We’ve sort of never understood the geek appeal of Neil Marshall. “Dog Soldiers” was ok, but “The Descent” was terribly overrated while “Doomsday” was just plain awful. Regardless, fanboys continue to champion this guy and it probably won’t end with “Centurion.”
The trailer for the film has hit the web and unfortunately it’s pretty generic stuff. While we’ll hold out hope it will still be worthy of our Potentially Decent Escapist Entertainment Films Of 2010, we’re not brimming with optimism here.
Ever since “300,” it seems any period based action film has to have lots of yelling and guys speaking each line as if it were the most important piece of dialogue in the film and the trailer for Marshall’s film is no different. We kind of laughed at the early shot of Olga Kurylenko who has some remarkably great hair and makeup for Roman times. James McNulty Dominic West looks woefully miscast here, while we’re just going to pretend that the excellent Michael Fassbender isn’t in this. And the action scenes? They look well staged but not unlike anything we’ve seen before.
“Centurion” opens in the UK on April 23rd and is thankfully not in 3D. Currently, it doesn’t have a stateside distributor or release date. We imagine that will all depend on how well (or not) this film is received.
You thought the Descent was overrated because 1.) you probably saw the lamer of the two endings and 2.) you didnt see it drunk with a theater full of screaming college kids. If you had you'd know why Neil's a champion.
If you look closely, you can see Admiral Ackbar at 0:25.
@Anon, yeah, that makes for a good movie for sure. Definitely makes it a cinematic masterpiece.
Jesus. This doesn't look that bad. I'd rather see this than the other movie about Ninth. You know, the film with Channing Tatum. I'll pretend he's not in that one.
Oh, I think that looks better than I was expecting. Doomsday was terrible, but The Descent scared the living shit out of me when I saw it in theaters.
Doomsday is godawful. I think the Descent is fine, but grossly overrated in the scheme of things.
This looks like Ridley Scott-lite. Something out of Kingdom of Heaven (which was dull as shit). I think Kevin is on point here. I don't think it looks particularly bad, but i don't think it looks particularly special either. But it's just one trailer. Maybe it gets better. Or maybe it doesn't…
Def looks like Ridley Scott or a bit that awful King Arthur movie from a few years back. Still looks fun to me and with Michael Fassbender in it, count me in!
I think it would be great — perhaps when "Robin Hood" comes out — if The Playlist did a sort of point-counter point retrospective piece about Sir Ridley Scott. I believe his output since Black Hawk Down has been awful, but others probably disagree. I've watched a lot of Ridley Scott films lately…and I'm beginning to think he's overrated. But I still look forward to his films. Hmmm…
Wow, that is a lot of screaming and overacting. Ugh. Netflix maybe?
But I did like the Descent. It took its time with character, relational conflict and backstory before scaring the shit out of you. It made you actually care, which is rare in horror films. I guess that's what separates the good from the bad in that genre. Overrated? Don't really have an opinion about that – all I know is that I thought it was pretty good.
The Descent was awesome. Stop being elitist.
I love Neil Marshall. This movie is going to be awesome, even if it sucks (e.g. Doomsday).
Katie's just going to go to the theater drunk and love it regardless. I expect "wooing!"
Oh, how I wish you could have witnessed the Tuesday night Sparks feuled screening of Doomsday at Court Street Stadium. There were costumes. And whiskey. And I think we might have been the only people there.
LOL. Hilarious.