Iron Mask, The | aka The Mystery of Dragon Seal (2019) Review

“The Iron Mask” Theatrical Poster

AKA: Viy 2: Journey to China
Director: Oleg Stepchenko
Cast: Jason Flemyng, Charles Dance, Rutger Hauer, Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Helen Yao, Martin Klebba, Christopher Fairbank, Igor Jijikine
Running Time: 124 min.

By Martin Sandison

When I was a kid my parents didn’t allow me to watch violent movies; they wanted to protect me from the horror of the world, I guess. But I was allowed to watch Jackie Chan movies. There’s a great quote from him: “I love action, and hate violence.” Jackie is the greatest exponent of the former, and perhaps Arnold Schwarzenneger is the most famous exponent of the latter, in film history. The two have been longtime friends and admirers since the late 80’s, and it has been a fan’s dream to see the two onscreen together. Now that dream has come true, with the fantasy actioner The Iron Mask (aka Viy 2: Journey to China). I have to admit, as a hater of the recent Chinese forays into this genre, I was reluctant to watch this film. Shamefully, I actually quite enjoyed it.

The film begins in the 17th century, with Jackie imprisoned in the Tower of London and looking like a villain from any pick of old school kung fu films, replete with whispy beard and long silver hair. Arnie is the head guard, one who likes to challenge the prisoners to some fisticuffs. Soon this plot is brushed to the side to focus on a Chinese Princess gone rogue (Yao Xingtong, Chinese Zodiac) and her journey back to China with a cartographer (Jason Flemyng, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), to reclaim her throne from an evil witch (Ma Li, Never Say Die) who has taken on her identity. Underneath this plot is the story of a Dragon whose eyelashes can bury in to the ground and create healing tea leaves. Yes, you read that correctly. The Dragon will awaken when the dragon seal is returned, an artifact that drives the plot.

To be honest, as soon as I’ve seen trailers for most of the recent entrants in to the Chinese fantasy action genre I’ve turned my head in disbelief, and sadness. The most disturbing came in the form of Ching Siu Tung’s Jade Dynasty. Ching is a filmmaker I admire so much, and his Duel to the Death is my favourite Wuxia. My abiding memory of the Jade Dynasty trailer is a close up of a CG dragon’s head, as it licks its lips and seems to have a human personality. I felt like laughing, but the sick feeling in my gut and the tears welling up quashed that.

With Jackie, I’ve become accustomed to his films in the last decade or so being laughable affairs, with a few exceptions. I’ve become numb to the horrid feelings they create in me. Saying that, I’ve still not watched Kung Fu Yoga or Bleeding Steel. As for Arnie… he’s not as bad. I quite enjoyed Terminator: Dark Fate, so sue me. Upon settling down to watch The Iron Mask, my thoughts were: “Ok. Jackie and Arnie together. They will fight. I can do this.”

And fight they do. Choreography duties here are left to Jackie Chan stunt team member He Yun, who has worked with the man since the early nineties. Once the first fight kicked in, with Arnie taking on some lackeys, I was like: “he can still throw a punch.” There were some nice close-in angles, and some good reactions. But… the action falters in all of the fights, with a case of ‘as soon as it gets going, it’s over.’ Unfortunately, that’s the case for the main attraction. The best part is Arnie’s line: “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.” It made me salivate. These dribbles quickly dried up, with an overuse of wires, no meaty exchanges and a lapse in to silly comedy. A real shame. For the ardent fan, I noticed a reference to the Sammo Hung ultimate classic Odd Couple, that warmed my heart. And getting to see the two legends exchange blows and lines is something I’m betting every fan will want to see, and a wonderful feeling glimmers in there, for a brief few minutes… As the movie moves away from our heroes, action duty is left to Yao and others, and while the final fight has some redeeming qualities, the viewer is robbed of true martial fulfilment.

Now that the action is out of the way, let’s get to the other angles of this overcooked, fatty leg of lamb. Discussions with friends, reading online and the like have led me to go in to watching these films with a more open mind, and that’s exactly what I did with The Iron Mask. The thing is, this film, and others like it, are so ridiculous, silly and laughably bad that it’s entertaining. What crap plot twist will come next? What other terrible CGI character or backdrop? It really beggars belief how Chinese audiences lap this stuff up, and seem to love the horrid, garish approach to visuals and CGI. Saying that, this film bombed in China.

Very interestingly, this film is not purely Chinese. It’s co-produced with Russia, and is a sequel. What is really confusing is the original’s English title is Forbidden Kingdom. On first reading this I was like, what? And strangely the film has a visual style at points like the Chan/Li film, and Chan’s character is similar in look. But rest assured, the original is a Russian fantasy adventure with the same protagonist, and the same director Oleg Stepchenko. This makes for a very uneasy mix. At times the film feels Lord of the Ringsy, be it a cheap low rent version, and once the action moves to China very much like the style we’ve seen countless times over the last two decades in films such as The Great Wall.

More problems pile up with the horrendous dubbing going on a lot of the time. I have no idea why it’s dubbed. You can see the Chinese actors are speaking mandarin, but the dub is worse than some 70’s kung fu movies I’ve seen. All of the aforementioned aspects made me shake my head, but there was something compelling me to keep watching. I guess that means ‘it’s so bad it’s good,’ and at times is actually good, in terms of filmmaking and the abilities of the cast. Outwith Arnie and Jackie, Jason Flemyng does a reasonable job with some humorous moments and decent characterisation. Yao and Ma certainly look the part, both being very attractive women, and respectively inhabit their characters quite well. The film is edited well some of the time, and at times qthe direction of the camera hints at a good talent.

While not a movie we could hope to be great, and live up to Arnie and Jackie’s filmographies, The Iron Mask contains a certain charm. At times you can tell the cast and the filmmakers have had a lot of fun bringing the film to the screen, and that does show in entertainment value. Be warned, though, if you hate this genre and bemoan its tropes and style you may be cringing. Two of my favourite character actors show up too: the man, the legend Charles Dance (Last Action Hero), who has about 2 minutes of screen time; and none other than Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner). Honestly, I breathed a sigh of relief on reading this wasn’t the great man’s final screen appearance. He plays an ambassador arriving in a cart pulled by pigs, looking confused before uttering: “what’s going on here?” Indeed, Mr. Hauer, indeed.

Martin Sandison’s Rating: 5/10