Ironclad is an
interesting and action-packed film detailing King John's siege against the Rochester
castle near London. There is some stuff about King John not wanting to sign the
Magna Carta, which leads him to wage war against the barons who forced him to sign.
At this point, I would like to thank my Shakespeare professor for explaining
the British monarchy's idea of the divine right of kings, which is well
dramatized in Ironclad. It's sounds a
bit dull, but Ironclad actually has
really nice pacing. There is a sufficient amount of background information
provided so that the non-history buffs can follow along, but the film isn't
bogged down with details.
The action sequences are amazing. Apparently, one of the
cameramen is actually dressed as an extra, so some of the action sequences make
you feel like you're in the middle of the action. The flipside of that filming style
is that some of the action scenes seem a little chaotic and hard to follow. The
physical effects are disturbingly good. Seriously, I don't mind gory movies,
but this is a little hard to watch sometimes. If you're squeamish, you should
probably skip this one. It's
interesting that this is an independent film, because it looks like it could be
a major studio production. Great care was taken to make sure that all of the
effects look as realistic as possible, hence my issue with the level of gore.
Paul Giamatti plays King John, and his performance is
absolutely amazing and at the climax of the film, his monologue is incredible
to watch. That is easily my favorite part of the film. Ironclad has a little bit of everything: a tiny hint at romance,
history, and a lot of action.
