It's Just Movies

— by JOSUE SANCHEZ —

There are some time periods in history, that when discovered, can give ground to many great stories and adventures.

For example, the reigning periods of different ancient empires — as well as their demises — are a great setting for many books and movies. Thanks to these time periods, we been able to wittiness magnificent movies such as “Braveheart,” “Gladiator” and “300.”

Also, I can’t forget to mention “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Alexander,” even though I was very disappointed by the latter.

Yet there are three another movies I would like to mention. They are not of the grand-sixed scale of the ones mentioned above, and although they grasp an epic-ness feel to them, they are not your typical 1,000 soldiers colliding with another thousand in the enormous battlefield type of epic movie.

Those movies are: “Centurion” (the one this article is about), “King Arthur” and “The Last Legion.” These are three perfect examples of a smaller band of highly-skilled soldiers of a time period, who unite for a cause, and they are all action movies. Some more bloody than others, but nevertheless, the action and the history work in harmony here.

For the movie “Centurion,” it will be no different. It’s not out yet, not until April 22, but you can get a small helping of what I am writing about here, by watching the official trailer below. The movie stars Michael Fassbender (“Inglorious Basterds”), Dominic West (“The Wire”) and Olga Kurylenko (“Quantum of Solace”). The trailer flaunts beautiful scenery and cinematography, as well as excellent costumes designs and weaponry, and, of course violence … lots of it. It appears this will be an all-out swordfest. I mean what can you expect with a tag-line like “Fight or Die.”

Here is the description of the movie by Pathé Productions (UK): AD 117. The Roman Empire stretches from Egypt to Spain, and East as far as the Black Sea. But in northern Britain, the relentless onslaught of conquest has ground to a halt in face of the guerrilla tactics of an elusive enemy: the savage and terrifying Picts. Quintus Dias (Fassbender), sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus’ (West) legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the earth and destroy their leader Gorlacon. But when the legion is ambushed on unfamiliar ground, and Virilus taken captive, Quintus faces a desperate struggle to keep his small platoon alive behind enemy lines. Enduring the harsh terrain and evading their remorseless Pict pursuers led by revenge-hungry Pict Warrior Etain (Kurylenko), the band of soldiers race to rescue their General and to reach the safety of the Roman frontier.

I believe it will definitely be interesting to explore the movie’s explanation about what happened to the legendary (and missing) General Virilus’ Ninth Legion.

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Follow Josue Sanchez on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Josue_can.