Directed by: Randall Wallace
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Gabriel Byrne, Gerard Depardieu, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Peter Sarsgaard, Judith Godreche, Anne Parillaud
The Man In The Iron Mask has an A-List cast and is a swashbuckler adventure that does the job, but never takes the leap into heedless joy. It is missing the silly fun which accompanies swordfights and a plot to substitute a sitting king with his twin brother who was imprisoned for six years wearing an iron mask. I could not help myself but think of History of the World, Part I (1981) which features a similar plot no doubt inspired by the Alexandre Dumas novel that inspired this film too. Harvey Korman's Count De Money suggests that the king "looks like the piss boy." The king retorts, "And you look like a bucket of shit."
No such dialogue exists in The Man in the Iron Mask, but I would have preferred that over the countless recites of "All for one and one for all." The Man in the Iron Mask features The Three Musketeers as older, but still respected and feared men who vow to protect the king with their lives. This is a tall order with the reigning king Louis XIV (DiCaprio) being such a decadent prick who could not care less about his subjects starving in the streets. At least he doesn't use his people as skeet target practice like Mel Brooks' king in History of the World.
The king develops an eye for the comely Christine (Godreche), who is seen at the palace accompanied by her fiancée Raoul (Sarsgaard), who is the son of retired musketeer Athos (Malkovich). Louis orders Raoul sent to the front of an ongoing war and Raoul is soon killed, leaving Christine vulnerable to the king's seduction. An enraged Athos calls on his former comrades Porthos (Depardieu) and Aramis (Irons) to help him overthrow the king. The only holdout is D'Artagnan (Byrne) who remains loyal to the king for reasons later revealed. Aramis concocts a plan.
Aramis knows more than he should about the titular character who languishes in prison. The musketeers spring the man, remove his mask, and after cleaning him up sees he is Philippe, the twin brother of the king. He was locked away in prison after years in exile in order to provide unfettered ascendency to the throne for Louis. He seeks revenge and undergoes training to pass as Louis, who will be kidnapped and thrown into prison as the iron mask guy. Why they wouldn't just kill Louis remains a mystery. It would help the plot succeed with no loose ends, but I'm not paid to be a musketeer and I was never consulted anyway.
DiCaprio is perfectly capable as the cruel king and his feckless twin. It is good to see the veterans Malkovich, Depardieu, and Irons doing their thing. Byrne has the more complicated role and stands to lose more than his cohorts. He is torn between his duty and his loyalty to his friends. His relationship with the Queen mother Anne (Parillaud) further confuses things. Byrne is an accomplished actor who is more than up to the task and provides the only emotional tug in the entire movie.
The Man in the Iron Mask is technically sound with fine performances. It is not a special film. Substituting kings will satisfy the musketeers' objective, but how much will it help the starving masses? These matters are not important. And how exactly did the musketeers survive the hailstorm of bullets fired at them in the film's final scenes? Just curious.
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