"You're surrounded by beautiful women." D'Artagnan observes. "Do you love any of them?"
King Louis replies, "Quite frequently, actually."
This quip, like many in The Man in the Iron Mask, resonates with hollowness and is as musty as the familiar, "the peasants are revolting" jibe.
A victim of flat wit, slow plot development and forgivable anachronisms, writer-director Randall Wallace (Braveheart) based this film on the novel by Dumas. French king Louis XIV (Leonardo DiCaprio) is young, cruel and greedy. The king's guard D'Artagnan (Gabriel Byrne) advises the monarch that his people are anxious to love him, "but are eating rotten food and frequently none at all."
When Louis pursues the fair Christine (Judith Godréche) and sends her fiancé (Peter Sarsgaard) to certain death, the soldier's father and ex-Musketeer Athos (John Malkovich) swears the king as enemy. Athos is joined by Jesuit priest Aramis (Jeremy Irons) and portly Porthos (Gerard Depardieu) in a plot to replace the king with the man in the iron mask: Louis' twin, Phillipe (also played by DiCaprio). One for all!
The calibre of acting is excellent throughout, with the exception of the mis-casting of heartthrob DiCaprio (Titanic), whose hackneyed double-entendre is trés Hollywood. Byrne is collected and suave as the soldier torn between love and honour. Depardieu is comical and Irons is as resolute as Malkovich is passionate.
Wallace fails to build credibility, maintain a captivating pace or develop motivations quickly. The masked prisoner actually existed in reality, but his identity was never known and it's of little consequence here. However, the drama and cruelty of imprisonment escapes the camera. When Phillipe, who has been imprisoned for a decade, is unmasked, his hair is unkempt but his face unmarred. Wallace chose an arena ripe for swashbuckling but the Musketeers use words over blades, resulting in a film that shouts mid-life crisis.
