Ironclad

A 2011 release that didn’t get much attention, Ironclad is a highly fictionalized version of the siege of Rochester Castle in 1215. Produced for about $25 million with a stellar cast and a devotion to bloody, savage violence above all, this movie is another highly Howardian effort, taking a historical event and making it into a brutal exercise in blood and thunder.

The historical setup to frame the battle is highly complex, and the movie starts with some narration to help the audience get a grip on what’s going on. Essentially, King John (of Robin Hood infamy) faced a revolt among his barons and was forced to sign the Magna Carta – an official treaty limiting royal power for the first time in English history. Afterward, recovering some of his spine, John waged a retaliatory campaign through England to chastise and punish those who had turned against him. In 1215 he faced a small garrison at Rochester led by Baron William d'Aubigny, and the siege held him up for some time.

Thus, the action is narrowed to a single point, with the focus entirely on a battle that stacked a few defenders against much more numerous attackers. The producers make the most of their location, getting great vistas of the Welsh countryside and a good-looking castle. The armor and weapons are pretty good, and the swords especially are very fine-looking period designs. You do get some fanciful axes and maces, but overall the look is pretty authentic.

The cast is amazing, starring James Purefoy as protagonist Marshal – a Templar on his way home from crusade. Paul Giamatti is at his sniveling, shrieking best as the petulant, cruel John, and in the scene where he rants about his heritage you swear he is going to burst a blood vessel. Brian Cox brings his down-to-earth cool to the role of the rebellious d’Aubigny. Kate Mara plays the requisite love interest with some grit, and Charles Dance makes a memorable appearance as the Archbishop of Canterbury. The cast is rounded out by a torrent of familiar faces: Derek Jacobi, Jason Flemyng, Mackenzie Crook, and the towering Vladimir Kulich as the imposing Danish commander.

The movie makes a complete hash out of the historical facts. Characters die who survived the siege, the politics are simplified to a tremendous degree, and events are shifted in time by months or years in order to create proper tension. John’s army is depicted as being made up of pagan Danish mercenaries, when the Danes had been Christianized for centuries by that point. The “Danes” also speak Hungarian and paint their faces blue like Celts. It is also never explained why a Danish mercenary captain is named “Tiberius”.

But the action scenes have tremendous grit and vigor. The blood is plentiful and the head-chopping and limb-ripping is all practical rather than CG. The choreography displays some real historical combat techniques, and the fighting is tightly edited and well-shot, adding excitement without losing much clarity. The actors all throw themselves into the proceedings, and the caliber of the performances allows this movie to work when it otherwise might not have.

Overall, Ironclad is a tense, entertaining movie with some first-rate acting and a lot of intense middle-ages combat. It is a brutal movie, with some scenes of torture and mutilation that are not for the squeamish. It has a really good score, and the production values are pretty high overall, never looking cheap or half-assed.

If there was a witch in it or something, then this would rate as an ace Sword & Sorcery movie, as it definitely depicts a world of morally gray characters struggling to do their best in a brutal, uncaring world. James Purefoy’s Marshal is a pulp hero of the first order – huge and physically powerful, feared by his enemies, in battle an almost unstoppable force of nature. He comes into the story driven by a tortured past and hardened by war, and he leaves it bloodied but victorious with a hot noblewoman across his saddle, headed for better days. After the blood-soaked, savage two hours that lie in between, you feel like he’s earned it.