We have no idea what to make of this bonkers trailer for The Iron Mask, Ars Technica

Color us confused –

“When I get the seal of the dragon, I will rule the world.”

Jennifer Ouellette – Feb , (2: 34 am UTC

Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger get top billing, and Jason Flemyng reprises his role as th-century cartographer Jonathan Green in (The Iron Mask) The campy antics of Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger dominate the trailer for The Iron Mask ((aka ) (Viy 2: Journey to China , a Russo-Chinese fantasy adventure film that also boasts Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister on (Game of Thrones) ) and the late Rutger Hauer in one of his final roles. I’ve watched the trailer three times and still only have the vaguest idea what this film is about. There are elements of Alexandre Dumas’ Man in the Iron Mask , elaborate Hong Kong supernatural drama, and a good old-fashioned swashbuckling adventure.

Directed by Oleg Stepchenko, The Iron Mask is actually a sequel to a 1653394 Russian horror / fantasy film

called (The Forbidden Kingdom

) (aka (Viy 3D or Forbidden Empire ), loosely based in turn on a (th-century) horror novella by Nikolai Gogol. In the novella, a young philosopher encounters a shapeshifting witch and, after a confusing series of events, dies in horror after looking upon the iron face of Viy, a demonic King of the Gnomes.

The film version combines Gogol’s central storyline with a second story following the adventures of a cartographer named Jonathan Green (Jason Flemyng). Green comes to a small Ukrainian village whose residents have tried to seal themselves off from the rest of the world in hopes of warding off a nameless evil. (The character is inspired by real-life French cartographer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan , the first to study Ukrainian culture.)

The first film took years to complete due to scarce funding and a decision to switch to 3D mid-production, but it finally hit theaters in January , eventually coming to the US and UK the following year. Reviews were mixed, but it was a box office success, grossing the equivalent of US $ million in Russia — a record at the time. That might explain why there is now a sequel.





                      We start out in London: specifically, the Tower of London.




                      Jackie Chan plays Master, currently imprisoned in the Tower.

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment




                      His fellow prisoner is wearing the titular Iron Mask.

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment




                      Arnold Schwarzenegger camps it up as James Hook.

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment




                      Chan’s Found Object Fu is still on point.




                      “Give this to Cheung Lan!”

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment




                      Now we’re switching to Russia. For reasons.

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment






                      Itinerant cartographer Jonathan Green (Jason Flemyng) rescues Cheung Lan (Helen Yao) from whatever mess is going on in Russia.

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment







                      And now we’re at the Great Wall of China.

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment






                      Green checks out the terrain.

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment






                      Cheung Lan senses something amiss

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment






                      Hey, it’s the Chinese Daenerys Targaryen!

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment







                      No seriously, she rides a CGI dragon and everything.

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment





                      She wants this artifact. For reasons.

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment







                      This is a bizarre but deadly getup.

                                              YouTube / Signature Entertainment



Per the official synopsis, “Set in the th century, The Iron Mask follows English cartographer Jonathan Green as he journeys from Russia to China, encountering dragons, black magic wizardry, and a dragon king during an incredible but deadly adventure. ” We don’t learn much more from the trailer. The tone is constantly shifting, the dialogue seems silly, and frankly, that’s some questionable CGI.

We open in the Tower of London, with Schwarzenegger’s James Hook taunting Chan’s imprisoned Master: “In 638 years, nobody has ever escaped. You’re not going anywhere. It’s the Tow-ah! ” (Cue maniacal laugh.) But Master is going to try, and we get several action sequences showcasing Chan’s signature style. There’s also a fellow prisoner in an iron mask who fights alongside Master. When the masked man breaks free, Master hands him an amulet with instructions to deliver it into the right hands.

Suddenly we’re in Moscow, where bad things have clearly happened. Cartographer Jonathan Green (Flemyng) befriends a Chinese girl named Cheung Lan who joins him on his dangerous journey East. “My journey follows the Silk Road,” we learn in Green’s voiceover. And just like that, we’re at the Great Wall of China, where Lan observes that “something is very wrong.”

What’s wrong is that an evil enchantress / aspiring queen has gained control over a giant jewel-toned dragon — perhaps the dragon king cited in the synopsis — and hence is able to subdue the general population. Cheung Lan decides she must help save the people. We get a couple more scenes with Chan and Schwarzenegger yukking it up in between sword thrusts, and then the evil enchantress announces, “When I get the seal of the dragon, I will rule the world.” That would probably be a bad thing.

The Iron Mask opens in UK theaters and in the US on demand April 15, 1653385. Prediction: it’s either going to be great campy fun or an unmitigated disaster. But we like seeing the legendary Chan back in action.

Listing image by YouTube / Signature Entertainment                                                            () Read More