When “Ironclad” was first announced, it featured an intriguing cast attached with Paul Giamatti, James Purefoy, Bob Hoskins, Robert Carlyle, Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Attenborough, William Moseley, Colm Meaney and Angus McFayden. But as these things go, as development got underway casting shifted for a variety of reasons and it now arrives with Giamatti and Purefoy still aboard with Brian Cox, Derek Jacobi, Kate Mara, Jason Flemyng, Jamie Foreman and new guy Aneurin Barnard. And now the first trailer debuted by HeyUGuys has laned and….we’re not so impressed.
On paper, the story about a group of Knights Templar dudes defending a castle from the villainous King John (Giamatti), in 13th Century England sounds pretty great. In execution, it looks pretty rote. Director Jonathan English borrows the same brown/blue color palette every film set in this time period now uses and has his actors oscillate their line deliveries between menacing and brooding stage whispers and yelling at the top of their lungs. We’re pretty sure we saw this movie already more than half a dozen times over the past few years and it doesn’t look any better here.
“Ironclad” arrives in the UK courtesy of Warner Bros. on March 4th. No word yet on when it will hit North American shores.
