Ironclad - DVD

Movie: England in 1215: the country's nobles, with the help of the Knights Templar, have succeeded in forcing the power-hungry King John (Paul Giamatti) to sign the Magna Carta, surrendering much of his power to the nobility. But the humiliated king won't admit defeat so easily. With a hard hand, he tries to bring the land back under his rule. The Knight Templar Marshal (James Purefoy) gathers a group of loyal fighters around him to oppose King John and his troops. Together they intend to defend Rochester Castle, a strategically important fortress, from King John's bloody assaults. But the battle against the king's overpowering army seems to be lost right at the beginning.

Ironclad is gritty, brutal and thoroughly entertainingly staged. Shot in sometimes quite unpleasant conditions against an atmospheric backdrop, director Jonathan English has staged a thrilling siege battle that is somewhat reminiscent of Neil Marshall's Centurion in terms of look and is extremely engaging, especially in the battle scenes. With Paul Giamatti, Brian Cox, Jason Flemyng (Snatch)Derek Jacobi (The King's Speech) and James Purefoy (Resident Evil), the historical film also boasts a cast that is really worth watching.

However, the film somehow lacks that certain something. The characters remain too colorless for the viewer to be really interested in their fate. Especially Isabel, embodied by Kate Mara (Brokeback Mountain), somehow seems superfluous, which can also be said about her relationship with Marshal. Mara has proven herself as a good actress again and again (especially in the tragicomedy Happythankyoumoreplease, which unfortunately hasn't been released in Germany yet), but here she is unfortunately degraded to attractive accessory, because she can't really use her acting talent. While Paul Giamatti also performs below his usual level, at least he gets to exercise his obvious playfulness with this thoroughly nasty character, which is also a great treat for the audience.

So Ironclad may have its dramaturgical flaws, but first and foremost it's all about the action - and once that dominates the proceedings, the film plays in the premier league. So if you can see past the somewhat stilted dialogues and the arguably contrived dramaturgy and want to be entertained primarily with bloodthirsty fights, you can safely risk a look here. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: With reduced colors and dominating brown tones, the picture gets an atmospheric dirty look, which does justice to the action on the screen very well. Overall, the image is very clean and detail sharpness is at a good level even in the film's many darker moments. The audio has some nice surround effects to offer, especially in the fight sequences, and is also able to please in the quieter moments with well-tuned dialogue and a coherent mix of music. Good.

Extras: The DVD has just under 50 minutes of bonus material to offer. In addition to an uncommented look at the filming of a few select scenes, the extras focus on interviews with the makers and the cast on certain aspects of the filming. While this is all standard promotional material overall, there are some interesting details to be found here nonetheless. Good!

Conclusion: Ironclad is a visually engaging implemented battle epic, which with good actors and some very good fight sequences over a rather weak script and the arguably constructed dramaturgy can at least partially overcompensate. The DVD is technically well done, the bonus material is standard, but good. For fans of films like 300 or Centurion quite recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp