Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, and a big-ass dragon star in the wacky trailer for The Iron Mask
Aux Features Film
As far as we can tell, and based on this trailer, The Iron Mask has nothing to do with that Leonardo DiCaprio movie from the ’90s. It is, however, the kind of movie that has something for everyone—and a whole lot of it. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a mustachioed bad guy of vague European descent (Russia…?). Jackie Chan has long, glorious silver hair and ridicules Schwarzenegger, who yells things like “IT’S THE TOWAH!” and we’re supposed to understand that this tower is very important. Also Jason Flemyng is there, and he’s a cartographer, or so the official synopsis tells us. Charles Dance is involved because this is a movie that checks all his boxes: period, British, wacky fantasy with dragons and shit, and Schwarzenegger. (Wait. Is this actually one of the movies from Last Action Hero?)
What else… Oh, and the late Rutger Hauer is in this, which makes it slightly more imperative. To be fair, what’s not imperative about a high-fantasy action film set in the 18th century in Russia and China and starring both Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger and also “black magic wizardry and a dragon king”? Unfortunately, there does not yet appear to be a U.S. release date for this masterpiece, but it will hit U.K. cinemas and digital platforms on April 10. Here, enjoy this synopsis:
The Iron Mask sees action legends Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger team up in a high concept fantasy historical epic featuring breath-taking fights and stunning visuals. Set in the 18th century, The Iron Mask follows
English traveller Jonathan Green as he journeys from Russia to China encountering dragons, black magic wizardry and a dragon king during an incredible but deadly adventure. The action adventure also stars Charles Dance, Jason Flemyng and Rutger Hauer.
75 Comments
Whatever this is, it looks terrible.
Well this looks both stupid AND fun!
It definitely won’t be a good movie, but it looks like it could be entertaining. Though the really sudden tonal shifts this trailer goes through three or four times doesn’t bode well for it being a very smooth ride.
oh boy, another terrible chinese made action film with a handful of big names lured for glorified cameo’s to give it a veneer of respectability. best case this isn’t naked propaganda.
Have you heard how awesome China is? They’re the greatest!
both matt damon and arnold schwarzenegger want to be in their movies because they are so artistically excellent!
it sucks that so many chinese blockbusters are naked propaganda.anyway, i can’t wait to see captain marvel 2, an apolitical film
Hey, there’s a difference between corporate propaganda and government propaganda! …apparently.
Well, I’d say there is a difference in a film trying to say that women can stick up for themselves and have agency and a film urging conformity and trust in a totalitarian system, but YMMV.
Yeah, I agree, I was mostly being silly. Corporate propaganda isn’t great but there’s still a pretty big gulf between Disney trying to get people to like what it does, and the government threatening to use force against you if they don’t like what your movie says.
yeah, i was referring to the open military propaganda in C. Marv, not the fairly weak nods toward corporate feminism
I’m hoping now that we won’t have the whole “Yay, Air Force!” motif since she is presumably in space and flying under her own power.
If only they didn’t work with the military to do it thereby undercutting the other stuff.
Captain Marvel was a propaganda film for the USAF. Not quite as nakedly as Top Gun for example, but it was definitely in there.
Was it? I don’t remember the movie saying how great the USAF was. One of the major plot elements, after all, was how the USAF covered up this weird secret project and wouldn’t tell Maria what had happened to Carol.
There were also the scenes of Carol stroking the nosecone of her fighter and her and Maria as bad bitch test pilots who were doing something important. Some of the same stuff is in the original Iron Man as well.
Yeah, I mean, the movie doesn’t portray the USAF as a bunch of moustache-twirling villains, but I don’t think “doesn’t show a group as pure evil” is the same as “propaganda by that group.”
It did coincide with a huge marketing push by the USAF to recruit female pilots. As long as the movies make the planes and uniforms (Capt. Marvel’s costume is explicitly based on the USAF’s colors in the movie, if I remember correctly) look cool, I think the USAF considers it as good as commercials.
As much as I dislike commerical advertising, I don’t equate it with propaganda. Even if the movie makes the USAF seem appealing (and I don’t really think it particularly does so; it’s just kind of there), it’s not propaganda.
How about the USAF lending Marvel and Marvel producing actual propaganda for that group?
How about it? Does that make Captain Marvel itself propaganda? No.
That’s literally what makes it propaganda. It was part funded and cleared by the USAF and the military have a huge amount of leverage in what’s acceptable in the films. This was all covered at the time of the films release and the fact the Pentagon have script approval on any movie that uses their hardware is well documented.
But if the resulting product doesn’t make the USAF look especially good (and it doesn’t) then it doesn’t matter of the Pentagon approved of it. Propaganda is intended to make the thing look good (usually by being emotionally manipulative or lying about facts), and whatever they thought was happening in this movie, nothing about it leaves you with the feeling that the USAF is super great.
You really think lots of kids didn’t see the movie and want to join the USAF? Sure it didn’t work on everyone but it definitely made flying jet fighters look cool as hell. And besides you say yourself it’s about intent which is exactly what was the USAF and Pentagon intended hence them allowing the bases to be used and ramp up in recruitment adverts. Top Gun has pilots die, has asshole commanders too but it’s still absolutely propaganda, same or Capt Marvel.
I have no data on how USAF recruitment changed after Captain Marvel came out, but it hardly compares to Top Gun. CM barely spends any of its runtime with the USAF, much less with anyone doing anything cool like flying jets.If it’s propaganda, it’s weak-ass. It’s about as effective as me going out into the street and shouting how great the USAF is.
