The Man in the Iron Mask – 4K UHD Blu-ray Review
Commissions Earned
Film Title: The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
Release Date: 2023
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 132 minutes
Region Coding: Region Free
Studio: Shout! Studios
Audio Format: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 & 2.0
High Dynamic Range: HDR10, Dolby Vision
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Version Reviewed: 4K UHD Blu-ray
Release Date: 12/26/23
Director: Randall Wallace
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gérard Depardieu, Gabriel Byrne, Anne Parillaud, Judith Godrèche, Edward Atterton, Peter Sarsgaard
Jump to Sections:
Movie | Video | Audio | Bonus | Closing | Screenshots
Full 4K Tech Specs found at the bottom
click to view a 4K Screenshot
The Movie
“The Man in the Iron Mask” is based loosely on history, involving the French King Louis XIV, as well as the final novel in the “D’Artagnan Romances” written by Alexandre Dumas. The characters from that novel (“The Vicomte de Bragelonne”) are used here as well as the real king of France, and a prisoner that was supposedly the king’s twin brother, referred to as “The Man in the Iron Mask” (from which the film gets its title). The film’s Screenplay was adapted by Randall Wallace, best known for his work on screenplays for films such as “Braveheart” (1995), “Pearl Harbor” (2001), and “We Were Soldiers” (2002). Randall Wallace would make his directorial debut with this film adaptation.
The story is set in Paris, France during the year 1662 and (as mentioned) during the reign of King Louis XIV (played here by Leonardo DiCaprio). The country faces some real problems as the citizens are revolting against the king and a threat of revolution is luring. The King is more focused on womanizing and planning war than he is making sure that the people of his country are happy, as they are starving due to rotten food. This civil unrest caused a group known as the “Jesuit order” to wage revenge on the king with assassination attempts. It’s safe to say that the King was not at all admired by his subjects at this point.
Meanwhile, you have the King’s Captain of the Musketeers “D’Artagnan” (Gabriel Byrne) trying to protect his king, while he still is friends with the men known in the novel (also written by Alexandre Dumas) as “The Three Musketeers” that have gone their ways. The musketeers reunite as we see the drunken “Porthos” (Gerard Depardieu) come to visit his old friend “Aramis” (Jeremy Irons) now serving as a priest. The two catch up a tad bit on old times, when they are surprised by a visit from D’Artagnan. Their former musketeer and friend “Athos” (John Malkovich) has fully retired from that lifestyle and is living with his son “Raoul” (Peter Sarsgaard).
Raoul serves in the military and has a beautiful young fiancé named “Christine” (Judith Godreche). Unfortunately for Raoul, the King has an eye for his fiancee and will do whatever it takes to get him out of the picture to try to steal away the man’s would-be bride. This causes some defiant drama between the two friends Athos and D’Artagnan over it, but then word comes that Raoul is to be sent to serve on the front lines during a war. It’s at this point that anger erupts from Athos toward his friend and his King. He promises that if anything happens to his son as a result of this he will be a sworn enemy against the King and seek revenge.
As all this is going on, with the French country in civil unrest and a power-hungry king letting his people starve, you have another man that he wanted out of the picture a very long time ago, a prisoner in an iron mask, said to be the twin brother to the King. The four musketeers here band together in an alliance to free this man, “Phillippe” (also played by Leonardo DiCaprio) from his wrongful imprisonment, to attempt to replace the King. This sets up our story and the whole plot to this, again loosely based on the Dumas novels and some of French history.
To avoid giving away any more of the story, I’ll cut this synopsis for the film short. I’ll just say that this proves to be an entertaining and thought-provoking film. While it may have its share of historical inaccuracies and such, it still does reflect on the late 1600s in France and the supposed twin brother to the King. The performances given here by DiCaprio, Byrne, Irons, and Malkovich all prove to be memorable. A year earlier Leonardo DiCaprio became a household name (as an actor) co-starring in the film “Titanic” (1997). That star power with the top-billed actor would help give this film a bit of a larger audience in the long run.
