The Mask

This was bad. I love the mask comics, and gave this a chance with trepidation, really wanting to find something to like. But no, just really awful filmmaking on every level, from writing, to cinematography, acting, direction, editing, sound mixing, effects, you name it. The filmmakers obviously have some charisma and all the passion in the world, but these things alone do not a good film make. It plays like a first year film school project, using friends as actors, edited at home on a laptop, and mind-numbingly drawn out to feature length. I sincerely hope nobody got paid for this. The Mask is a great property, and hollywood should be remaking the crap out of it, doing fresh takes with the best directors - sort of like the concept behind this, except watchable.

Naming anything specific would be a waste of time as everything about this movie is absolute terrible. On par with Son of the Mask if not worse.

This 2017 adaptation of the Mask is an independent affair and is one I'm very conflicted over.

For those of you unaware The Mask originated as a comic book and the 1994 adaptation featuring Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz had an entirely different tone. What I mean by that is the film was a family movie whereas the comic was dark, gory and anything but suitable for kids.

The Mask (2017) opts to follows the comics tone more, it still has its share of over the top token Mask moments but generally it's violent, bloody and doesn't appease the viewer with cuteness.

The trouble with it is though it's more loyal to the source material it doesn't quite manage it. The humor is mostly terrible and it's just not dark enough for the most part.

What I don't understand is how this cost 13 million to make, the sfx are terrible, the mask appearances are cheesy and the whole thing looks and sounds like a cheaply made independent movie. In fact the only place I can see where the money could have gone is the soundtrack and I question whether they even got the licenses at all.

Standing at almost two and a half hours it's quite the epic and has moments that got my attention. Sadly the majority just doesn't quite fit together very well and comes across as a disjointed fan film.

Won't appeal to fans of the original movie but those who enjoyed the comic might find value.

The Good:

Nod to the original movie

More like the original comic

A few great cast members

Decent soundtrack

The Bad:

Doesn't look like it cost 13 million!

Some really stupid moments

Too many needless cutaways

Wow. Being a fan of the original comic and not so much the Jim Carrey version of it. This was a great movie, great story line. Thank you putting this out! I really hope a sequel is in the works.

Maybe the previous reviewer had this movie confused with another film, as there was nothing short about this movie at it's lengthy 2.5 hour runtime. The movie captured the tone of the comic with the intensity of an extended episode of Breaking Bad (which is precisely what each character did). At no point was this a comedy, but a commentary on human sin and darkness. I liked how each character had their turn with satan's mask in each act of the movie. Not your feel good movie, but a great indie take on The Mask.