The 30 day Movie Challenge - Day 13

[aragarna]

Day 13 - A movie that you used to love and now hate.

Well, I think "love" and "hate" are a little strong, but I guess The Man in the Iron Mask fits the bill. Let's say that for a couple years after the movie came out, I was able to wave off how terrible the plot was, what a treason it was to the original material, and how out of characters were, well, all the characters. Why, you wonder? Because I was 13 and it came out at a time when I was in the middle of my musketeer phase, and I had a big crush on d'Artagnan. And let' face it, even with a wig, Gabriel Byrne looked damn good as the head of the musketeers. And the rest of the cast was pretty awesome too. John Malkovich, Jeremy Irons, Gérard Depardieu, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anne Parillaud... The one thing the movie had right was the casting. And the costumes (well, not exactly historically right, but the musketeer uniforms looked classy enough).

Of course, now, I can see the movie for what it is. One of those terrible "Hollywood butchers European masterpieces" flicks. Though, to be fair, it's light years better than that horrible terrible thing (The Three Musketeers, 2007) with Logan Lerman and Orlando Bloom. And a blimp. A blimp!

Comments

[elrhiarhodan]

I remember that! I think the only reason I went to see it was because of Gabriel Byrne. I know that it wasn't because of Leonardo (who was the hottest thing since sliced bread at the time).

Actually, the only Dumas movies that was worse was than that the remake of The Count of Monte Cristo with Jim Caveziel and Guy Pearce.

Oh, wait - no, you're right - the 2007 version of the Three Musketeers was worse.

A BLIMP? A BLIMP!

Oy vey.

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Oh Jim Caviezel and Gy Pearce... *pounders if that'd be worth it just for the eye candy*

No, really I'd rather deny that this 2007 exists. Or that I even watched it.

Also, The Disney version (with Chris O Donnell and Jack Bauer) was fair enough until... about half way through. It was like the writers had only read about 1/3 of the book, and from there they were like "fuck it, I'm gonna make my own story".

[elrhiarhodan]

Have you ever seen the version of Man in the Iron Mas with Richard Chamberlin and his version of Count of Monte Cristo. Both were made for television, but are really true to the books.

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

No I haven't. Maybe one day I will, but I've just grown really sceptical of any adaptation of my childhood favorite stories.

[leesa_perrie]

I managed to miss that movie somehow. Maybe not a bad thing!! I can't really think of a movie that fits this theme. There probably is one, but my brain went down earlier and doesn't want to boot back up!!

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

Yes, that one was hard to answer. I can change opinion a little, admit a movie is not as good as I remember, but really going from one extreme to another?

[riverotter1951.livejournal.com]

Interesting comments especially about taste changes as one grows older. I remember movies that I enjoyed once and now cringe at the thought of watching. For me, the Musketeers movies that came out in 1973 were the best with Michael York, Richard Chamberlain, Raquel Welch and Oliver Reed with Charlton Heston as the Cardinal.

[aragarna.livejournal.com]

I think I mostly just educated myself and became more critical about what a good movie is. You can't just throw a pretty boy at me and put a cool feather hat on his head to make me happy. So something that I found entertaining as a kid, I might find it ridiculous or full of plotholes as an adult.