Ironclad
2/4
Starring: James Purefoy, Paul Giamatti, Aneurin Barnard, Kate Mara, Brian Cox, Derek Jacobi, Jason Flemying, Jamie Forman, Vladimir Kulich, Mackenzie Crook, Charles Dance
Rated R for Strong Graphic Brutal Battle Sequences, and Brief Nudity
For a movie that advertises itself as "Heavy Metal Gets Medieval," which is a great tagline by the way, "Ironclad" is little fun. Nor is there any of the advertised heavy metal in the soundtrack, unless you count swords and shields clashing.
King John (Giamatti) is a tyrant of the worst kind. He's so bad that the local barons rebel and he's forced to sign the Magna Carta, which leaves him on the throne but limits his power. As you can imagine, King John isn't too happy about this, so he teams up with a 1000 Dutch mercenaries, led by the ferocious-looking Tiberius (Kulich). His first objective is to take the castle at Rochester, which would allow him to control all of Southern England. Realizing that that is his plan, Baron William D'Aubigny (Cox) gathers up a motley crew of warriors, including a very tormented Templar Knight named Thomas Marshal (Purefoy), and prepares for a siege.
I was watching "Braveheart" the other day, and while watching "Ironclad," I was reminded of Robert the Bruce, played by Angus MacFayden, saying that Scotland was a country "without any sense of itself." I will say the same about this movie. It tries to be everything and ends up being none of them. Multiple screenwriters could be to blame.
For example. The movie begins where the Baron is recruiting his old team, it has, or tries to have, a sense of fun. It looks like this is going to be a rousing adventure. But the film's bleak cinematography and lack of humor argue against that. Later on, the film takes a turn for the grim. And that's leaving aside the gore, which is considerable (it's not up to "Saving Private Ryan," but it's close). There are also some silly cliches that find their way into the film, such as the thought-to-be-dead guy coming to the rescue at just the right time. Mention must go to the romance between Thomas and Lady Isabel (Mara), which is so lacking in chemistry that it brings the proceedings to a dead halt every time the film brings it up. It should have been left on the editing floor.
The cast includes some of Britain's most criminally underrated character actors. James Purefoy will forever be Marc Antony from HBO's "Rome" in my mind, but he does a solid job as the conflicted soldier. Sadly, there's just not enough meat for him to chew on. Paul Giamatti is in full-on bezerk mode, which is great, since no one foams at the mouth like him. King John isn't half as much fun as Hertz from "Shoot 'Em Up," but I still got a kick out of it. Aneurin Barnard is wonderful as Guy the Squire, who's beginning to understand what taking a life means. Kate Mara is inconsistent as the obligatory local girl; it's a good performance, I guess, but there's something off about her. Maybe it was the accent, which sounds convincing, but strange coming from her.
Jonathan English has absolutely no idea of what he wants his film to be, so it tries everything. As a result, it's a hodgepodge of half-baked ideas and messy storytelling. Actually, "messy" is a good way to describe the film, since it's drowning in gore and English has a tendency to shake the camera frenetically during the action scenes (although only in the beginning). Careful, I'm about to go on a Paul Giamatti freak out!
Starring: James Purefoy, Paul Giamatti, Aneurin Barnard, Kate Mara, Brian Cox, Derek Jacobi, Jason Flemying, Jamie Forman, Vladimir Kulich, Mackenzie Crook, Charles Dance
Rated R for Strong Graphic Brutal Battle Sequences, and Brief Nudity
For a movie that advertises itself as "Heavy Metal Gets Medieval," which is a great tagline by the way, "Ironclad" is little fun. Nor is there any of the advertised heavy metal in the soundtrack, unless you count swords and shields clashing.
King John (Giamatti) is a tyrant of the worst kind. He's so bad that the local barons rebel and he's forced to sign the Magna Carta, which leaves him on the throne but limits his power. As you can imagine, King John isn't too happy about this, so he teams up with a 1000 Dutch mercenaries, led by the ferocious-looking Tiberius (Kulich). His first objective is to take the castle at Rochester, which would allow him to control all of Southern England. Realizing that that is his plan, Baron William D'Aubigny (Cox) gathers up a motley crew of warriors, including a very tormented Templar Knight named Thomas Marshal (Purefoy), and prepares for a siege.
I was watching "Braveheart" the other day, and while watching "Ironclad," I was reminded of Robert the Bruce, played by Angus MacFayden, saying that Scotland was a country "without any sense of itself." I will say the same about this movie. It tries to be everything and ends up being none of them. Multiple screenwriters could be to blame.
For example. The movie begins where the Baron is recruiting his old team, it has, or tries to have, a sense of fun. It looks like this is going to be a rousing adventure. But the film's bleak cinematography and lack of humor argue against that. Later on, the film takes a turn for the grim. And that's leaving aside the gore, which is considerable (it's not up to "Saving Private Ryan," but it's close). There are also some silly cliches that find their way into the film, such as the thought-to-be-dead guy coming to the rescue at just the right time. Mention must go to the romance between Thomas and Lady Isabel (Mara), which is so lacking in chemistry that it brings the proceedings to a dead halt every time the film brings it up. It should have been left on the editing floor.
The cast includes some of Britain's most criminally underrated character actors. James Purefoy will forever be Marc Antony from HBO's "Rome" in my mind, but he does a solid job as the conflicted soldier. Sadly, there's just not enough meat for him to chew on. Paul Giamatti is in full-on bezerk mode, which is great, since no one foams at the mouth like him. King John isn't half as much fun as Hertz from "Shoot 'Em Up," but I still got a kick out of it. Aneurin Barnard is wonderful as Guy the Squire, who's beginning to understand what taking a life means. Kate Mara is inconsistent as the obligatory local girl; it's a good performance, I guess, but there's something off about her. Maybe it was the accent, which sounds convincing, but strange coming from her.
Jonathan English has absolutely no idea of what he wants his film to be, so it tries everything. As a result, it's a hodgepodge of half-baked ideas and messy storytelling. Actually, "messy" is a good way to describe the film, since it's drowning in gore and English has a tendency to shake the camera frenetically during the action scenes (although only in the beginning). Careful, I'm about to go on a Paul Giamatti freak out!
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