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The man in the iron mask

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

It is 1660 and France is starving. Louis XIII, the great king whose throne the Musketeers served has died and been succeeded by his arrogant and cruel heir, King Louis XIV (Leonardo Dicaprio)... while at the Bastille a mysterious prisoner has lived for nearly a decade encased in an iron mask.

To save a nation, the Musketeers must reunite and embark on their most dangerous mission ever: to free the prisoners and unlock the secret of his identity. Only through this act of mercy will they realise their dream of finding and serving one great king - for the enigmatic prisoner, for the kingdom that was and will be again, and for each other.

One for all, all for one.

Persons of interest

Leonardo DiCaprio .... King Louis XIV/Philippe
Jeremy Irons .... Father Aramis the Priest
John Malkovich .... Athos
Gérard Depardieu .... Porthos
Gabriel Byrne .... Captain D'Artagnan
Anne Parillaud .... Queen Mother Anne
Judith Godrèche .... Christine Bellefort
Edward Atterton .... Lieutenant Andre
Peter Sarsgaard .... Raoul
Alexandre Dumas père .... Author: Vingt ans après; Le Vicomte de Bragelonne
Randall Wallace .... Screenwriter
Randall Wallace .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

FYI: The man in the iron mask doesn't answer the big question of why they are called the three musketeers when there are four of them.
SEe also V for vendetta
Studios and distributors:

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

The three musketeers grew up, got old and not a little crazy.

Apart from that, this is a fun romp in the French countryside with lots of running, fighting, intrigue and even some time for a bit of rumpy pumpy. Having all the famous names flitting about the screen is annoying because you are always stopping to see who it is. There's also the problem of multiple accents. If they all spoke English it would be ok, but mixing in American just makes it an annoying mish-mash.

The story is based on one scrap of reality, as Jeremy narrates at the beginning of the film, that there was a prisoner called the man in the iron mask. From there Hollywood takes over and royal siblings, plots, betrayals, assignations, barstardy, adventures and so on fill the screen. That's a bit annoying, but at least Hollywood is being consistent.

Leonardo does a good job separating Phillippe from Louis but is not so good the other way round: he has a great face for wide-eyed innocence but doesn't quite manage heartless bastard. Still, he's pretty and looks good in the fancy costumery. Gérard is full of gallic gusto while Jeremy, John and Gabriel are so much themselves that it's hard to remember which character they're playing. The man in the iron mask is like one of those old black and white period films from the 40s and 50s where seeing a star on-screen was more important than seeing a story. Which is not to say that it's crap, just that it's not going to go down as one of the greatest films of all time.