Movie Rating: 4.25 (out of 5)
click to view a 4K Screenshot
Video Quality
“The Man in the Iron Mask” on 4K UHD Blu-ray is presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with HDR10 and Dolby Vision forms of high dynamic range. The release features a new remastered 2023 4K scan of the original camera negative. The previous 2018 Shout Select spine number 29 Blu-ray release of this film also received a 4K scan but this is a newer scan, so don’t think if you own the older release you can just upconvert that Blu-ray and experience the same thing as this. It looks much much different, as I’ll explain in a bit. According to the technical specifications listed on IMDb, this movie was shot on 35MM film using Panavision cameras.
Next, let me get technical, for a bit, in regards to the 4K UHD Blu-ray Disc itself here. This release uses a BD-100 (100 gigabytes) disc, 92.75 gigabytes total, and 84.6 gigabytes for the film itself [in 4K]. Now, let’s take a look back at the previous 2018 Blu-ray release of the film. That release used a BD-50 (50 gigabytes) disc, 43.15 gigabytes total, and 37.9 gigabytes for the film itself [in HD]. With that being said, the new 4K version is roughly over 2 times larger in terms of file size in comparison to the original HD version.
Based on my observations via my 4K UHD Blu-ray player, this seems to be running an average (roughly) of anywhere between 41.4 in darker scenes to 88 Mbps in the HEVC (high-efficiency video coding) codec, hitting peaks as high as 96.9 and 101.7 Mbps at times. According to info on the PC side, this seems to have an overall video bitrate of 80.7 Mb/s average. On my Panasonic 4K UHD Blu-ray player, I got the following HDR10 Metadata: Maximum Light Level 1019 nit.
Directly, I want to visually compare the original Blu-ray and the 4K UHD Blu-ray. So, I’ll be offering you the still screenshots for both the 2018 Blu-ray Disc and the new 2023 4K UHD Blu-ray releases. For those who want to see more Blu-ray VS. 4K screenshots, click the text below.
Blu-ray VS. 4K Screenshots Comparison:
SOURCES: 2018 Blu-ray (left), 2023 4K UHD Blu-ray (right)
When looking at the comparisons above (and further below), there’s a slight change in the horizontal framing with mostly more detail appearing on the right side, but sometimes the opposite on occasion. This new 4K scan looks so much better and you’ll see a whole lot more detail in both close-ups and normal shots with a very nice amount of film grain found throughout. The color timing has changed and with that come more accurate flesh tones. With the addition of high dynamic range here you get so much more brighter colors and a perfectly solid black level, that SDR (standard dynamic range) high definition was never even capable of.
Fans of this film will sure as hell want to make an upgrade if they previously owned this film on home video as this is by far the best that it has ever looked. This 4K presentation just looks downright remarkable and that is especially when in comparison to even the 2018 Blu-ray that came from an entirely different 4K scan. This time around things have gone from just looking good to looking amazing. The folks at Shout! Studios have topped themselves and fixed all previous issues I had complained about in my 2018 Blu-ray review. I simply cannot find a single thing to even think of complaining about here. This earns every bit of a perfect 5 rating for video quality. Wow! Just wow.
Video Quality Rating: 5 (out of 5)
click to view a 4K Screenshot
Audio Quality
“The Man in the Iron Mask” arrives on 4K UHD Blu-ray in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo. These mixes both come with DTS 5.1 and DTS 2.0 cores for those not able to decode the lossless sound formats.
I could have sworn that upon hearing the opening musical score this sounded [so good] like it had received a new 5.1 surround mix. So, I put my 2018 Blu-ray release in to see if it sounded as good as this did. It did, this is using the same 5.1 sound mix. I think, looking back in hindsight, that I may have not given this sound mix as much credit last time around in the 2018 review of the Blu-ray.
According to IMDb this film during its original theatrical run received DTS, Dolby Digital and SDDS surround mixes. Sure the original 2010 Blu-ray also contained a lossless 5.1 mix, in the very same format ironically, but that was a different sound mix. This time around it’s been redone, as that previous mix was never too well respected back in those days. Even the stereo lossless mix here proves to be pretty good if you’re into that sort of thing.
This film is mostly dialogue-driven, that much is a fact. It’s also a fact that dialogue here is delivered distinctly, in the 5.1 mix via the center channel, and never requires any volume adjustments to discern what’s being said. Just because of the drama making dialogue so much of a factor doesn’t mean you can’t have some action or climactic moments in this 5.1 mix – as originally intended. That’s why the film’s original Score (music) by Nick Glennie-Smith helps add some impressive moments throughout the film, especially in its 5.1 lossless mix, as do sword fighting and other forms of action.
