Ironclad (2011) 4K HDR 60fps (Warning! Very explicit and realistic scenes of Medieval Violence). One of the best films ever made describing the siege of a Medieval Castle.

Ironclad is a 2011 British action historical drama film directed by Jonathan English. Written by English and Erick Kastel, based on a screenplay by Stephen McDool, the cast includes James Purefoy, Brian Cox, Kate Mara, Paul Giamatti, Vladimir Kulich, Mackenzie Crook, Jason Flemyng, Derek Jacobi, and Charles Dance. The film chronicles the siege of Rochester Castle by King John in 1215.[6] The film was shot entirely in Wales in 2009 and produced on a budget of $25 million.

 

Plot

A prologue describes how the barons of England, aided by the Knights Templar, fought against the tyrannical King John in a war that lasted more than three years. The war ended with King John signing Magna Carta, a document granting rights to all English freemen. John regrets signing Magna Carta and in retaliation hires an army of pagan Danish mercenaries under the leadership of warlord Tiberius to restore his absolute authority.

 

The Abbot Marcus leads three Templar knights on a pilgrimage to Canterbury and they take shelter from the rain at Darnay Castle. One of the knights, Thomas Marshall, is assured by the abbot that Marshall's release from the Templar Order will be sought at Canterbury. By morning, King John arrives at the castle with his army and mercenaries. Baron Darnay signed Magna Carta and in retribution John orders him hanged. The Abbot attempts to intervene and the King orders that the abbot's tongue be cut off. Marshall and the two other knights fight the Danes, during which Marshall escapes the castle on horseback carrying the abbot; the two knights left behind are slain. The abbot dies of his wound, and Marshall breaks his vow of silence to swear that his sacrifice will not be in vain.

 

Once he has reached Canterbury, Marshall meets with Archbishop Langton, the author of Magna Carta, and Baron William d'Aubigny, a former soldier turned wool merchant. Langton reveals that the Pope has sided with King John and that he himself is to be excommunicated for writing Magna Carta. The three men agree that John must be stopped and that the place to do so is Rochester Castle, the seat of Baron Cornhill and a stronghold that controls southern England and allows access to London and the rest of the country.

 

d'Aubigny persuades three of his men to join him, including his squire, Guy, and a petty criminal named Jedediah, but a fourth turns down the baron's call to arms. A party of seven finally leaves for Rochester where, on arriving, they discover several Danish mercenaries have already claimed the castle; the fourth man had betrayed them to the king. Aubigny's party fights and kills the Danes, and then claims Rochester Castle in the name of the rebellion, much to the displeasure of Cornhill. When John's army finally arrives and lays siege to Rochester, the garrison holds fast and manages to beat the initial Danish assault. In the aftermath, Aubigny offers his men leave if they wish; none accept.

 

A second assault sees the Danes' siege tower destroyed by a trebuchet crafted by the defenders from within. John's forces then attempt to starve out the defenders. The Archbishop is informed that Prince Louis is biding his time in France and negotiating with John, and sets off to expedite affairs. As the season turns to winter, the hunger of the castle's occupants continues; Marshall leaves the castle under cover of night and then returns ahead of his pursuers with food stolen from the Danish camp. Morale is bolstered by Marshall's act and gives in to the advances of Cornhill's young wife, Isabel, breaking his Templar vows.

 

Tiberius, threatened by John to take the castle or risk the King reneging on their bargain, adopts a different approach in his next attack and manages to sneak a small force of men over the walls before dawn to open the gates from within. Guy discovers them and sounds the alarm, but Tiberius leads the charge into the castle grounds while his Danes slaughter the garrison. During the chaos, d'Aubigny is wounded and left behind. Marshall recovers in time to don his knight's battle armour and charge the Danes on his war-horse, buying time for the survivors to pull back to the keep.

 

Aubigny is dragged before the King and forced to watch as the hands of two prisoners are chopped off. After a defiant verbal exchange with John, he is subjected to the same fate and then hurled by the castle trebuchet into a keep wall. Cornhill tries to surrender but is stopped; he goes instead upstairs to his bedroom and hangs himself. John's engineers have been preparing a mine under the keep's foundation. They have a herd of pigs brought and put in the mine which is then stoked, set afire and the animal fat used to damage the keep's foundation, causing it to collapse; as the keep's walls come down, the final assault begins.

 

The last defenders are killed except Guy, Isabel, and Marshall, the latter knocked unconscious by falling rubble. Guy goes out to die fighting where he encounters Tiberius and is almost killed, until a recovered Marshall intervenes and Marshall triumphs after a savage duel. Horns are heard in the distance as the combined English rebel and French army arrives last, and John and the remaining Danes disperse in panic. Marshall meets Prince Louis and Archbishop Langton at the castle gates; the latter tells him that he is now free of the Templar Order. Acknowledging England's new king with a nod, Marshall rides off with Isabel, while Guy tells his dead baron that "We held".

 

The epilogue describes King John's death during his retreat and the reconstruction of Rochester Castle, and how it, like Magna Carta, still stands.