Ironclad (2011)

A brash exploitation medieval B-movie (medsploitation?) starring Paul Giamatti as a frankly insane King John, and Brian Cox as the leader of a group of the Knights Templar, it sounds like it could be fun. And in fits and bursts it’s just that; set amongst the settling dust of the Magna Carta signing, King John decides to renegade on the agreement and retake control of his country. To have a chance of doing this he needs to take Rochester Castle, a strategically key location to access the rest of the country. The Knights Templar are sent by Archbishop Langton, author of the Magna Carter to stop King John and hold Rochester Castle, hopefully with the eventual help of the French. What follows is essentially a siege movie, with some violent battle sequences that you’d naturally expect. What Ironclad lacks however, is a sense of substance that you may have got with someone like Ridley Scott (on Gladiator [2000] form rather than Kingdom Of Heaven [2005]), or indeed Wolfgang Peterson. Paul Giamatti’s King John is a joy to watch, but more for comedic value rather than for any degree of genuine menace; falling well short of Alan Rickman’s momentous Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Brian Cox is everything you’d expect of him and there are some enjoyable cameos here and there. Ironclad does what it says on the tin (you kind of know where you are from the producers of 300 [2006]) but if you want something more opulent, you’d be better off going elsewhere. 5.9/10