Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jul 24, 2014 17:02:50 GMT -6
variety.com/2014/reviews/film-review-ironclad-battle-for-blood-1201268246/
2011's moderately successful medieval slay-'em-up 'Ironclad' gets a visibly cheaper, fun-free sequel.
Guy Lodge
Film Critic
@guylodge
Only the fake-blood expenditure has been upped in “Ironclad: Battle for Blood,” an anemic sequel to 2011′s medieval slay-’em-up “Ironclad” that visibly scrimps in all other departments, from casting to effects to any semblance of humor. Essentially repeating its predecessor’s castle-siege narrative — minus the vague historical basis this time — writer-director Jonathan English’s dank-looking film delivers enough amputations, decapitations and other instances of rusty-bladed gore to distract undiscerning genre fans stuck between seasons of “Game of Thrones,” but serves no other obvious purpose. Granted a far smaller U.K. release than the first film back in March, the film now enters theaters Stateside after an initial VOD bow; if there’s any further life (or flamboyant death) in this franchise, it’ll be in ancillary only.
Unlike “Ironclad,” which notionally told the story of the 1215 siege of Rochester Castle, the sword-and-sackcloth drama in “Battle for Blood” (set six years later) is entirely fictional — which would contribute to a general sense of lowered narrative stakes even if the storytelling weren’t so desultory. Gone, too, are any characters of equivalent consequence to King John, played with lunatic relish by Paul Giamatti in the first film, or actors of equivalent presence to play them. The biggest star in the sequel’s ensemble, arguably, is “Thrones” alum Michelle Fairley, given little to do as the simpering wife of ailing English nobleman Gilbert de Vesci (David Rintoul), who finds his castle in Scotland under attack by local Celts.
It’s a situation ripe for brash, “Braveheart”-style political rhetoric, which would be oddly pertinent in 2014, with the Scottish independence referendum looming, but the script, by English and Steve McDool, pays no mind to the bigger picture, with the bloodlust mostly motivated by soapy personal grievances. The Scots’ leader, Maddog (Predrag Bjelac), seeks revenge for the death of his son; from his deathbed, Gilbert responds to the threat by sending his own baby-faced boy, Hubert (Tom Rhys Harries, giving the film’s most appealing performance), into the breach, instructing him to track down his cousin, hardened mercenary Guy de Lusignan (Tom Austen), to help hold down the fort.
Guy is the one returning character from the first film, though you’d be forgiven for not realizing: The sculptedly handsome Austen cuts a very different figure from Aneurin Barnard, the role’s previous inhabitant. Once he enters the scene, backed by a trio of murderous renegades, the film falls into a repetitive routine of consistently brutal showdowns. They’re so alike in tone and staging that the eventual faceoff with Maddog hardly feels climactic, while the domestic squabbles within the castle — among them a wan romance between Guy and another of his cousins, Kate (Roxanne McKee) — add little interest.
Further underlining the sense of familiarity, English (whose surname, incidentally, matches the script’s questionably justified allegiance in this conflict) rehashes most of his technical devices from the first film. The most prominent and least effective of these is the dropped frame rate intended to lend in-the-fray urgency to Zoran Popovic’s solemnly washed-out lensing, though it’s an affectation that frequently combines with the cut-price CGI to detract from the film’s verisimilitude. Production and costume design on the Serbian-shot production are economically restrained; Andreas Weidinger’s kitschily choral score is anything but.
Film Review: 'Ironclad: Battle for Blood'
Reviewed online, July 19, 2014. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 107 MIN.
Production
(U.K.-Serbia) An XLrator Media (in U.S.)/Warner Bros. (in U.K.) release of a Content Media Corp., Matador Pictures presentation of a Mythic Intl. Entertainment production in association with Red Production. Produced by Rick Benattar, Andrew Curtis, Jonathan English. Executive producers, Jamie Carmichael, Nigel Thomas, Milos Dukelic, Maria Dukelic. Co-executive producer, Al Munteanu.
Crew
Directed by Jonathan English. Screenplay, English, Steve McDool. Camera (color, Arri widescreen), Zoran Popovic; editor, Laurens Van Charante; music, Andreas Weidinger; production designer, Jelena Sopic; art director, Jovana Cvetkovic; set decorator, Mina Buric; costume designer, Tatjana Strugar; sound, Zoran Maksimovic; supervising sound editor, James Lay; re-recording mixers, Lay, Sam Kaufmann; visual effects supervisor, Bogdan Marjanovic; visual effects, Dreamdust VFX Services; stunt coordinator, Slavisa Ivanovic; line producer, Marko Jocic; assistant directpr, Predrag Mijin; casting, Kelly Valentine Hendry, Victor Jenkins.
With
Tom Austen, Tom Rhys Harries, Roxanne McKee, Michelle Fairley, David Rintoul, Danny Webb, Rosie Day, David Caves, Andy Beckwith, Twinnie-Lee Moore, Predrag Bjelac.