To be pedantic, Top Gun would be Navy propaganda, but I get your point. See also: the first few Transformers movies.
i’ve already seen it it makes Dragon Blade look like My Darling Clementine and Dragon Blade, i’ll watch anytime johm cusak as a roman generalnuff said
Maybe we will get lucky and it will be a good Chinese made action film that is naked propaganda like Wolf Warrior 2? note: I do not think there is any chance this will be as good as Wolf Warrior 2, but I can ignore the propaganda if its a decent action movie. Being raised on 80s American action movies I got used to jingoism or odious politics alongside the action.
i’d also say it came out in china last year but despite having schwarzenegger in it and looking like catnip for this exact sort of site, it doesn’t seem to have made any sort of splash
I would watch the heck out of Schwarzenegger in Splash…
Allen: What is your name?
Madison: It’s hawd to say ehn English.
Allen: Then just say it in your language.
Madison: Owl right. My name is… [makes high-pitched squeals that shatter all the television screens]
Allen: [nervously to the clerks] So, how about those Knicks?
Money is money
At least this movie has dragons. The Matt Damon one only had pointless CGI nothings.
Yeah, my first question was going to be “How much money did Hollywood take from the Chinese government to do this?”Jackie Chan is a huge Party fan. Not big on all of those pesky humn rights protestors.
Open weekend box officeUS Box office – $3.25
Chinese Box Office – ALL THE MONEY
This looks absolutely hilarious, Ahnold’s mustache sold me.
What it has going for me is that most of these bad movies made for Chinese audiences tend to be family friendly, this one also is dubbed in English(which is good for younger family members still working on reading). For a family that does a weekly family movie night, there are only so many new movies and/or family classics you can watch so sometimes you get a filler week.
If nothing else your family can MST3k the HELL out of this one from your couch;)
It shouldn’t be hard to escape from the towah. You just need to get to the choppa.
You need to go with him if you want to live.KILLIAN! I’ll be back!
I feel like a comedian must have already done an extended bit about a conversation between Ahnuld and Jackie at some point.
Fuck that.
…and now the coronavirus is the second-worst thing to come out of China in 2020.
It cleary looks that Arnold and Jacky only shows up in that escape sequence so don’t count me in this time.
I watched the trailer and I still have no idea what just happened.Also, I admire the trailers guts to focus so much on Jackie and Arnold there considering that seems that all their footage is from the same opening scene.
I noticed that as well. There may have been one scene that showed Jackie in a different location but that’s all I saw.
The problem is that it’s the only fun part of the trailer. The rest all looks generic, solemn, tedious hero’s journey shit.
From what I can parse from the trailer, my bet is the Jackie and Arnold scenes are more of a framing device of the story and that the majority of the movie is that bad looking silk road dragon crap. They probably had one day to film with both of them, wrote a scene that was cheap with what they had and then crafted an entire movie to insert into it
The action adventure also stars Charles Dance, Jason Flemyng and Rutger Hauer.Well, thankfully looking at his IMDB, this isn’t the last one for him.
Jackie and Arnie just didn’t learn their lesson from last time, did they?
I don’t think 80 Days is that bad. It’s not deep, but it’s a lot of fun and a great way to introduce Jackie Chan to little kids who can’t read subtitles. On the pantheon of US Jackie films, I’d put it below Shanghai Noon/Knights and Rush Hour 1, but ahead of the all the rest.
Why is the Rocketeer there?
What the hell is this nonsense.
As far as we can tell, and based on this trailer, The Iron Mask has nothing to do with that Leonardo DiCaprio movie from the ’90s.
I assume this is intended to be a joke, akin to saying a (hypothetical) move called The Scarlet Letter has nothing to do with that Demi Moore movie from the ‘90s.
Coming soon to an episode of How Did This Get Made.
It has been out for awhile under the name Journey to China: They Mystery of the Iron Mask.IMDB reviews are confirming that it’s a big pile of steaming garbage.
I sure didnt need IMDb or a trailer to confirm this. Now if Seagal showed up, I’m in.
Thanks! Downloading the torrent right now.
Same. I just need that one scene.
This looks BAD. Also, it LOOKS bad.
THAT IS SOME…NOT GOOD CGI WORK.
Arnold vs. Jackie Chan is amazing and wonderful and I want it all.But from this trailer, given that all the scenes with the two of them have the same background, it makes me feel like they’ll be in one 20-minute scene then disappear for the rest of the movie.Either give me medieval Arnold vs. feudal Jackie for the whole film or don’t even bother.
Yeah my bet is they are the framing devices, probably had a day with both of them and got what they could and then crafted a two hour movie around it
Looks like two separate movies.
Framing device with marketable actors: The Movie!!
*Coughs in Chinese*
What are “movies I wanted to see in 1995 or 1996” alex.
Ffrom the producers of Kill Bill. Nice try ass holes.
Jason Flemyng needs to lose some weight
I’m sure it’s just the one scene, but I will be torrenting this on April 11 just for that scene.
Now I kinda want Arnold to do a sequel to The Villain and Chan taking over the role Kirk Douglas played.
I know Jackie Chan said “Helmet? This is an incense pot!” but I heard “Instant Pot.”
Me too, plus that joke feels very much like a joke written by Chinese censors. I am sure the original joke was that it was a chamber pot, which would actually qualify as maybe funny.
I’m genuinely confused by this, it looks like two different movies. How are Chan and Arnold connected to the dragon and China adventure? I watched The Great Wall, and genuinely felt bad for Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal. Willem Dafoe seems at home in anything though…
…and now the coronavirus is the second-worst thing to come out of China in 2020.
Watched this trailer off first with the sound off. Now regretting watching it with the sound on.