Boudica opens on digital platforms in the UK beginning October 30 from Signature Entertainment.
Black Widow and The Princess actress Olga Kurylenko has a few forthcoming screen credits with director Jesse Johnson, following their previous collaboration on 2023 crime thriller, White Elephant. Their latest pairing will arrive with Johnson’s inspired 60 A.D.-set period epic, Boudica, chronicling the legendary warrior queen’s campaign of retribution against the Roman empire.
The first several minutes of Boudica makes it inherently clear what kind of film you’ll be in for if an R-rating isn’t enough of a hint. Severed necks, blood geysers, exposed innards, and all-out screaming deaths are on the menu as Caesar Augustus Nero’s (Harry Kirton) military, led by Commander Paulinus (Kris Johnson), mows down hundreds of druids on the island of Mona. The event is only the latest amid Rome’s takeover of most of Europe, with Britannia being the last, ruled by the Icini tribal family of king Prasutagus (Clive Standen) and his queen, Boudica (Olga Kurylenko).
In response to the Druidic worship of fabled warrior goddesses and brewing uprising by Trinovante warriors, Nero suddenly issues a crackdown on female leadership and influence in the region. Following the brutal murder of Prasutagus who was betrayed by one of his own, a self-adulating visit to the queen’s coronation by Roman procurator Catus Decianus (Nick Moran) finds her and her daughters Bre (Lilibet Butanaseva) and Aife (Litiana Butanaseva) violently taken captive – their mother hung and publicly flogged and branded, and stripped of her title and land.
Maddened and traumatized, the queen’s only hope for redemption now lies in the Trinovante blood that runs through her veins, and her sheer will to bring retribution to the Romans. Guided with an heirloom from her family by Prasutagus in the form of a powerful bronze sword, as well as her accumulating army along with Trinovante warriors Cartimanda (Lucy Martin) and Wolfgar (Peter Franzen) and the close counsel of her daughters, what ensues is only the start of a campaign of Celtic rage with Boudica coming full circle into herself as the warrior queen destined to shake up the Roman empire until her final breath.
Stylistically, there are aspects about Boudica that fans of directors like Wolfgang Petersen and Ridley Scott may appreciate. Johnson’s film marks an enjoyable respite from the usual modern action and crime flicks fans of Johnson’s work have taken notice of since his directing debut in 1999 (it was around this time Johnson would begin developing a screenplay he would eventually shelve until Kurylenko’s involvement sealed the deal).
As a period piece, the film makes brisk uses of fantastical elements to cement our heroine’s development throughout the film, including a psychological aspect that also finds Boudica coming to grips with the reality that now surrounds her. Much to her chagrin, that includes coping with the politics surrounding the worship she’s imbued with, along with the doubt cast upon her by her cohorts, namely Wolfgar who is initially far from believing that Boudica is any close to the supposed legend people hold her to.
In one scene, he tries using her sword as an example to make his case, only to stumble when the unimaginable happens and he’s ultimately compelled to fall in line, for the most part. Other peculiar moments add to the permeating mystique of Boudica’s newfound power and position, contributing aptly to a few rewarding moments of the film, as well as a chuckle or two.
What remains to be seen, however, is the extent of Boudica’s successes from battle to battle, and how long she will be able to hold out against the Romans. That means gruesome fights and equally gory kills, with action sequences by Johnson’s fight coordinator on Avengement, Dan Styles, and recurring Johnson cohort and second unit director Luke LaFontaine, making brutal and bloody work of the slicing and dicing, face-bashing and gory fight action. Fans of Kurylenko will take kindly to her work up close for a sizeable portion of her part in the cinematic display next to credited stunt double, Charlotte Yates
Just shy of being too historically accurate for certain tastes, Boudica goes the favorable route of the hard R action epic that fans know and love. It’s not a big scale production, but it is substantially larger and certainly builds upon its ambitions through Johnson’s usual smart direction and envisioning, a definitive and roaring performance by Kurylenko, and with an eye for serving fans who love a good old-fashioned tale of bloody vengeance and revolution, albeit inspired by a true story.
