Ironclad

I've been meaning to watch Ironclad for ages and a couple of Fridays back I managed to do so. The film basically concerns a group of men led by Brian Cox defending Rochester Castle from the evil King John and his army. James Purefoy plays an ultra-violent Templar who wields a massive two-handed sword, the skinny bloke from The Office is an expert archer and Derek Branning from EastEnders is a rather bad tempered thug with a penchent for chopping peoples arms off and beating them to death with their own severed limb!

Yes... the film is violent. Very violent. In the fight scenes you see Purefoy slice someone straight down the middle vertically and Brian Cox has his hands and feet lopped off at the orders of King John somewhere near the end.

There are some quite impressive sequences involving siege engines and trebuchet - but what disappointed me was that the acting could have been better... especially considering the talent involved. Having said all that I did enjoy it even if it did end a trifle predictably.

Rating: 8/10.