Man In The Iron Mask

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Review by: Matthew Leary
Revision Date: 3/98
Our Rating: 9 out of 10

What's Good:
Word of mouth says critics don't like this film very much, so the first thing I did after seeing it was read a load of reviews. Everyone seems to say the movie is sluggish, bland, and drab, yet they don't give specific examples of why. Ironically, they also seem to agree that the sets, costumes, and performances are very admirable, yet that doesn't seem to warrant a good review. Further, everyone seems stuck on attacking DiCaprio. For my part, I thought The Man in the Iron Mask was an excellent adventure with a solid story, great performances, and highly interesting characters.

Perhaps the most engaging aspect of the characters is how they are all torn between conflicting ideals. The captain of the guard, D'Artagnan (the most engrossing character I've ever seen Gabriel Byrne play) embodies the basic dilemma of all the musketeers, and is torn between his allegiance to a cruel, oppressive king and his duty to uphold honor and protect the people of France. Aramis (played by Jeremy Irons) is strained between his duty to the crown and his quest for redemption from a past he cannot live down, being the man who unjustly imprisoned Louis' twin brother in the iron mask. His deeply religious beliefs are also at odds with his duty to kill at the king's command. Athos (played by Malkovich) is torn between his allegience to D'Artangan, who sides with Louis, and the loss of his son, who is killed because of Louis. Porthos (played by Depardieu) seeks to reclaim his glory days in a world that threatens to make him obsolete by virtue of age, and so is torn between taking the easy road by throwing in the towel, or making a final stand to make himself useful again.

DiCaprio's duality is split across two roles: the evil king Louis and the good twin Philippe, and while Louis is pretty much as one dimensional as they get, Philippe offers some conflict as he is torn between doing what the musketeers want (displacing the tyrannical king) and living his own life free from political strife. The queen and mother of the twins (played by Anne Parillaud) is torn between passion and her office; plus, her maternal love toward Louis conflicts with the fact that he's a completely unlovable leader. Even the bit part of Christine, the fiancee of Athos' dead son, is torn between being faithful to her dead love and helping out her ailing family by basically selling her body to a lusting Louis, who ishorndogging after her.

Great performances all around with dramatic, confrontational dialogue. Despite general hatred from critics directed at DiCaprio, I feel he has done something very right in this movie: he plays the two twins so distinctly, proficiently, and seamlessly that you absolutely hate one and love the other. In fact, it really feels like they're two separate entities--everything from their mannerisms to their actions to the very look in their eyes conveys opposite souls, and that simply can't be called bad acting. It's a shame that Titanic backlash that has been pent up (waiting for a "more acceptable" and indirect way of attacking the James Cameron film) will affect perceptions of this movie.

The general theme of honor, fighting for a greater cause, and allegiance is heavy throughout, and is a wonderful aspect of battle that is too often replaced with gratuitous violence inmodern films.

What's Bad:
A little too much use of slow motion photography adds more corniness than drama to the story (e.g. when D'Artagnan slices a tomato in mid-air and catches another one on his sword). Background music sometimes painfully drowns out the scene and overstays its welcome (e.g. when Philippe first meets his mother the Queen). There's a bit of glaring discontinuity in the dialogue, as everyone seems to have a different accent: Irons and Bryne come across as English; Depardieu, Parillaud, and Godreche as French; Malkovich as effeminate (as in Con Air); and DiCaprio as California surfer dude (while this may have worked for the unique adaptation William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, it is a bit more distracting here). In fact, screen time is given such weight to the none-French cast that Depardieu, Parillaud, and Godreche seem ironically out of place whenever they open their mouths. However, there's no reason why such a technical glitch should make one avoid the movie--it would be like refusing to see a film because you don't like the choice of lighting.

THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK

Leonardo DiCaprio, Gabriel Byrne, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich

The early going is tough in this latest film version of Alexandre Dumas's 1850 novel. The crudest of the Three Musketeers (Gérard Depardieu, who teams with Irons and Malkovich) grabs at women's breasts and breaks wind. A petulant King Louis XIV (DiCaprio) struts about like a heavy metal wannabe in Alice Cooper hair and silk dressing gowns. Jolly hangers-on at his court chase after a prize pig as if auditioning for Hee Haw. But just when you have decided that this Man in the Iron Mask is strictly for teenage girls who can't get enough of their beloved Leonardo, something terrific happens. Iron Mask's plot kicks in and proves Dumas's old warhorse can still run.

