Iron Mask Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.5

Iron Mask Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 25, 2020

What’s in a name? Or names, as the case may be? Well, take Iron Mask (“please,” some Henny Youngman fans may be adding) for example: this odd, often incomprehensible film was released under an almost insane variety of titles, including The Iron Mask (that one is at least a little understandable), The Dragon Seal, The Iron Mask: The Mystery of the Dragon Seal, Journey to China: The Mystery of Iron Mask, The Mystery of Dragon Seal: Journey to China (are you laughing yet?), The Iron Mask: The Mystery of the Iron Mask (c’mon already), and Viy 2, the last of which at least hints at the fact that this is supposedly the sequel to 2014’s Viy, which was itself released under an equally insane number of alternate titles, including Forbidden Empire, the way it’s listed in our movies database. If a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, I'll let enterprising wordsmiths come up with a suitable analog for something that stinks as badly as this film, one which would seem to have at least a little built in marquee value courtesy of its pairing of Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I have a perhaps unprovable theory about the inverse proportion between the number of production entity mastheads before a film starts and the actual quality of the film itself. In the case of Iron Mask (or whatever you want to call it), it takes a good two minutes for an array of international consortium mastheads to unspool before the film's clunky, in some cases impossible to follow, narrative finally kicks in. What I'm assuming is a "previously. . .on Viy" recap including scenes from the first movie at least introduces cartographer Jonathan Green (Jason Flemyng), who was evidently the focal character of the first film. He actually is here, too, more or less, anyway, though the film ping pongs between a chaotic assortment of subplots that only increase as the film continues. The "basic" plot (if it can even be thought of that way) involves Green continuing his map making, which involves a series of supposed adventures which ultimately alerts him to the fact that there's an imposter pretending to be Peter I on the throne of Russia. In the ostensible Tower of London where the real Peter (Yuri Kolokolnikov) is being held is another prisoner known only as Master (Jackie Chan), who has to deal with the Tower's warden, Hook (Arnold Schwarzenegger). (The prison almost comes across as the 17th-18th century equivalent of the "stir" seen in another "stunt casting" pairing featuring Arnie, Escape Plan.)

Did I mention the film actually begins with an insanely convoluted "backstory" involving a magical dragon with long eyelashes? That story finally starts getting developed, or at least referred to again, sometime into the film once another royal imposter, in this case a Chinese princess, is revealed. There's also another subplot involving a supposed Chinese "boy" (Yao Xingtong) who accompanies Green on his adventures, but who is more than clearly really a female, as well as another another subplot involving Green's supposed betrothed, Miss Dudley (Anna Churina). This last element does at least offer what I consider to be one of the funniest lines of dialogue I've heard recently. Green, initially imprisoned, "communicates" with Miss Dudley courtesy of a certain bird messenger, and at one point he tells her via a note that he won't be writing anymore as "I only have a single pigeon left”.

It's probably the sheer glut of content here, much of which is inartfully woven together at best, which ultimately defeats Iron Mask. Sure, it's fun to see Arnie and Jackie shackled together with chains and pretending like they're duking it out, and the story's whirlwind globetrotting allows for some interesting production design choices, but the whole thing is messy, badly edited and ultimately nonsensical.

Iron Mask Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Iron Mask is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.89:1. The IMDb lists the Arri Alexa, but fails to specify the resolution of the DI. The first Viy was evidently released in 3D in some markets, and it certainly looks like this film was at least designed with 3D in mind, though I haven't been able to track down anything authoritative on whether or not it was screened theatrically in that format. The film is rife with CGI, some of which is pretty soft and ill defined looking, especially in the many establishing shots of various locales, several of which almost look like cut scenes from videogames. That said, detail levels on practical items like props, sets and especially costumes are frequently excellent. There is frequent grading employed, often toward either blues or yellows, but detail levels remain generally consistent throughout the changes. Some of the changes in grading or lighting choices lead to some minor ripples of banding.

Iron Mask Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Iron Mask features a pretty noisy DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which offers some good immersion in the often chaotic action scenes. There are several curious scenes here where what look like English speaking actors are dubbed, evidently at times with words the actors were not saying at the time (I make this deduction based on lip movements), leading to more than just "loose sync" (as it's often called). Prioritization can occasionally suffer simply because the sound design, like both the visual aesthetic and the overall ambience of the film, is just stuffed to the breaking point. That said, dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly for the most part. Optional subtitles in a variety of languages are available.

Iron Mask Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Iron Mask Trailer (1080p; 2:44)

Iron Mask Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Among the many lost opportunities of Iron Mask is its offering of Rutger Hauer in one of his last screen roles in what amounts to a glorified cameo. But that's perhaps ironically at least somewhat down a pretty long list of things this film wastes. There are definitely some fun ideas scattered throughout this confusing, disorganized film, and the production design is frequently rather sumptuous (I kept wondering what the budget for costumes was). The opulence of some of the practical elements is probably countered by some pretty ill defined CGI. Yes, it's fun to see Arnie and Jackie, but even they are largely left dangling here, without much in the way of story or character to support them. Technical merits are generally solid for those who are considering a purchase.