Review of The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) by Adam F — 12 Sep 2014
Because the story for "The Man in the Iron Mask" is pulled from excellent source material, it's interesting throughout but the film is crippled by bad acting and directing. Many points of the film are quite thrilling, with elements of a heist film, good old-fashioned swash buckling action and some good bits of comedy sprinkled throughout.
Even if you haven't seen any other films about the three musketeers the characters are well defined and their friendship is apparent. Unfortunately the delivery from most of the actors (particularly John Malkovich and Anne Parillaud) is dull and aren't convincing at all.
Despite being set in 17th century France, many of the actors don't even attempt an accent. The film looks great, with elaborate sets and great costumes but several scenes are shot strangely or have cuts that seem to imply that an on looking character has an important role to play in a future scene when in fact they don't.
It's a big disappointment because it almost feels like you have to go out of your way to screw up this story. Overall it isn't dreadfully bad but knowing that there is most certainly a better interpretation of the story out there (or if not, the story is such a classic that there is bound to be eventually) makes this hard to recommend unless you are an absolute die-hard fan of the story or of period pieces.
(On Dvd, October 16, 2012).
This review of The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) was written by Adam F on 12 Sep 2014.
The Man in the Iron Mask has generally received mixed reviews.
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