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Since I have never read the classic novel, The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, there is somewhat of an advantage to the movie and my review of it. I won’t be able to compare and contrast the movie The Musketeer to the novel. From what I have heard it is a good thing I don’t know how far off the director Peter Hyams (End of Days) and writer Gene Quintano are from the original premise of the novel. What we have in Hollywood’s latest version is skillfully choreographed fight scenes and plenty of them. Never mind the plot and never mind the junior high level of acting, the action is all this movie needs. If you are viewing this film I can bet you didn’t go for the drama or possible love story you went to see someone 18th century kickass sword combat fight scenes. That is what I went for. What I did notice is the lack of Musketeers though. I always thought there were three, Athos, Porthos and Aramis and then a D’Artagnan joined them to serve the king, but in this version there are two, Aramis and Porthos then D’Artagnan (Justin Chambers, The Wedding Planner) seeks out the Musketeers, to join their ranks just as his father had done. So without even reading the novel I can see it already strays from the novel. The film begins in 18th century France with a lame man and his young son fencing. He longs to be a Musketeer just like his father. They break for lunch and while dining at the outside table with the boy’s mother (old mans wife) a group of men ride up on horseback. They are collecting taxes for the Catholic Church. The lame man refuses because he has paid his taxes to the king. The leader Febre (Tim Roth, Planet of the Apes) an evil unremorseful man in black smacks the boy and kicks him to the ground, the man gets up and it struck dead with Febre’s sword. Then the woman is slashed and falls dead. The boy who is a young D’Artaganan picks up his sword and slashes Febre’s eye. The boy is knocked down and the group rides off. A former Musketeer and friend of D’Artagnan’s father returns and takes the boy and promises to train him to be a Musketeer. The movie then cuts to 14 years later and the two are on their way to Paris to have D’Artagnan join the Musketeers. Once in Paris they learn it is not a good time to be a Musketeer. The Cardinal Richelieu (Stephen Rea, The End of the Affair) has convinced the King that his men led by Febre can serve the kingdom better and keep France out of war with England and Spain. Richelieu in reality is planning to bring France at odds with Spain and England as to have a shift in power to the church so that he can take over the reign of France. Also in this film is Catherine Deneuve as the Queen of France. She provides wonderful comic relief and the only real acting observed in this movie. The love interest of D’Artagnan is Mena Suvari (American Beauty) as Francessa. Without the great fight scenes and explosions, this film would not have been much of anything. The idea of revenge is one of the oldest storylines and always works. I give The Musketeer a six on the About-Movies.com scale. All for one and one for all.Adieu.
Last updated: Saturday, October 28, 2006 05:37:38 PM Click Here to get back into frames.
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