Sort of like a comic book superhero version of How America Won Its Independence, "Beyond the Mask" features Andrew Cheney as a British assassin named William Reynolds who goes to the colonies to help wage war against the Empire, as a means of demonstrating to his true love (Kara Killmer) that, despite his checkered past, he's really just a decent guy under it all. While in the new world, he becomes a masked figure known as The Highwayman, who rides around at night securing victories for the fledgling rebels while hiding his identity behind a black mask. And, yes, it's every bit as dopey as it sounds. (William Reynolds was, apparently, an actual person but little in his biography matches anything that happens on screen).
A monument to inanity, "Beyond the Mask" lacks even the polish and professionalism of a junior high school civics project. Its portrayal of the personalities and events of the time is laughable at best, with a plot to blow up Philadelphia using Benjamin Franklin's own idea for electricity against him serving as the climactic stupidity. Luckily, Mr. Reynolds, scoundrel that he is, is on hand to thwart the dastardly deed with his heroism and his purity of heart.
And that, dear children, is how the Americans came to win their independence from England.
In more gifted hands, "Beyond the Mask" might have been a fun, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink kind of lark, a harmless little bit of absurd revisionism designed to make history entertaining for the masses. But, sad to say, everything about the movie - from the script to the directing to the acting - is so terrible that there's actually precious little fun to be had.
A monument to inanity, "Beyond the Mask" lacks even the polish and professionalism of a junior high school civics project. Its portrayal of the personalities and events of the time is laughable at best, with a plot to blow up Philadelphia using Benjamin Franklin's own idea for electricity against him serving as the climactic stupidity. Luckily, Mr. Reynolds, scoundrel that he is, is on hand to thwart the dastardly deed with his heroism and his purity of heart.
And that, dear children, is how the Americans came to win their independence from England.
In more gifted hands, "Beyond the Mask" might have been a fun, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink kind of lark, a harmless little bit of absurd revisionism designed to make history entertaining for the masses. But, sad to say, everything about the movie - from the script to the directing to the acting - is so terrible that there's actually precious little fun to be had.