Ironclad DVD Releases

Swords, knights, castles and cruel king, that a boy ask for? Not so much! Ironclad (2011) shows that a talented director can make a relatively small budget (about $ 25 million). He appealed to my childish obsession drive knights on horseback, brandishing swords, wreaking havoc and generally unleashing the dogs of war, all located in large imposing castle with working drawbridge, damsel in distress, and for good measure.
Ironclad is the third feature from Jonathan English and this is his strong point. Throughout the film you feel his passion for history and love of medieval architecture. In fact, you even get the sense that the Rochester Castle (where the action takes place) becomes something resembling inclusiveness throughout the film. Year 1215 and cruel, tyrannical King John, played by Paul Giamatti (in a remarkably paranoid style) is on the throne and was forced by his barons to sign Magna Carta, thus beginning the basis of common law in England. In response to having the power to take from him, John gathers a group of terrible Viking mercenaries, including whimsical and Vladimir Kulich muscle (13th Warrior), who plays Tiberius. John plans to return the land had recently lost his locks before attacking disloyal barons. Meanwhile, a group of seven rebel soldiers, led by Baron Albany (Brian Cox), have decided to fight back and defend the castle of Rochester, until the French arrived.
There is often a tribute made films of the past, such as the Viking (1958), Warlords (2007), Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954) (there is even a scene where seven and a line drive over the hill to the Rochester Castle in the rain). This merry band of men includes wine covered by the Knights Templar, Marshall, played by James Purefoy Rome, bloodthirsty mercenaries Beckett (Jason Flemying), and the young squire boy (newcomer Aneurin Barnard).
Ironclad incredibly brutal and visceral violence and filmed in such a way as to attract the audience right in the heart of the action. There are the familiar techniques of blood splatters on the camera and the swords met bone, very reminiscent of deep-realistic quality of the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan. Battle scenes in this movie, when really shines, but are interspersed, as they are, with the various storylines of the individual characters, it manages to be more than just a blood fest and have a keen understanding of the importance of pace in adventure films exhibited at the director.