a5c7b9f00b King John Lackland reneges in 1215, the year the barons force him to sign to Magna Carta, on its parliamentary terms to resume his tyrannical misrule, and raised an army of pagan mercenaries to smash those barons who dare resist again. William d'Aubigny's warrior band, including knight Templar Thomas Marshal and his squire Guy, decides to make a stand in Rochester, a strategic castle to bar the road to London, so they force its lord, baron Reginald de Cornhill, to side with them after eliminating the Danish watchdogs. Captain Tiberius's mercenary band fails for months to make their numeric superiority count during a bloody siege, over which John presides personally, eager to take the castle before French and/or domestic rebel reinforcements may arrive. Baron Reginald's wife Isabel regrets their arranged marriage, enough to nearly-openly lust for handsome crusade veteran Thomas, who however takes his order vows seriously. It is the year 1215 and the rebel barons of England have forced their despised King John to put his royal seal to the Magna Carta, a noble, 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. Firstly I am quite realistic about my expectations when a historical movie is made. Real history does not generally run smoothly nor is it engaging enough to fit conveniently into a 2 hour movie, so I refuse to nick-pick a screen writer for adding a little poetic license into a script or for the costume designer who doesn't have the time or resources to get the actors "just right".<br/><br/>With this in mind, I found the story enjoyable and it ran more or less historically and at a good pace, I was certainly never given enough pause to consider boredom. The fight scenes were very good and I agree with other criticisms on the reviews about the shaking camera making it extremely hard to concentrate on what was happening.<br/><br/>There was plenty of blood, limbs and sliced heads to appeal to the gore fest/action fans but it seemed to accurately reflect the face of medieval warfare with its close and gruesome nature.<br/><br/>The cast were a list of well known and respected actors, all of whom put in a good display with what they were given with Paul Giamatti's rant about the divinity of Kings being especially engaging.<br/><br/>Overall its not a classic nor will it win awards, but for a couple of hours action based escapism it is certainly worth the effort of watching and is far superior to a number of bigger budget Hollywood contemporaries. …here. Some reviewers focus on the absurdity of a small number holding off a horde. The attire of females and what was allowed by the 'hoi polloi' in the 13th century and what was truly not.<br/><br/>I get that but what is missing is failing to understand all great actors have a signature attitude that separates them from the rest - it's called 'box office'. I'll admit 'perhaps' Oscar Issac could have been pulled in - slap say 30 lbs. on him and give him some ashen makeup but I'm not sure this script was a match that it was for Giamatti. I don't think Claude Rains would have been as crazed.<br/><br/>The only scenes the film give real life is when he or Brian Cox are seen and in Giamatti's case his silence is as indelible as his rants. This may not be the best history but pray tell is that the purpose here? No, the purpose is to both entertain and illumine to the bulk a bit of light on how things went down after the Magna Carta was inked - they didn't go down smoothly any more than the debate over Obamacare or gun rights is going down smoothly in 2013.<br/><br/>It is bloody and a lot of the action scenes are the usual scripted acrobatic leaps but this is an enjoyable film and that's because none of the actors 'mailed it in' - that's all I ask for. 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.
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366 weeks ago