Ironclad

    Ironclad
    2011

    Synopsis

    In the year 1215, the rebel barons of England have forced their despised King John to put his royal seal on the Magna Carta, a seminal document that upheld the rights of free men. Yet within months of pledging himself to the great charter, the King reneged on his word and assembled a mercenary army on the south coast of England with the intention of bringing the barons and the country back under his tyrannical rule. Barring his way stood the mighty Rochester castle, a place that would become the symbol of the rebel's momentous struggle for justice and freedom.

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    Cast

    • James PurefoyThomas Marshall
    • Kate MaraLady Isabel
    • Jason FlemyngBecket
    • Paul GiamattiKing John
    • Brian CoxAlbany
    • Derek JacobiCornhill
    • Charles DanceStephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury
    • Aneurin BarnardGuy
    • Jamie ForemanCoteral
    • Mackenzie CrookMarks

    Recommendations

    • 70

      Boxoffice Magazine

      Casting is almost uniformly first rate with Cox, Purefoy and the always brilliant Giamatti providing noteworthy standouts.
    • 60

      Empire

      Like all sieges, this offers moments of choppy terror and excitement followed by dull sit-it-out-and-starve spots. Straddled between uproarious schoolboy tosh and serious historical movie, this still offers enough dismemberments, royal tantrums and portcullis-rammings to make for a lively Saturday night out.
    • 58

      The A.V. Club

      The movie's gathering of third-rank action heroes provides sufficient brawn but precious little onscreen charisma, although Brian Cox's reliable bluster lights up his handful of scenes as a bellicose baron.
    • 50

      Village Voice

      While Ironclad captures the casual cruelty and flesh-and-bone violence of the 13th century, it fails to do the same in the more intimate material set in the downtime between assaults.
    • 50

      The New York Times

      Ironclad alternately feels, plays and sounds like an abridged television mini-series and a feature-length video game.
    • 40

      Variety

      Ironclad might be the perfect actioner for gorehound fanboys gaga for medieval trappings, but all others may find this British-American-German co-production a bit of a drag.
    • 38

      Slant Magazine

      By making John such an unrepentant freedom-opposing monster, Ironclad denies itself any moral thorniness.
    • 38

      Boston Globe

      As history it's bunk; as inappropriate historical fiction, it's awfully close to comedy.