The 5.1 mix here offers up some bright use of the front channels for the majority of the music, sound effects, and such, with the rear channels getting an almost constant use for music and/or sound effects. Both the music and sound effects translate over into some very nice bass via the subwoofer. The mix is sure to leave you somewhat impressed at times, for this blend of genres (action, adventure, and drama). That all being said, I’ve learned to appreciate this 5.1 lossless sound mix more this time around and I deem it worthy of an impressive 4.5 rating for audio quality. It certainly has its moments.
Audio Quality Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)
click to view a 4K Screenshot
Bonus Materials
The 4K UHD Blu-ray disc includes the following:
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Randall Wallace proves to be worth giving a listen if you enjoy the film. Wallace did a great job here with his audio commentary, from which you’ll end up learning a lot about the film.
Then you also get a Blu-ray Disc included in this 2-disc “combo pack” set.
- The Blu-ray Disc includes the film using the new 4K scan. This features a 1080p HD video presentation in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio as well as lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo sound. This is where you’ll find the true majority of the bonus materials. One other note, this Blu-ray is Region A locked, whereas the 4K UHD Blu-ray theoretically is region free [to my knowledge].
Bonus materials included on the Blu-ray Disc are listed below. These are all in HD (high definition) with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound.
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Randall Wallace
- Interview with Producer Paul Hitchcock (18:41 – HD) has some history to the film discussed, involving Hitchcock (here) replacing another producer. He at first discusses filming in Paris, and the on-set drama about the other producer being fired. Some behind-the-scenes footage from the set is shown with Paul, along with short clips from the film. The producer also discusses other topics including working with the cast, the working conditions (namely the weather) while filming in Paris, the production design on the film done by Anthony Pratt, the costumes, the film’s budget limitations, working with writer/director Randall Wallace, and such.
- Interview with Production Designer Anthony Pratt (8:09 – HD) starts with the production designer discussing how he got the job on the film. Pratt will discuss topics such as his approach to the design for the period, working with the French construction and art departments, his love for the final product that is the film, the historical accuracy, the design of the dungeons, the palace design, working with producer Paul Hitchcock, working with such a “strong” cast of actors, shooting on location in Paris, working with first-time director Randall Wallace, and such.
- Audio Commentary with Writer / Director Russell Wallace
- “Myth and The Musketeers” Featurette (7:34 – HD) discusses the original novel “The Three Musketeers” written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. This served as inspiration for the film’s screenplay in one of the later novels. Along the way in this featurette you’ll see lots of historical photographs from the period, of the author, and get interviews from the following: Dr. Marc Lony (Professor, French Literature Loyola Marymount University), Dr. Indra Mukhopadhyay (Lecturer, Comparative Literature UCLA), Michael York (Actor, “D’Artagnan” in the 1973 film “The Three Musketeers”), Dr. Veronique Flambard-Weisbart (Professor, French Literature Loyola Marymount University), Dr. Mariana Net (Professor / Visiting Literary Scholar, NYU Dept. of Social & Cultural Analysis), and Dr. Catherine Nesci (Chair, French & Italian Studios UCSB). Clips from this film are shown throughout as well. This gives you a good bit of history regarding this story as it discusses the factual parts and the parts that were fictionalized for the story in the original novel, as well as here with the adaptation.
- “Director’s Take” (29:11 – HD) gives you a nice in-depth interview with the film’s writer/director Randall Wallace discussing a range of topics, such as writing screenplays for films (like “Braveheart”) before directing his first film, the original story and how it inspired his adaptation screenplay for the film. Wallace discusses how he dislikes doing adaptations, yet finds himself back doing them again and again. He also discusses how the original novel didn’t even have the structure, and how he took the characters and setting and took them and reshaped them in his screenplay. Occasional still photographs or video of Wallace on the set making the film as well as lots of clips from the film are shown here throughout this interview. This featurette proves to be almost as informative as a director’s audio commentary would have, giving you the writer/director and his take on it all. Wallace also discusses working as a first-time director who has come from a writing background, as well as the casting process for the characters, and such. As lengthy as this interview runs, I could go on for a while here, but I’ll cut it short. Let’s just say you’ll feel very informed after watching this featurette.
