Ironclads (1991)

Please don't spend money on this.

Captivating movie !

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I remember reading with great relish of this impending project in the pages of Civil War Times Illustrated back in 1990. Fresh off the heels of Glory, I was hooked and couldn't wait for the next BIG Civil War flick. Well, I finally saw it on cable a year later, and was generally disappointed. Regardless, I recently purchased a copy on VHS and have watched it a couple of times to kill time. My conclusions are as follows:The love story is boring. I can only assume that the only reason it is included here is because the script was based to some degree on the two previous Monitor/Merrimac films (Confederate Ironclad (1910), and Hearts in Bondage (1936); though I have never seen either, both revolve around a female spy/love story/battle of the ironclads triad).The espionage factor is interesting, and even more so Madsen's character's conversion from a Union spy to to something of a double agent (of course to save her boyfriend, see love story above...)Overall I must conclude that the above was all just filler to keep production costs down. The love story is even absent on the cover art of the video box (features two models rather than production stars). One of the actors says in the movie "iron doesn't float," and that is certainly true of the leaden script employed here. Alas, there are no elements relating to the extraordinary construction of the two main protagonists: the Monitor and Merrimac! These last two are the real stars of this production.When the above stars of the show do arrive, the tempo picks up as imagination is put into gear. I actually like the last half of the flick, and find the battle scenes well done for a television production. I almost wish they had just made a straight up documentary out of the models and action scenes. Unfortunately there are the obligatory cutaways to the perils of the love interest/spy/girlfriend...But hey, its a TV movie, and kills some time. I can recommend it only for the special effects, and for naval buffs.

This a One of Kind Civil War movie Firt let me say that Virginia Madsen never looked as Beautiful as she does in this movie.But this is the only Civil War movie that I've seen that deals with the naval battles. I think that this movie is very well crafted, and the cinematographic is wonderful. My only complaint about this movie is the dialog. At times the dialog is down right silly. However the actors do a great job with their roles The battle scenes are very well done.If you are a history buff.. you will absolutely love this movie. It has no boring parts. Its just good. I hope someday it will be released on DVD, because my VHS copy is starting to show signs of wear and tear

This mediocre claptrap about the great battle of the ironclads was nominated by the politically correct Emmy Awards committee because it was a 1990 politically correct way of presenting the greatest naval battle of the civil war, completely sanitized and with abundant civility. The whole dramatic story wrapped around the events of the great battle was so much hokum and corn, it was hard to wade through to get to the well-done battle sequences. One example of this, just one of many, is the degrading of a slave, only verbally mind you, in front of a Yankee spy masquerading as a Southern sympathizer. The slave was called whatever a TV censor would allow to pass muster, so the kids could watch, and then we see the Yankee spy clench his teeth and hold in his indignation. Later he confesses that he never witnessed such abuse. Yeah, right, like nobody in the North ever said anything but a kind word to blacks at that time. One can only imagine how such a scene would have been handled in a film like, say, Cold Mountain, where the slave would have gotten a terrible beating, and the evils of slavery and bigotry would have been roundly exposed, rather than whitewashed, no pun intended. It didn't win any Emmy awards because it didn't even deserve the nominations. But the scenes around the building of the ships and the battle were very good overall, except for the portrayal of Lincoln as a simpleton of sorts. I lay the fault of that to the actor, for the same lines said by someone of stature and strength would show strength of conviction.

The problem with making a movie like this, though, is that the finale, the crème-de-la-creme of the movie, the battle between the two souped-up ships, must be done well. Disappointingly, this scene in Ironclads is obviously done completely with little model ships in an overgrown tub. There's no tension, little explanation of what exactly is going on and what the timeframe is of the stand-off.The film takes quite a few liberties with the surrounding story, as all true stories do when converted to a movie, such as the Union traitor and most notably that of Betty Stuart (Madsen), a Virginia belle.It resorts to making a possibly-decent movie involving an interesting story on the ironclads to preaching about the evils of slavery. It was out of place in this historical drama, and was a cheap ploy to bring in the women viewers. It only succeeded in lessening the positives about the film.