2011's moderately successful medieval slay-'em-up 'Ironclad' gets a visibly cheaper, fun-free sequel.
Guy Lodge
Film Critic
@guylodge
Only the fake-blood expenditure has been upped in “Ironclad: Battle for Blood,” an anemic sequel to 2011′s medieval slay-’em-up “Ironclad” that visibly scrimps in all other departments, from casting to effects to any semblance of humor. Essentially repeating its predecessor’s castle-siege narrative — minus the vague historical basis this time — writer-director Jonathan English’s dank-looking film delivers enough amputations, decapitations and other instances of rusty-bladed gore to distract undiscerning genre fans stuck between seasons of “Game of Thrones,” but serves no other obvious purpose. Granted a far smaller U.K. release than the first film back in March, the film now enters theaters Stateside after an initial VOD bow; if there’s any further life (or flamboyant death) in this franchise, it’ll be in ancillary only.
Unlike “Ironclad,” which notionally told the story of the 1215 siege of Rochester Castle, the sword-and-sackcloth drama in “Battle for Blood” (set six years later) is entirely fictional — which would contribute to a general sense of lowered narrative stakes even if the storytelling weren’t so desultory. Gone, too, are any characters of equivalent consequence to King John, played with lunatic relish by Paul Giamatti in the first film, or actors of equivalent presence to play them. The biggest star in the sequel’s ensemble, arguably, is “Thrones” alum Michelle Fairley, given little to do as the simpering wife of ailing English nobleman Gilbert de Vesci (David Rintoul), who finds his castle in Scotland under attack by local Celts.
It’s a situation ripe for brash, “Braveheart”-style political rhetoric, which would be oddly pertinent in 2014, with the Scottish independence referendum looming, but the script, by English and Steve McDool, pays no mind to the bigger picture, with the bloodlust mostly motivated by soapy personal grievances. The Scots’ leader, Maddog (Predrag Bjelac), seeks revenge for the death of his son; from his deathbed, Gilbert responds to the threat by sending his own baby-faced boy, Hubert (Tom Rhys Harries, giving the film’s most appealing performance), into the breach, instructing him to track down his cousin, hardened mercenary Guy de Lusignan (Tom Austen), to help hold down the fort.
Guy is the one returning character from the first film, though you’d be forgiven for not realizing: The sculptedly handsome Austen cuts a very different figure from Aneurin Barnard, the role’s previous inhabitant. Once he enters the scene, backed by a trio of murderous renegades, the film falls into a repetitive routine of consistently brutal showdowns. They’re so alike in tone and staging that the eventual faceoff with Maddog hardly feels climactic, while the domestic squabbles within the castle — among them a wan romance between Guy and another of his cousins, Kate (Roxanne McKee) — add little interest.
Further underlining the sense of familiarity, English (whose surname, incidentally, matches the script’s questionably justified allegiance in this conflict) rehashes most of his technical devices from the first film. The most prominent and least effective of these is the dropped frame rate intended to lend in-the-fray urgency to Zoran Popovic’s solemnly washed-out lensing, though it’s an affectation that frequently combines with the cut-price CGI to detract from the film’s verisimilitude. Production and costume design on the Serbian-shot production are economically restrained; Andreas Weidinger’s kitschily choral score is anything but.
Film Review: 'Ironclad: Battle for Blood'
Reviewed online, July 19, 2014. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 107 MIN.
Production
(U.K.-Serbia) An XLrator Media (in U.S.)/Warner Bros. (in U.K.) release of a Content Media Corp., Matador Pictures presentation of a Mythic Intl. Entertainment production in association with Red Production. Produced by Rick Benattar, Andrew Curtis, Jonathan English. Executive producers, Jamie Carmichael, Nigel Thomas, Milos Dukelic, Maria Dukelic. Co-executive producer, Al Munteanu.
Crew
Directed by Jonathan English. Screenplay, English, Steve McDool. Camera (color, Arri widescreen), Zoran Popovic; editor, Laurens Van Charante; music, Andreas Weidinger; production designer, Jelena Sopic; art director, Jovana Cvetkovic; set decorator, Mina Buric; costume designer, Tatjana Strugar; sound, Zoran Maksimovic; supervising sound editor, James Lay; re-recording mixers, Lay, Sam Kaufmann; visual effects supervisor, Bogdan Marjanovic; visual effects, Dreamdust VFX Services; stunt coordinator, Slavisa Ivanovic; line producer, Marko Jocic; assistant directpr, Predrag Mijin; casting, Kelly Valentine Hendry, Victor Jenkins.
With
Tom Austen, Tom Rhys Harries, Roxanne McKee, Michelle Fairley, David Rintoul, Danny Webb, Rosie Day, David Caves, Andy Beckwith, Twinnie-Lee Moore, Predrag Bjelac.