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| MAN IN THE IRON MASK, THE (1998) - PG-13
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SBD Star Rating:
by Lew Irwin
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The Man in the Iron Mask is garnering reviews that are as disparate as the two opposite characters that Leonardo DiCaprio plays in the film. "As girlish, shallow and altogether Hanson-like as he is in this costume catastrophe, DiCaprio is at least keeping in step with the all-consuming lousiness of this phony-baloney picture," fumes Rod Dreher in today's (Friday) New York Post. On the other hand, Eleanor Ringel, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, calls the film "a really nifty swashbuckler/romance" and applauds DiCaprio for being "completely convincing" in the dual roles of a bad king and his good twin. Peter Howell, the Toronto Star critic, writes, "From the effective double turn by teen scream Leonardo DiCaprio to the boisterous fun in teaming Gabriel Byrne, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and Gerard Depardieu as aging knights, this is a movie to be savored for its chemistry." But Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan writes that the film "swashes until it buckles" and observes that "while pains have been taken to assemble a stellar cast, no similar labors went into giving them anything memorable to do." Similarly Philadelphia Inquirer movie critic Desmond Ryan finds that the film's "swash remains tightly buckled" and is "not necessarily fun for all." And Philip Wuntch in the Dallas Morning News also agrees: "Seldom has a swashbuckler wannabe been so visually stale." And while Jay Carr in the Boston Globe concludes that "there are at least four reasons for seeing the new remake [the four older actors] ... but none of them is named Leonardo DiCaprio," Janet Maslin in the New York Times thinks otherwise. DiCaprio, she writes, "rivets attention in practically every scene. With captivating ingenuousness, and with a physical beauty that reduces the camera to one more worshipful fan, he fares well in one of his most ill-advised film projects." |
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