admarple Review of The Man in the Iron Mask

The Man in the Iron Mask (I) (1998)

Potential for greatness... but no

[6/10 · 30 March 2013]

A chance to bring the musketeers to the big screen again! Romance, revolution, retribution, ... really?. The film starts sensibly, and dolls out information at a reasonable pace for the first 70% of the movie. The musketeers' performances are acceptable, although every one of Athos's lines is delivered in a tone that I can only describe as Malkovichian. However, Leo is pretty painful to watch as both Louis and Philippe. I'm not sure what's worse, listening to him blunder through Louis's smarmy monologues or watching him feign wistful expressions as Philippe (he knows wistful and listless are distinct emotional states, right?). There's some swashbuckling action, some political intrigue, some subtle (and by subtle I simply mean "not explicit") character development. The final 30% of the movie, though, takes a turn for the melodramatic and completely kills any interest I had established at that point. The film isn't bad, but it certainly isn't good either.