The Man in the Iron Mask
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: March 13, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
The A.V. ClubJoe Garden
A mish-mash of accents (buffoonish Depardieu's French, somber Irons' British, and DiCaprio and Malkovich carrying the same voices they use for every project) are vaguely unsettling, and there seems to be too little swashbuckling for characters who are synonymous with the term. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
An unusually sober and serious-minded telling of Alexandre Dumas' classic tale, this handsome costumer is routinely made and comes up rather short in boisterous excitement. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Wallace, unfortunately, writes lazy, anachronistic dialogue, and the picture is abysmally shot (by Peter Suschitzky), with a prosaic, low-budget look that never allows you to experience the enraptured majesty of a fairy-tale historical setting. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
I could see how, with a rewrite and a better focus, this could have been a film of "Braveheart'' quality instead of basically just a costume swashbuckler. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The result is the kind of picture you can sit through quite contentedly, the cinematic equivalent of an innocuous seatmate on an airplane trip -- it neither bores nor insults you, and, when the ride's over, is promptly gone and forgotten. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The problem with this movie is that Wallace has attempted to squeeze a 500-page book into a 130-minute motion picture, something that can't be done without major sacrifices. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Beyond its persistent coarseness, Wallace's story often trades yesterday's inspiration (Dumas) for today's (Simpson-Bruckheimer). Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Heavy on swordplay and spectacle, it's so intent on reviving the costume epics of the past it doesn't realize it's trying to be too many things to too many people until it collapses under its own weight. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
Thoroughly second-rate -- which is to say that it waddles when it ought to whiz, clanks when it strives for cornball poetry, and transforms its august stars into something akin to a manic dinner-theater troupe. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The only other adaptations I've seen of the Alexandre Dumas novel (which I haven't read) are the Classics Illustrated comic book and the 1939 James Whale potboiler, both of which I prefer to this vulgar and overwrought 1998 free-for-all, which makes you wait interminably for the story's central narrative premise. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Going down with the Titanic was a picnic compared to what Leonardo DiCaprio has to weather (an Alice in Wonderland hairdo, for starters) as Louis XIV in this unwittingly nutso adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' 1850 novel. Read full review
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
There is nothing worth getting steamed over or particularly excited about. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
Viewers expecting rip-roaring, chandelier- swinging swordplay adventure are likely to be disappointed by the measured tone and portentous verbal interplay. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
Leonardo DiCaprio? Excuse me, Leonardo DiCaprio? I know he makes teenaged girls cry, but, I mean, Leonardo DiCaprio? Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
This dopey swashbuckler offers little action but lashings of DiCaprio's soft, hairless flesh. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
This new chronicle of the adventures of the king's musketeers, as directed by Braveheart scribe Randall Wallace, suffers from a severe case of over-earnestness and star-power overkill. Read full review
40
Washington PostRita Kempley
The Three Musketeers, a rusty trio of middle-aged retirees, have all but changed their motto from "All for one and one for all" to "I have fallen and I can't get up" in this less-than-rollicking adaptation. Read full review
10
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Not 10 minutes into the smeary mess that is The Man in the Iron Mask, the only sensible question to ask yourself is, "What am I doing here?" Read full review
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