I don’t think I’m saying anything controversial when I proclaim most Americans don’t have much of a grasp of either history or literature, which is why Oleg Stepchenko’s Iron Mask bothers me a bit.

Seemingly cribbed from Alexandre Dumas’ The Man in the Iron Mask, it goes to places that the original novel likely never considered going, which is okay EXCEPT despite having had at least five feature film adaptations most people are likely unaware of Dumas, never mind that he wrote not only The Man in the Iron Mask, but The Three Musketeers (another movie that has been adapted more than a few times..

And that really bothers me because this movie apparently takes Dumas’ Iron Mask and mixes in Asian sorcerers And dragons!

On the face of it this makes no sense at all until you take into account that it stars not only Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Jackie Chan AND Jason Flemyng!

Nothing about this movie makes any sense though it does remind me of The Great Wall (2016), another movie made in China featuring an American box office draw (Matt Damon).

Though to be fair it looks so weird that it might be a really good time at the theater (which I have no intention of going to this year, at the very least), which is something.