- Original Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (4:45 – HD) starts like a trailer, with narration of the film’s plot and and clips from the film. It then transitions over into the basic EPK (electronic press kit) style “making of” featurette. You will see some behind-the-scenes footage on the set as well as get interviews with cast and crew such as Leonardo DiCaprio (“King Louis” / “Phillippe”), John Malkovich (“Athos”), Gabriel Byrne (“D’Artagnan”), and Randall Wallace (writer/director).
- Alternate Mask Prototypes (2:01 – HD) are self-explanatory by the title. This is narrated by Randall Wallace (writer/director).
- Theatrical Trailer (3:04 – HD)
Overall the bonus materials here prove to be informative, totalling up to roughly just a little over an hour in length, with two new interviews included along with the original Blu-ray and DVD bonus materials. It is a bit weird but the original 2011 Blu-ray featured 2 trailers for the film, when we only get one here. Still, that’s not something I consider bonus material, and I can’t complain it’s missing. And, yes, I’ve learned to appreciate the extras a tad bit more this time around reviewing and slightly upped my score when taking into consideration the 4K also includes the audio commentary and you get a new Blu-ray of this version instead of just the previous 2018 version thrown in.
Bonus Materials Rating: 3 (out of 5)
click to view a 4K Screenshot
Closing Thoughts
“The Man in the Iron Mask” from 1998 was a fantastic film. Looking back on it, this film came right after Leonardo DiCaprio had his success with “Titanic” (1997) and only helped further launch his career with another great performance. Then you have all of these other great performances put forth by the leading cast of Jeremy Iron, John Malkovich, Gerard Depardieu, and Gabriel Byrne. This movie was also another success for the film’s director Randall Wallace, who would go on to later direct another few hit films. And yes, as you might ask based on his last name, and as you may have read, he also wrote “Braveheart” (1995).
In terms of video quality, this offers up a new 4K scan that is superior in all ways to the 4K scan used on the previous 2018 Blu-ray that Shout Select had released. This offers up a presentation in 4K resolution that will not have you questioning why you made the upgrade with a truly cinematic experience full of film grain and immaculate detail. This just looks superb and you’ll notice that with the addition of high dynamic range in either Dolby Vision or HDR10 colors are bright, now much more accurate, and you finally get a perfectly solid black level. This is by far one of the best 4K presentations for a catalog title that I have seen in a good while.
In terms of audio quality, you get a lossless 5.1 surround and 2.0 Stereo mix as your options. This delivers a 5.1 sound mix that does the film justice and will make good use of your home theater setup. It sounds pretty impressive at times and that is thanks to the beautiful musical score. Dialogue which is key is delivered spot on and there’s nothing to complain about here.
Finally, the bonus materials give you all the previous content found on the 2018 version on Blu-ray as well as a Blu-ray Disc of the new 4K scan that looks so much better. So, that physical addition of a better HD version and not just bundling in the older disc is in my opinion a bonus (plus).
All and all this makes for a great film with an exceptional 4K visual presentation worthy of being deemed as catalog “demo material” in terms of video and offers up one fitting lossless surround sound mix as well. Fans will most certainly want to rush out and upgrade to this truly superior stunning 4K UHD Blu-ray worthy of deeming Certainly Worth the Upgrade.
In terms of 4K UHD Blu-ray release, this gets:
5 (out of 5) for video quality
4.5 (out of 5) for audio quality
3 (out of 5) for bonus materials
Overall Verdict:
Certainly Worth the Upgrade
Available As:
2023 4K UHD Blu-ray Release
Available at: Amazon | Walmart
Commissions Earned
4K UHD Blu-ray Screenshots:
Blu-ray VS. 4K Screenshots Comparison:
SOURCES: 2018 Blu-ray (left), 2023 4K UHD Blu-ray (right)
Packaging:
4K UHD Blu-ray Technical Specifications:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Exact Runtime(s): 2:12:17
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with a DTS 5.1 core), DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (with a DTS 2.0 core)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
HDR: HDR10, Dolby Vision
Disc Size: BD-100
Disc Use: 92.75GB total / 84.6GB for the film
Video Bitrate: 80.7 Mb/s
