Against the law of the land he rules, King John (Paul Giamatti) decides to break the recently signed Magna Carta treaty and take back the land he considers to be rightfully his. Fearing an all out war is brewing, Ironclad (as I'm choosing to call him) and a small band of trusty recruits head to a castle to protect its borders from King John's approaching army. Enraged by their insolence, King John leads his troops to seize back the castle.
If you're the kind of person who likes to spend their weekends taking part in historical re-renactments, you'll probably find a lot to enjoy about this film's mix of swinging swords and gruff machismo. If however, you're the kind of person who likes to stay in at the weekend and watch good action films, then this isn't for you. I'll admit that there's some pleasure to be taken from seeing a bad guy get his head cleaved in, but there's no real story to hang its moments of bloodthirsty joy from. Whilst the battle scenes may carry some merit, the long talky scenes of pompous English land barons soon start to grate.
Ironclad takes great pleasure in showing King John's barbaric nature in grisly, gruesome detail, including one poor chap who has his hands and feet chopped off and is then unceremoniously flung against a castle wall with a dirty great catapult. It's during these scense that Paul Giamatti has the most fun as King John. He chews up and spits out every line of dialogue he has, at his best when he's verbally sparring with the equally booming Brian Cox. I'm assuming that Giamatti chose to ignore historic record and just play John for the delicious bastard he could be, but it's just a shame that he isn't allowed more screen time, especially against Cox.
The DVD cover proudly states that it's from the same studio as Zack Snyder's 300, but as you may have surmised from my description of the film, apart from having the same financial backing, there's zero comparison between the two. The film it most has in common with is Nicolas Cage's Season of The Witch, but unfortunately neither film comes off well with that comparison.
Verdict
Agree with your verdict, Col - a bit tiresome, a bit wearying.
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