Ironclad 2011

Tom Long, Detroit News: Ironclad is as weighed-down as it sounds. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: The action is cluttered and the story overly compressed, with a lot of yammering about who's aligned with whom and why (no wonder Mr. Giamatti's eyes keep rolling) in between the geysers of red. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: This bloody, messy action film devolves into a plain ol' bloody mess. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: Through it all, Paul Giamatti spits bilious fury as a ruthless king with a mile-wide mean streak and an army of Danish mercenaries. What's not to like? Read more

Sam Adams, AV Club: Unfortunately, a narrative needs characters as well as plot, and that's where Ironclad falls off its horse. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: An utterly joyless exercise in blood and dirt. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: As history it's bunk; as inappropriate historical fiction, it's awfully close to comedy. Read more

Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter: Medieval history lesson with lots of shattered bodies and splattered limbs. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: The loud, closely photographed limb-hacking becomes as monotonous as the movie's unrelentingly gray palette. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The problem is that the movie is only swords and stage blood. The suits of armor are all empty. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A gore-filled guilty pleasure... Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: The core fan base of this English sword battle drama will pay for the boundary-pushing blood and gore. Why bore them with things like plot and context and production values? Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: This English sword-battle drama is a mess. But there's a violent simplicity and a lack of pretentiousness that's refreshing. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: As a critic who complains about painless and brainless action movies, I hoist a glass of mead to the men and maidens of "Ironclad." Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: One has to admire the spirit of this independent production, which aims for the sweeping spectacle of 'El Cid', but it falls way short of its epic ambitions. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Variety: Ironclad might be the perfect actioner for gorehound fanboys gaga for medieval trappings, but all others may find this British-American-German co-production a bit of a drag. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: While Ironclad captures the casual cruelty and flesh-and-bone violence of the 13th century, it fails to do the same in the more intimate material set in the downtime between assaults. Read more