The Man in the Iron Mask Review
by David Sunga (zookeeper AT criticzoo DOT com)March 14th, 1998
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK (1998)
Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 4.0)
********************************
Key to rating system:
2.0 stars - Debatable
2.5 stars - Some people may like it
3.0 stars - I liked it
3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie
4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out *********************************
A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Randall Wallace (screenwriter of BRAVEHEART)
Written by: Randall Wallace, from the Alexandre Dumas class novel
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gérard Depardieu, Gabriel Byrne, Peter Sarsgaard, Judith Godreche, Anne Parillaud
Ingredients:
Musketeers, greedy boy king, fancy costumes, father-son themes
Synopsis:
Is there such thing as swashbuckler movie that has no swashbuckling in it? THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK comes close. It’s an action drama, but I hesitate to use the word action.
The first hour and a half takes a long time. Basically it takes ninety minutes to portray that 1600s ruler young Louis XIV of France (Leonardo DiCaprio) is ice-hearted and cares little for his people. The last half hour is fast: three old retired guys (Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, and Gerard Depardieu) plot treason. They try to secretly get rid of evil king Louis XIV and switch him with a kindhearted look-alike. Meanwhile their dear friend d’Artagnan (Gabriel Byrne), an expert swordsman who has ties to Louis XIV and is also chief of the royal security force, must decide whether his loyalties lie with the evil king or with his old friends. In the end we learn why former hero d’Artagnan supported such a bad king in the first place.
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK is actually a film version of a French literary classic written by Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), an author and playwright best known for writing entertaining historical fiction. Dumas wrote the ‘three musketeers’ trilogy (THE THREE MUSKETEERS, TWENTY YEARS AFTER, and LE VICOMTE DE BRAGELONNE). LE VICOMTE DE BRAGELONNE, when translated into English is subdivided into three smaller works; THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK is the third of the smaller stories.
Opinion:
Fans of TITANIC actor and recent Hollywood heartthrob Leonardo Dicaprio get to see him wear a lot of hunky French period clothing as King Louis. THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK also features an all star cast under the competent direction of Randall Wallace (screenwriter of BRAVEHEART).
Unfortunately, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK rambles and wanders for an hour and a half. Only the last half hour of the film has some kind of clear goal or focus. In addition, the script feels strangely one step removed from ‘real’ action or drama. For example, the movie has many chances to show the tortured faces and poignant memories of main characters, but instead, we get to see characters sit down and say things like, "I’m doing this because I feel guilty." Instead of showing a man’s face and his memories of raising a son for twenty years, we see a guy merely sit down and pout and say, "I’m doing this because I raised a son for 20 years." Or instead of showing the reverence that all musketeers have for courage, valor, and heroism, a character merely announces, "They revere us." Put simply, the dialogue in THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK resembles a group therapy session, where there is much talking about action and drama but the actual action or drama is sparse.
The other deficiency of THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK is that it doesn’t let us get to know the main characters. For example, when Athos’ son Raoul dies because of the treachery of the evil King Louis, the audience is supposed to care. But nobody in the audience knows Raoul and nobody cares about him because the movie barely shows Raoul or bothers to develop him. Later of course, Athos TALKS about Raoul, but that’s therapy talk again.
In THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, the retired guys are supposed to be the heroes. But a good solid focus on them doesn’t appear until after 90 minutes have elapsed, so we aren’t given enough time to know who they are or care about their plan or their fate.
The last 40 minutes is pretty good.
Reviewed by David Sunga
March 13, 1998
Copyright © 1998
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