The Man in the Iron Mask


Another (!) remake of the Dumas' classic tale. For those that don't know the story, it seems that King Louis 14th of France was one half of a pair of twins. To safeguard his position, he imprisoned his brother in a dungeon, and fitted him with an iron mask, so that no-one could see the resemblance between the two of them. As a King, Louis sucked, and became a tyrant. So the Three Musketeers (remember them?) decide to rescue brother from the dungeon and install him as king. Just your basic miltary coup d'état. Problem is, Musketeer number 4 (you knew there were four Three Musketeers, didn't you...) was now a loyal servant and surrogate father to the present king.
Reviews have been wildly mixed. This version plays more to the gallery than to the art crowd.
(Now if someone will please tell me why they call them ''musketeers'' when they use swords...)

132 minutes.
Parental guidance under 10 .
Action, Drama, Romance

Not currently showing on the local cinema circuit.

Who
Who's a pretty boy then?

Credits

Cast
Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovitch, Gérard Depardieu, Gabriel Byrne, Anne Parillaud
Director
Randall Wallace
ScreenplayRandall Wallace, based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas
MusicNick Glennie-Smith
Sound formatsDolby Digital, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound, DTS
Made in1998
Produced byUnited Artists

Official Site




Ratings

Scale (Max)20

What the Critics say

Cape Argus
Derek Wilson		10
The Cape Times
Peter Frost		10
The Star
Janine Walker		14
Die Burger
Gabriël Botma		10
Sunday Times
William Pretorius		10
Rapport
Paul Boekkooi		14
TV3 Screenplay
Barry Ronge		14
TV2 Leon at the Movies
Leon van Nierop		14
TV2 Pasella
Derrich Gardner		14
SAfm Sunday
Alan Swerdlow		10
eye Weekly
Gemma Files		15
Box Office
Wade Major		1
Film Review
Nick Briggs		10

What the People say

Internet
1136 Netizens		13

Average .. 57%

11

Visitor Ratings

Scale (Max)20
Melissa Norton 20
Daryl Schotter 16
Deon Nel 18
Bruce Humphrey 18
Bennie de Klerk 16
Johan van Zyl 8
André Mes 16
Santelle Garces 20
David Wheeler 19

Average .. 84%

17

Visitor Comments

Melissa Norton: It's GGGRRREAT!!!

Daryl Schotter: This was an enjoyable movie from start to finish. It had everything in it - action, suspense, comedy, romance and drama.... not to mention a great cast. John Malkovich's performance, as usual, was outstanding. Gerard Depardieu played a great Porthos and had me splitting my sides all throughout the film. I think that this is one of the better portrayals of the classic story of the ''Man in the Iron Mask'' !

Deon Nel: Meg's an angel.

Bruce Humphrey: ''An idiot's Blade is often sharper than his brain!'' Swashbuckling good stuff from our Musketeers set in the era of King Louis XIV build-up to the French Revolution. Great acting by top actors/actresses all round. You know what historians say: King Louis XIV (the ''Sun King'') built Versailles; King Louis XV enjoyed Versailles and King Louis XVI paid for Versailles! Go and see it for some great drama, romance and action!

Bennie de Klerk: Ek kan absoluut saamstem met Daryl Schotter. Dit is 'n fliek met alles wat jy wil sien. Jy lag, jy ril, jy beef, jy raak boos, jy raak bly, jy skrik. Brave boytjie, die musketeers

Johan van Zyl: Can't Hollywood come up with anything original? Taking a classic and throwing some stars into the mix doesn't/shouldn't be the recipe for a blockbuster. The one thing that saved the movie in the end was that it was after all a classic, of which the book proved a lot more thrilling.

André Mes: An enjoyable romp from beginning to end. The musketeers were great and even ol' Leo isn't that bad.

Santelle Garces: One of my favourite movies so far this year!!!






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