Going Medieval: 25 films to watch while waiting for Game of Thrones season 8

14) Ironclad (2011)

Okay, Ironclad isn’t the best action-adventure war movie ever made. But it’s got enough going for it to be worth a watch, including a role for Game of Thrones fan favorite Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister). Starring Paul Giamatti (Sideways) as an oddball Prince John, the cast also includes Derek Jacobi, James Purefoy, Kate Mara and Brian Cox.

Set in the the year 1215, the story follows a small group of defiant Knights Templar who occupy  Rochester Castle in defiance of the tyrannical King John. King’s John’s mercenary army initiates a bloody siege, and the rebels must defend the castle until an allied army arrives to reinforce them.

Neither critics nor historians think much of Ironclad. The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis wrote that the movie “alternately feels, plays and sounds like an abridged television mini-series and a feature-length video game.” The film is obsessed with brutality and the graphic depiction of gore, and Paul Giamatti delivers a jarring bit of scenery-chewing, eye-rolling overacting as the mentally unbalanced king. Yet it’s all wrapped in a decent-sized B-movie budget, so you be the judge.

The reviewers (43%) and audience (41%) at Rotten Tomatoes don’t think much of Ironclad, but if you love it, make sure to check out it’s sequel, Ironclad: Battle for Blood, which is worse. (Thrones alumnus Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark) somehow got cast in that one.)