THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK (1998) *** Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid rock the Bastille! It is true that this film has some fairly major problems: it stands squarely in the genre Hollywood Overblown, most plot turns are highly unlikely, some lines are stumbled through, and there aren't enough lines to go around anyway. But the cast! Truely historic aging muskateers...Jeremy Irons is the most consistent as Aramis....John Malkovich borderline brilliant as Athos....and Gérard Depardieu steals every scene he's in as the lusty Porthos. You want to just beat the crap out of Leonardo DiCaprio when he's the bad king, and he's kind of winsome as the good brother. Gabriel Byrne is imminently believable as D'Artagnon of conflicting loyalties. It could have used another 45 minutes just to give more lines to Depardieu. Not that the character wasn't developed enough, you just want more of him! After floundering occasionally for a few hours it ends very strongly in the finest Hollywood tradition.
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