Review of Ironclad (2011) by Siri B — 06 Sep 2013

Ok, it appears Ironclad is not being viewed as it is. Ironclad is exactly as the average person reading the synopsis and seeing the trailer would believe it to be, a medieval remake of Seven Samurai/ The Magnificent Seven, which it does in excellent fashion.

Now, Seven Samurai is over three hours long and was made fifty years ago a few thousand miles away from where I live and is widely regarded as one of the hallmarks of modern cinema, as I agree it ought to be, and Ironclad is clearly a modern copy of this grand epic.

However, Ironclad sports a tremendously unsung cast; the dramatization is superb, the performances by the entire ensemble are fantastic. Paul Giamanti always provides an excellent show, as does Derek Jacobi as always as the Duke of whatever, MacKenzie Crook, finally playing a badass and doing an incredible job, and James Flemyng, who does the noble scoundrel par excellence, and the incredible actor who plays the lord of Rochester Castle who I cannot find at the time, who I believe may be even more unsung than the main character.

Kate Mara provides a genius, paradigm-breaking role as the quintessential princess in a tower turned badass; and the entirely underrated James Purefoy, who has given stellar performances in several cult classics who I believe is one of the most underrated actors of our time.

Is Ironclad a historical bastardization? Yes. Is it a shameless action movie blatantly ripped off of one of the most modern historical masterpieces? Yes. Are any of these bad qualities? No. If you do not like blood and guts, this is very much not for you.

If you don't mind them, and enjoy historical fiction and can take a cheesy scene or two, then this movie has tremendous production quality, and is one of my favorites on a dull evening. Seriously, considering its score of 43% at the time of writing this review, this film is a genuine gem being thrown to the wayside.

Allstar performances are given by the entire cast, and so long as you do not try to get some grand moral out of this film, and can enjoy it for the remastery of the greatest film of this century medieval style, you will thoroughly enjoy it.