Iron Mask is hardly good though a few good-bad moments, but I found it to be an inoffensive fantasy-adventure flick and if anything, gives you a chance to see Schwarzenegger sport an old-fashioned wig, so there is that.
Iron Mask
(2019)
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Lionsgate | PG13 – 121 min. – $21.99 | November 24, 2020
Date Published: 12/29/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 2½/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Sequel to 2014’s Forbidden Kingdom. In order to save his homeland from certain doom, a kung fu master (JACKIE CHAN) must escape from the maniacal James Hook (ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER) in order to send his daughter (YAO XINGTONG) a secret talisman that will allow her to reclaim her throne and control a massive, mythical dragon. She receives help from cartographer Jonathan Green (JASON FLEMYNG). Concurrently, an escape Peter the Great aka Man in the Iron Mask (YURI KOLOKNIKOV) along with Green’s strong-willed wife (ANNA CHURINA), set sail on collision course to the Chinese city.
Quick Hit Review: Going in, I knew Iron Mask (aka Viy 2: Journey to China) had a good likelihood of being a special kind of bad movie, even solely based on how Arnold Schwarzenegger looked on the cover. And it sure is a bit of an s-show with good old Arnold spouting bad one-liners akin to Batman & Robin. Luckily, Schwarzenegger is only in the film at the beginning and a bit at the end. Course, the rest of film isn’t exactly brilliant, but at least was watchable, if not even slightly entertaining in spots. Some of the downsides were the performances were unremarkable and oddly enough, despite being an English-language picture, had some poor dubbing. The film does feature a decent cast. Along with Schwarzenegger (also was an executive producer) who indeed looks goofy yet he seemed to be having a good time, the cast includes Jackie Chan showing off some of his martial arts skills, even going mano-a-mano with Schwarzenegger; plus Jason Flemyng, Charles Dance and Rutger Hauer in exactly one scene for about a minute (and sadly seemed to need to be propped up). Iron Mask does have a couple redeeming values. Outside of its length, which could’ve been cut down 20-30 minutes, could make for a fun adventure film for the family, but beyond that, the visual effects weren’t half bad. There were a couple scenes that looked off, but otherwise respectable enough considering the reported $49 million production budget.
As I discovered doing some basic research on this project, it’s actually a sequel to a 2014 film called Viy (aka Forbidden Kingdom) carrying over Jason Flemyng, Anna Churina and Charles Dance’s characters. In addition, apparently there is a third movie (Viy 3: Travel to India) in production with Flemyng and Churina returning. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – ½/5 |
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This release comes with a very glossy, title-embossed, slip cover. Only feature included is the film’s Trailer. |
VIDEO – 4½/5 |
| Lionsgate releases Iron Mask onto Blu-ray, presented with an unusual 1.89 aspect ratio, and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. For the most part, the picture looks good, detail is relatively sharp and colors are bright and vibrant throughout; black levels are well balanced and there didn’t appear to be any hints of aliasing, artifacting or other flaws. |
AUDIO – 4¼/5 |
| The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is solid enough, dialogue comes through with good clarity and there is decent depth during the action/fight sequences as well as the singing, almost musical-like moments. Can’t say this is most incredible lossless track I’ve come across, but still effective. |
OVERALL – 2¼/5 |
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Overall, Iron Mask is hardly good though a few good-bad moments, but I found it to be an inoffensive fantasy-adventure flick and if anything, gives you a chance to see Schwarzenegger sport an old-fashioned wig, so there is that. The Blu-ray release from Lionsgate offers up good video and audio transfers, but only a trailer as a bonus feature. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.