Despotic Louis, it turns out, has a saintly twin (also DiCaprio, far more effective as the hero than the bratty villain) whom he has imprisoned, hiding his brother's face behind an iron mask. As the aging musketeers scheme to dump Louis for the good twin, Mask becomes a vigorous and engaging blend of intrigue, sword fights and romantic derring-do. Boisterously directed and written by Randall Wallace (who wrote Braveheart), this is Saturday matinee stuff in which our heroes are forever charging into the fray with swords drawn. Who can resist? "All for one, one for all," may be their battle cry, but a more fitting motto could just as easily be, "All for fun, fun for all." (PG-13)

-- LEAH ROZEN

Man In The Iron Mask

by JJ

Warning: This will spoil the plot twists and the ending for you, so if you want them to be a surprise, wait till you've seen the movie.

Roger Ebert, my favorite reviewer, thought that GB stole the show in this movie- he "has the most charisma and is the most convincing." I thought all the actors had their moments of scene stealing, though, and John Malkovich, refreshingly non-psychotic, ran him a close second.

Nonetheless, the romantic scenes between him and Anne Parillaud w were my favorite- more interesting than anything going on between Louis and Christine. And considering that they said very little to each other, and the Queen had few scenes, it's to their credit that they could make it believable. In fact, I was impressed by the scene when D'Artagnan is on horseback and leaves her the rose. It could so easily have been corny, but it comes across as sad and romantic.

I'm always impressed by the expressiveness of Byrne's eyes and this is another one of those movies where you can see the depth of the character he is playing, or at least the tortured soul of D'Artagnan, in his eyes. And as for his scenes w/Leonardo di Caprio, chiefly with the "bad twin": I do think Di Caprio is a good actor (I could hardly believe vulnerable Phillipe and frat-boy Louis came from the same person), but often, I was too aware of him as a California boy on a movie set, as compared with Byrne in, say, the "Be a good king" scene. Although it's probably not fair to judge someone 23 by someone 48, you can definitely tell who is the newcomer here. When I watch Byrne's D'Artagnan, I don't remember I'm watching an actor on a movie set.

I do wonder, however, how many letters they got about the sword-throwing scene, where D'Artagnan saves Louis' life. I'll bet it's really physically impossible to do that. It sure LOOKED impossible. Like catching the rotten fruit on the sword (come on now, wouldn't it splatter?). I felt sorry for him, having to play that fruit-on-sword scene seriously, when it seemed like something that should be played more for derring-do type fun.

Still, such is the sympathy Byrne can create for his characters that I was genuinely confused during the ballroom scene, where suddenly D'Artagnan is ready to throw Phillippe out of the palace because his kindness makes it obvious he isn't Louis. Why would anyone want Louis in place of Phillippe? (And isn't he even suspicious of their close resemblance?)

I was a little slow to pick up all the hints about fatherhood, since I kept thinking that the Big Secret was D'Artagnan's love for the Queen. Consequently, the true secret came as a surprise to me. Yet that secret made a fairly run of the mill story very touching, as well as making me want to see the movie again, to see what I missed the first time. It also made me wish the director knew his storytelling skills a little better. I wonder what a more skilled director would have made of the same story?

Ending: I know the director was going for the big death scene, and his death itself is sad, especially when Phillippe bursts into tears, but when D'Artagnan said, "This is the death I prayed for, " I couldn't help but think - "You prayed to be stabbed in the back by your son? Not bloody likely." I liked the Irish music they played for his death, though. Even though D'Artagnan is French, it's still right for him.

As for his looks: the worst problem I had was his hair. Every time he was on screen, I was waiting for it to fall in his eyes, thinking about they could have fixed it better. It drove me nuts! All that money they spent on costumes and they couldn't get a decent hairstyle/wig? (And can you really see to ride a horse in one of those hats?!) I will say this, though- the blue and silver costume complements his "black Irish" coloring perfectly. Dark hair, fair skin, blue eyes- it goes well with it all.