Ironclad

"Ironclad" is based around Rochester Castle in 13th Century England, where a battle of wills take place between a few barons of Great Britain and the megalomaniac, despotic King John. The movie is 2 hours long, was released in 2011, and stars the following actresses and actors . . . . James Purefoy in the role of Thomas Marshal, a Templar Knight in 13th century Great Britain; also starred in "Resident Evil," "Solomon Kane," "A Knight's Tale," a TV series called "Camelot," a TV series called "Rome," and a TV series called "Philanthropist."Brian Cox is cast as Albany, a strong and principled man (also starred in "Frasier" as Daphne's father, "Borne Identity," "Troy," "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," a TV series called "Kings," "Braveheart," and a 1983 TV version of "King Lear." Kate Mara portrays the character Isabel, the young hot wife of a much older Baron; also appeared in "Iron Man 2," the TV series "Entourage," "Transsiberian," a TV series called "24," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "CSI: Miami," "Boston Public," "Nip/Tuck," and "Law & Order."Derek Jacobi is the Baron Cornhill, who owns the castle in "Ironclad." As an actor, Derek has been knighted in Danish and English orders both, and is considered to be one of the more preeminent British classical thespians of the post Olivier generation (Olivier also had two knighthoods bestowed). Derek Jacobi has also appeared in "Gladiator," "There Be Dragons," "The King's Speech," "Henry V," "The Golden Compass," the TV series "Doctor Who," a TV movie "Inquisition," a TV mini-series "The Jury," on "Frasier" where he lampoons himself as a bumbling old actor in a one man Shakespeare theater performance that clearly bombs, also appeared in "Jason and the Argonauts," "Hamlet," a TV mini-series "The Civil War," and is the narrator for several films including "The Secret of NIMH" as Nicodemus. Paul Giamatti is cast as King John, a despotic mad man at the end of his reign and desperate enough to employ mercenaries under false pretenses to get back his personal freedoms lost to the Magna Charter. He has also appeared in "Saving Private Ryan," a TV series "John Adams," "The Illusionist," "Cinderella Man," a TV movie "The Pentagon Papers," and "Donnie Brasco." Charles Dance portrays Archbishop Langdon, during a time of power for the church. Also known for his roles in "Alien 3," "Gosford Park," "Last Action Hero," "There Be Dragons," a TV series "Trinity," a TV series "Merlin," a TV mini-series "Bleak House," a TV movie "Henry VIII," and a TV movie 1990 version of "The Phantom of the Opera."Jason Flemyng plays as Becket. Also known for "Lock, Stock and Tow Smoking Barrels," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Snatch," "Clash of the Titans," "Solomon Kane," "The Quatermass Experiment," "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," "The Red Violin," "Rob Roy," and a TV series "Doctor Finlay."Jamie Foreman is Coteral. Also known for "Sleepy Hollow," "Saving Grace," "Elizabeth," a TV series "Doctor Who," "Layer Cake," a TV Series "Rescue Me," a TV series "The House of Eliott," and a TV series "Dempsey and Makepeace."Mackenzie Crook in the role of Marks, another in the team of fearsome mercenaries - as an archer who never wastes an arrow. Also known for "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," "Finding Neverland," a TV series "Accused," a TV series "Demons," "The Brothers Grimm," a TV series "Merlin," "The Merchant of Venice," the TV series "The Office," a TV series "Skins," and "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll."Rhys Parry Jones in the role of Wulfstan. Not as renown as the rest of the "Ironclad" cast, but still has a dozen or so titles to his credit.Aneurin Barnard plays the role of Guy, the young protégé who hopes to make a difference. He has about 14 or so titles of movies, films, TV series, and short presentations that he has been part of, such as the TV series "Y Pris."Vladimir Kulich is Tiberius, a muscle bound Viking looking leader of the army on the side for King John. Vladimir was born in Czechoslovakia, and speaks four languages fluently. He is also known for his roles in such works as "The 13th Warrior," "Smokin' Aces," "Firestorm," the TV series "The Beast," the TV series "Highlander," "Red Scorpion 2," the TV series "MacGyver," and a TV series "Cobra."David Melville is Baron Darnay. Also known for "Hamlet," "Letters from the Big Man," "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," and for his work as a talented musician.Annabelle Apsion plays the part of Maddy. Also known for "From Hell," a TV series "Shameless," "Goodnight Mister Tom," "The War Zone," a TV series "The Bill," a TV series "Outlaws," a TV movie "Darwin's Daughter," a TV series "Coronation Street," a TV series "Micawber," a TV series "My Good Friend," a TV series "Soldier Soldier," and over 3 dozen other titles.Steffan Rhodri as the character Cooper. Also known for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" "Submarine," Ali G Indahouse," a TV series "Doctors," a TV series "Gavin & Stacey," and over a dozen other titles.In other words, just a bunch of nobodies who know nothing about acting, and have no idea how to perform with enough enthusiasm to entertain. Psyche !!The movie is rated "R" and I only saw one hooter that wasn't an owl. Other than that, the rating is for violence primarily, and a little bit of vulgar language. The language is less vulgar than your Jr Hi School kid hears on a daily basis, and the gore isn't as severe as I'd hoped for since that is the biggest claim of the promoters of this film. There is a realism to this film though, and you get a sense of the crude and harsh conditions that time period had - and what battle strategies desperate men plied against each other. There are some brutal sequences of torture and dismembering in "Ironclad," but the suggestive themes of sex and passion are left to the imagination. If all the film wanted to do is show horror and gritty violence, then it should have dismemberment including sodomizing beheaded throats, and body parts used as phallic substitutes in unwilling participant's body orifices, as well as broadswords impaling from crotch to crown both male and female combatants. There should be some pitchforks, lance through the eye out the back of the head type stuff, and some better attempts to portray rotting leprosy. But "Ironclad" does the best they can, and still get by the censorship in America. Otherwise, it would be deemed a foreign film only, and would cost three times as much, not to mention only play on a high tech DVD player meant for outside the U.S. and Canada based movies. As far as American censorship goes, I suppose "Ironclad" is fairly decent for a medieval violent history chronicle allegedly based upon true events. There will be blood.

