at 56% fresh. That’s not an unreasonable rating, to me, though I’d probably give it a 4 out of 10.
The main problem with the movie is there is no one to really root for. The Romans are the invading horde committing atrocities against the natives, and yet I think we are meant to sympathize with the small group of Romans who are the center of the film. It’s hard to, though, since one of them is a villain and most of them are obviously “red shirts” who will fall along the way. The titular centurion is somewhat nobler than the rest, but he lacks any kind of charisma on screen. The Picts could be sympathetic, but they are portrayed mostly as faceless savages (not unlike the lawless cannibals in this director’s previous movie, Doomsday). The warrior-woman Pict (played by the Bond girl from Quantum of Solace) is interesting at least, if a bit cliche and a lot unbelievable, and she is one of the things I did like about the movie. She had screen presence.
The battle scenes have plenty of blood and gore, if that’s your thing, but a lot of the blood is digitally added and looks pretty fake.