The Man In The Iron Mask: 6 BEERS (Not good, not bad)

It's 17th century France and young King Louis XIV (Leonardo DiCaprio) is not exactly a benevolent ruler. He lives a life of excess while his loyal subjects starve and riot. When Louis takes an intrest in Christine (Judith Godreche) he arranges for her fiancé Raoul (Peter Sarsgaard) to be sent back to war front where he is killed. Raoul's father, Athos (John Malkovich), sets out to gain revenge for his son's wrongful death but is stopped by D'Artagnan (Gabriel Byrne) who remains loyal to the King and the Queen Mother (Anne Parilland). Athos soon joins forces with his former Musketeer friends Porthos (Gerard Depardieu), and Aramis (Jeremy Irons). They devise a plan to remove Louis from the throne and replace him his twin brother Philippe who has spent the last six years in prison locked in an iron mask.

This film is the latest retelling of Alexandre Dumas' tale of the aged Musketeers. I think that's the biggest problem, everyone knows how it will turn out because of the previous movies. It's the Musketeers that carry this movie and Byrne chief among them. D'Artagnan was the only character with any depth and hence the only one of interest. DiCaprio was average at best in the duel role and appeared a bit too healthy for someone who spent six years locked in a mask. The pacing was too sluggish to keep interests up. During the slow periods they could have developed the characters more but instead it was just a waste. There were some good sword fights and action sequences but they were broken up by painfully long waits for more. If your bedroom is covered in posters of DiCaprio you might find some enjoyment in The Man In The Iron Mask but otherwise it's just an average time killer.

Official Iron Mask Page

Photo from MGM