This is the best B-movie I've ever discovered. Not bad period piece with some good seige warfare. Surprisingly entertaining for the small budget it, not dobt, had to deal with.

I'm a bit of a sucker for Medieval period films: always excited by the prospect of seeing something that might hew a little closer to history while exploring the origin of some of today's more persistent cultural tropes; often disappointed by the repeated turns to violence and rather cartoonish proclamations. Ironclad lands somewhere in between by managing to find a few moments which straddle these extremes.Fellini had once made a very compelling point about the way in which we would view peoples and cultures of the distant past. While discussing "Satyricon" he pointed out that such peoples and cultures would seem very alien to contemporary perception: their behavior, beliefs and motivations becoming border-line incomprehensible to us. Ironclad does not come anywhere near such a portrayal of the Medieval mind, allowing itself instead to make a rather broad number of interpretations vastly more at home in the present day than would have been likely or even possible during the period in question. But even though the film exhibits many of the usual tendencies, it avoids the pronounced sense of romanticizing either the valor or violence surrounding the aftermath of the signing of the Magna Carta and gives a greater dimension to the ideas behind the events with an unexpected and beautifully executed apologia by one of its principal characters.And that occurs in the performance Giamatti turns in as King John. In his display of profoundly brutal violence against his enemy -- here portrayed by Brian Cox -- and the breathtakingly belligerent tirade he delivers as his justification, this nearly pro-forma action flick momentarily becomes something that begins to provide us with a credible glimpse into the deep-seated societal conflicts of that time -- some still present today. As King John rails about the royalty's ideas centered on divine rights of inheritance while, in a brilliant directorial turn, seemingly standing on water, the lights begin to come on about how utterly ignorant, self-absorbed, cruel and narcissistic the god-chosen rulers of the Middle Ages could routinely be. Such rulers postponed modernity as long as possible by ignoring human rights while clinging to ideas that consistently stunted the well-being and progress of their citizens in favor of brutality, ignorance and suffering. And all in the name of their personal, greater glory.Giamatti's walk on the water makes this vile worldview palpable and terrifying in a manner that no historical text can. Had Brian Cox been provided with a counter monologue as eloquent and moving in support of the rights of man -- something more substantial than merely repeating "Magna Carta" -- as Giamatti delivered in favor of suppression, birth right and the arrogance of privilege, Ironclad would have made a profoundly long leap forward for the genre, perhaps even becoming capable of a theoretical joust with Bresson's "Lancelot du Lac".

Gesamt gesehen gefällt mir der Film. Der mittelalterliche Flair kommt bestens rüber, die Ausstatter und Szenenbildner haben eine ordentliche Arbeit abgeliefert. Darsteller, Story, Kamera, Regie, Score, usw. fast alles ist eigentlich top.Eben nur fast alles - während die Präsentation ausserordentlich gefällt - happert es leider ganz gehörig an der Logik. Ein paar Kämpfer behaupten sich gegen ein grosses Heer. Die Zahl der Verteidiger von 20 auf meinetwegen 100 zu erhöhen wäre schon ordentlich glaubhafter gewesen. Auch dann noch wäre die Lage immer noch aussichtslos - aber eben glaubhafter.Die Sieben Samurai hatten auch ein grosses Bauernheer im Rücken;-).

An sich ein ganz guter Film, auch von der Handlung her interessant. Trotzdem ist der Film meiner Meinung nach unnötig brutal. Hätte man nicht sosehr auf blutige Szenen gesetzt, sondern sich noch mehr auf die Handlung und auf Hintergründe konzentriert, wäre der Film sicherlich besser. Trotzdem: kann man sich ansehen. Ist nicht schlecht.

Dieser Film, obwohl nicht mit überteuerten Hollywood Schauspielern vollgespickt, ist von Anfang bis zum Ende ein spannender"etwas harter" Actionkriegsfilm welcher im Mittelalter angesiedelt ist. Die Szenen, besonders die Kampfszenen sind sehr realistisch sowie die Ausstattung der Darsteller ist absolut realistisch und wirkt erstklassig.

Gebe hier einigen Vorrednern recht. Schwanke sehr diesen Film zu bewerten. Sicherlich kein Millionenverschlingendes Hollywoodspektakel aber auch kein "billig" gemachter huschhusch-Film. Hat was von mehreren bekannten und auch sehr guten Filmem seiner Art. Leider, wie mir scheint, gibt der Regisseur immer nur 70 % davon in jede seiner Szenen.

Wer das Genre kennt, ist begeistert. Tiefgang sucht man in diesen Filmen nicht. Man will unterhalten werden und das wird man!Klare Empfehlung.Man kann sich jedoch auch den Western *Die glorreichen Sieben* ansehen.Alles schon einmal gesehen ;)