Ironclad is a rarity because it’s a British action film. It was one of many historical action films released in the early 2010s to capitalise on the success of 300.
The year is 1215. King John (Paul Giamatti) has reneged on Magna Carta and hired an army of Danish pagans. William d’Aubigny (Brian Cox), an ennobled wool merchant plans to make a last stand at Rochester Castle and hold out until the French can arrive so they can overthrow the tyrannical king. 20 men must hold out against 1000 Danes.
Ironclad is one of the biggest Welsh films ever made. It cost $25 million and was shot entirely in Wales. This added to Ironclad‘s uniqueness and it’s nice to show our Welsh friends some love.
Ironclad was a manly film made for manly men! It was all about the action and it was so gory that it would make many horror films blush. It’s the type of film a group of men would watch whilst drinking beer or 12-year-old boys would watch knowing they shouldn’t. This was a film that showed after a violent skirmish Jason Flemyng’s character beds the first wench he sees.
The main selling point of Ironclad was the action and violence. It was a film that used a lot of shaky cam which is a style of filmmaking I generally dislike, but with Ironclad it was a lot more tolerable. This was a film where soldiers were cleaved like meat. This film would be ecstasy for gorehounds. It’s the type of film that makes Braveheart look like a kid’s film.
This style of action made Ironclad a forbearer for TV shows like Vikings. Vikings was able to provide excellent medieval action whilst working with a limited budget, especially the first two seasons. First-time viewers should go into Ironclad as something akin to a battle episode of Vikings.
Ironclad had a cheesy quality to it. Brain Cox and Paul Giamatti were clearly having a blast as they acted like pantomime characters. Their interactions with each other were just them shouting at each other with Cox yelling insults. The direction Giamatti seemed to be given was to be as evil as possible. Other actors played their roles a lot more seriously. Charles Dance was the Archbishop of Canterbury who masterminded the operation and Derek Jacobi was the put-upon lord who had to house the mini rebellion.
James Purefoy played the main character, Thomas Marshall, a Templar Knight who agreed to take part in the rebellion. His character was conflicted because of his religious beliefs but also attracted a to Lady Isabel (Kate Mara). Mara gets to play the only major female character in the film.
Being a siege film there was an issue because the characters had nowhere to go. The filmmakers didn’t have the budget to show the wider conflict or political manoeuvres, so the film was stuck in one location. When there were lulls in the fighting like when King John’s forces try to starve the rebels outs the film ended up crashing to a halt. Up to that point Ironclad moved at lightning pace. Ironclad would have benefited more from a 90-minute runtime. It wasn’t a film like Zulu where it had loads of memorable characters and a long build-up before the actual battle.
When it comes historical accuracy Ironclad took its cues from Braveheart. This was a film that was inaccurate from the start by having King John hiring Danish Pagans with the promise the Pope would keep out of their lands. Denmark was already Christian by the 13th century. It ends with the French landing and helping the rebellion overthrow King John, giving the film a happy ending. This never happened. It’s best to think of Ironclad as nothing but fiction.
Ironclad gave Lorne Balfe an early feature film credit as a composer. Balfe has gone on to work on films like the Mission Impossible series and Black Widow and worked on TV shows like His Dark Materials. He was able to give Ironclad an epic score to match the filmmakers’ ambitions.
Ironclad is a guilty pleasure film. It’s far from joining the great historical epics but it was a fun film because of its action and gore.
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