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 andall Wallace's 1998 "The Man in the Iron Mask"
is the umpteen movie adaptation of French author Alexandre Dumas' continuing
tale of his famous 3 Musketeers, which as it turns out actually has four
members. (This is always the case in every movie, as it is the case in the
original book, if you were wondering.) "Iron Mask" is an expensive
Hollywood adaptation and has a stellar cast, and writer/director Randall Wallace
("Braveheart")
is a man who likes his movies epic.
"Iron Mask" re-introduces us to the 4 Musketeers,
now older men with legendary reputations. D'Artagnan (Gabriel Byrne) is now the
King's main bodyguard; Aramis (Jeremy Irons) is a practicing priest with a
secret; Porthos (Gerard Depardieu) is a drunk and womanizer; and Athos (John
Malkovich) has retired from the Musketeer business and has a son, Raoul, who
plans to become a Musketeer like his father.
Trouble enters the picture when spoiled boy-king Louis
(Leonardo DiCaprio) becomes infatuated with Raoul's fiancée and sends Raoul off
to fight at the front lines, where he is subsequent killed. Angered, Athos goes
to seek revenge, but is thwarted by D'Artagnan, who has more than his share of
secrets involving Louis and the Queen (Anne Parillaud). When a secret, bloodless
revolution to depose the despicable boy-king is hatched by Aramis, the
Musketeers reform to carry out a secret plan that involves replacing the
boy-king with a prisoner who wears an iron mask.
The story of "Man in the Iron Mask" has been done
in a variety of forms, from sitcoms to TV movies to theatrical features like
this one, so I don't hesitate to expose the film's secret: that the man in the
iron mask, the prisoner whose face has been covered and ordered never to be
exposed by Louis, is in reality Philippe, Louis' identical twin brother.
The Musketeers' plan is to replace Louis with Philippe in hopes that the new
king will rule France more fairly and actually feed his people. (Remember that
the French have always been socialists, they just don't like to admit it.)
I don't claim to be a Dumas expert, but Wallace's
"Iron Mask" has all the things that make this a "Dumas
movie." There's political intrigue, backstabbing, forbidden romance,
affairs, and last but certainly not least, the ever-present civil strife between
the poor and the aristocracy (although this last part is mostly background
noise). If the film "sounds" slightly wrong, it's because American
actors DiCaprio and Malkovich never bothers with a French (or even a foreign)
accent. I bring this up only because the rest of the cast do have
accents, so it's a little concerting to hear supposedly French characters speak
in such a variety of accents.
Despite being the only Frenchman in a very French story,
Gerard Depardieu has the least to do. His Porthos is a drunken womanizer who
learns he may not be able to indulge in his favorite hobby, women, and slips
into (comedic) despair as a result. Irons is easily the movie's best actor as
the arrogant and self-congratulating
Musketeer-turned-priest-turned-revolutionary Aramis. Malkovich does fine as
Athos, although his dialogue delivery seems mismatched with the movie's French
environment. Gabriel Byrne, as the loyal D'Artagnan, has the most controlled
role, which means he never really achieves more than the stoic warrior with an
amazing reservoir of loyalty.
Leonardo DiCaprio gives the best performance as
Louis/Philippe, but oddly enough it's DiCaprio as the released-from-prison
Philippe who excels. DiCaprio's Louis seems too much like the DiCaprio that we
read in the newspapers for anyone to think he's stretching as an actor. His
Philippe, on the other hand, is a mixture of naiveté and cowardice, a boy who
may not be up to the task that's been entrusted to him -- to save a nation.
Like many loyal adaptations of Dumas' stories, "Iron
Mask" is mostly about political conspiracies and royal maneuverings, which
leave little room for all-out action. ("The
Musketeer", which takes great liberty with the legend, is an
exception.) There are actually only a couple of minor skirmishes before the
film's final confrontation, which provides the bulk of the action. Despite this,
I didn't mind one bit since by now I know what to expect from a Dumas movie.
Besides that, the film is quite entertaining from beginning to end, and the lack
of swordplay was not a distraction.
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