Best Siege Flick there is!!! The siege scen es are the definitive mid-evil fortress siege moments. The best depiction and use of trebuchets in movie history, simply stunning how these simple machine of war were so terrifyingly powerful.
I have only a few sticklers and these are spoilers so go no further if you don't' like spoilers. There are a number of lapses in continuity or perhaps just bad editing, but these are just quibbles.
During the siege, there are several shots of hundreds of defenders in the area behind the main wall armed with long pikes as used in 'Braveheart' against the calvary charge. They are in a defensive line position and it looks very formidable.
In the final release of the film these are shown in context of waiting in case the main gate is bashed in, however I believe they were shot and meant to be used for the scene when the weak wall is destroyed by the trebuchets, however when this scene comes we get a version where after the wall crumbles we get this rag tag scramble of a handful of defenders running up the wall of rubble to meet the enemy. The leader had studied his fortress in depth and would have been prepared for this weak point giving.
That point is the only disappointment in the whole battle as it devolves into an Mtv slow-moe scene of swinging swords in dense smoke or dust and then a morph to the after battle scene. The leader was so well prepared for every other part of the siege I think the shots of the line of pikes was supposed to be for the wall breach and he would have had his men hold back and forced the enemy to come into the courtyard to attack this lethal line while archers rained death down from the two high walkways on both sides. This would have been a meat grinder that would have easily chewed up half of the enemy army. My guess is that they ran out of budget and could not film those scenes or they just did not work so were left on the cutting room floor.
The other editing quibble has to do with the scene after the first day of the siege when the hero is in a storage room with large containers and using torches. They have a conversation, except there is no clue as to what this room is or why they are in it. I suspect it was either a supply of water or oil they had laid up in preparation. If it was oil, I doubt they would enter using the huge torches they had, so I think it was water, and they must have been talking strategy, that the enemy could only stay outside the city for so long, because his water supply is limited, and they have enough to last longer than the enemy.
Anyway, just quibbles, loved the film, one of the directors best. Don't miss it.