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Boudica: Queen of War           review by Bobby Blakey

Director Jesse V. Johnson has delivered some of the best action flicks over the years including Triple Threat, Avengement, Savage Dog, and Accident Man. Now he is taking the action into 60 A.D. with his latest film Boudica: Queen of War featuring Extraction II star Olga Kurylenko alongside Clive Standen, Peter Franzén, Lucy Martin, James Faulkner, Rita Tushingham, Harry Kirton, and Andy Beckwith. Can this film offer up more of what we expect from Johnson’s films while still bringing some historical accuracy or will it fail to win the war?

Boudica: Queen of War follows Celtic warrior, Boudica who rules modernized and cultured Iceni alongside her husband Prastagus. Following his death at the hands of Roman soldiers, Boudica's kingdom is without a male heir and the Romans seize her land and property. Taken to the edge of madness and determined for revenge, she successfully rallies the different Celtic and British tribes to combine forces and wage an epic, unprecedented war against the insurgent Roman empire.

Being a fan of all things Johnson does I was looking forward to see what he put together, but I am also hit and miss with this genre. The film does a great job setting things up and giving all the necessary context of where we are heading and things to come. It is a bit slow paced initially, but necessary for what is being set up for the overall story and tone.

Once it get through the initial set up it unleashes hell on everyone in her way pretty much the rest of the film. Kurylenko is top notch here bringing all the depth and emotions to this role and bringing the savagery along with it. You immediately get invested in her vengeance and it is handled in a way that you believe as well right up until the violent final battle.

I am always leary of films in this time period as they tend to get bogged down with so much of the focus to just be historically accurate and tons of pointless characters instead of just letting it speak for itself. Make no mistake the accuracy level and look of the film is excellent, but it feels more organic instead of trying to convince us of it.

Johnson has already established himself as a master of action so it is no surprise that the action here is bloody, plenty and well executed. He has once again knocked it out of the park with this one and I hope it finds the audience it deserves.

Decide for yourself and check out Boudica: Queen of War in theaters on demand, and digital October 27th.

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