The 1990s, without a doubt, were very prolific for Jim Carrey and propelled his already precedent career as a comedian to stardom. There are countless films from this period: Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura, The Liar and in The Mask, Jim Carrey possibly had one of his most notorious roles. Based on the unknown comic created by John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke, the film was initially planned as a horror film. Fortunately, the producers saw that the film would do much better as an adventurous comedy. They had little idea how right this decision was. The success of the film was so great that soon after, a wave of comic book adaptations began, most of which were also unknown, but with failed results, such as: "Tank Girl" (1995), "Judge Dredd" (1995), "Barb Wire" (1996), "The Phantom" (1996), "Spawn" (1997) and "Steel" (1997), starring basketball star Saquile O'neal.
Chuck Russell (director of Burning the Archives, with Arnold Schwarzenegger) is responsible for commanding this hilarious story in which banker Stanley Ipkiss (Carrey) accidentally discovers a mask that gives him incredible powers and helps him to conquer a girl and save her life. City of bandits, in addition to giving you a real injection of self-esteem. Ipkiss is the true picture of the loser. Clumsy, without self-esteem, without self-esteem and without professional perspectives, the guy drags himself to work every day and lives something very different from what he would like.
In the introductory minutes, Ipkiss offers a co-worker a pair of tickets to an event believing it would be her date for the night. However, the girl says that she is with a friend in the city and could not leave her alone. What he does? He leaves both invitations with her believing he has made a big step forward in his attempts to win her over. His luck begins to change when the explosive blonde played by Cameron Diaz enters the scene, in his first big role in Hollywood. Ipkiss is instantly attracted to her (forgetting that minutes before he was flirting with someone else) and his life begins to change radically. When Ipkiss finds the mask and discovers its incredible powers, all pent-up thoughts and desires come to life. That's how this weird hero is born who wants to do good, correct injustices and offer delicious revenge against the people who bother and trouble Ipkiss's life so much.
The most interesting part of his story is that The Mask is a being that completely escapes the standards of reality, so that we seem to be watching one of the classic cartoons by the Looney Toones (who, by the way, receive a tribute in this film). , but with real actors, in the personification of a hilarious green-faced hero capable of anything. Incidentally, it might even be unusual to classify "The Mask" as a hero, since he completely deviates from the profile of a standard superhero: he does not fight evil to do justice, but all his actions and powers are used to satisfy yourself. After all, which superhero would rob a bank? This is the great triumph of the script that manages to completely escape the clichés.
Mike Werb's script, despite being simple, has no flaws, presenting a very fun and surreal story, always varying at the right time when humor enters with hilarious scenes and adventure scenes. Along with a brilliant art direction, it was possible to create a true color contrast, bringing the film closer and closer to a cartoon look. We can clearly see these contrasts, in more than striking scenes like the one where The Mask dances with Tina Carlyle at the Coco Bongo nightclub, and in the scene where he manages to make a street full of police officers dance to the sound of his music. The text itself has a considerable distance from the source material, since the comic is much darker in contrast to the playful and carnivalesque tone of the film's Máskara, which undoubtedly contributed to the film's success, especially with the child audience. Hardly a child of the 90s was not a fan of Jim Carrey, who in this role found the perfect character for himself, after all, all of Jim Carrey's typical grimaces and grimaces are welcome and desirable for The Mask, and nobody can complain about that.
"The Mask" is nothing more than an intense (and exaggerated) metaphor to bring out everything that we hide in the depths of our soul. In a very expository way, when the protagonist visits a psychologist who explains exactly what is happening and makes us fear the threat of the villain, but which still works very well thanks to his protagonist's charisma and sense of humor. Both Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz are great in their roles and offer great fun to the audience with all the chemistry they show on the scene.
Chuck Russell's direction is efficient. His aptitude for making horror films helped a lot to create quite unusual situations related to the title character, in addition to knowing how to create a tense atmosphere at the right time. As the film was initially planned as a horror, it is not surprising that his choice was made, since his curriculum included films such as the third part of the series "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and the remake of "The Killing Bubble".
In addition, the film had excellent special effects for the time of its release in 1994, even receiving a nomination for the Visual Effects category at the Oscars. The film's humor, 24 years after its release, is still working and several scenes are still hilarious, such as the protagonist's non-sensical spirit, including the scene of the police officers dancing and the triumphant return to Coco Bongo (the most popular club in Edge City, location of the film) wearing the mask after being stopped at the door as Stanley Ipkiss.
Naturally it is not a perfect film, the construction of the romance with Tina, role, by the way, that also leveraged the career of Cameron Diaz, is totally rushed and without motivations that make sense, besides the villain who is bad for being bad and is for that's right, but, honestly, seeing the film and considering its purpose and the fun it provides, they do not in any way disturb the experience of a film of uncompromising humor, such as the animations of the 30s and 40s to which the film makes reference.
Despite everything, the greatest merit of the success (and quality) of "The Mask" comes down to one name: Jim Carrey. The star, who until then was best known only for his role as the animal detective "Ace Ventura", gives a show in the role, which is probably his best comic role in cinema. It is impossible to imagine The Mask with another actor in his place and probably, with another actor in his role, the production would be a real failure, as his interpretation is the essence of the entire development of the film. Everyone knows Carrey's talent, but here, he manages to show his personality change with such mastery, that it's even difficult to look for examples that compare to the height. Whether as the shy and clumsy Stanley Ipkiss, or as the irreverent Máskara, Carrey demonstrates such perfection that at no time does he seem to be the same actor in action, given such a distinction between the two personalities.
"The Mask" is the kind of film that no matter how much time passes, it never seems outdated in the face of its enormous grandeur, and we never get tired of watching it again. As much as we already know the jokes, we never stop having fun. From the opening credits to the electrifying final sequence, we can follow 98 minutes of pure fun without commitment, marked by a show of special effects. There are those who deny that The Mask is a classic, but there are no arguments in this world capable of convincing a young man from the 1990s to believe that. It's a film that will never grow old in our hearts, and one that is certainly worth seeing and enjoying for any generation.
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