Ironclad Review

Ironclad

1)      The main character in Ironclad (played by James Purefroy) is a Knight Templar. What is a Templar?

Knights Templars came around about the year 1118 to protect pilgrims. they wore a white robe with a red cross, chain mail and a sword along with a cloak. They where only allowed one horse.

   

2)       Where did they originate from? What conflicts does being a Templar cause him in the film?

The main character has to stick to the rules and keep to the different vows such as the vow of silence. Templars aren’t allowed to retreat which is a good thing since for most of the film the main characters are defending a castle. Also he is not allowed to look at women or speak to them, but in the end he has no choice and has to  leave the Order.  Knights Templars fight for God and are a religious order. They are extremely good at fighting and can’t kill or eat their horses which creates a problem when they have nothing to eat. Everyone else ate their horse but the main character (Thomas) can’t eat his.      

3)      What was the film about? Does it remind you of any other films? In what way?

 I thought it was very much like The Magnificent Seven in the fact that in both films they travel and find more people to join the group, and in Ironclad  it turns out to be seven main characters with the help of  the people in the castle defending. In the Magnificent Seven they journey around until they also make a team of seven. They then defend the village with help from the villagers. In both films some of the main characters die and they are outnumbered massively. Therefore, I think Ironclad was probably at least partly influenced by The Magnificent Seven.

    

4)      The film is very violent at times. What is your view on this?

 Did it help that so much graphic violence was shown? Is it a strength or a weakness? I thought that Ironclad had lots of gore and slow-motion fights and camera shakes. This kind of gore and shaky camera effects was what I expected because it came from the directors of 300, which I also enjoyed. Some gore was needed for authenticity but Ironclad sometimes seemed more concerned with the effects of different weapons than with other aspects of the story telling.

5)      If you directed this film, is there anything you would have done differently? Why?

 Overall there wasn’t much I would have changed apart from I didn’t like the lighting in some of the shots because it just looked like it had been filmed straight from the camera and not adjusted much. I probably would have made it slightly darker and gave it a little bit more of a tint like in 300.

 

6)      What is Magna Carta? Why is it important?

The Magna Carter came about at the time of King John when his brother King Richard I died. The Magna Carta was a long list of all the laws for all countries that speak English. The Magna Carta was important because it strengthened the idea that a monarch’s power was limited, not absolute.