CAST: Logan Leman, Mila Jovovich, Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Christopher Walz, Orlando Bloom; DIRECTOR: Paul W.S. Anderson; SCREENPLAY: Andrew Davies, Alex Litvak; Based on The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas pere; EDITING: Alexander Berner; PRODUCER: Paul W.S. Anderson, etc.; MUSIC: Paul Haslinger; GENRE: Action-Adventure; DISTRIBUTOR: Constantin Film, Summit Entertainment; LOCATION: France; RUNNING TIME: 110 minutes
Technical Assessment: 2.5
Moral Assessment : 3
Cinema Rating : For viewers 14 years old.
This is another big screen adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas pere’s historical novel of The Three Musketeers with some twists here and there to make the plot more family-oriented. Like the novel, the film version follows D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman) travel to Paris to become of the Musketeers like his father. He is a well-trained fighter but is hot-headed and aggressive often ending up at the end of his opponent’s sword. On his first day in Paris, he manages to almost get killed by the Cardinal’s guards, gets into petty fights with the Athos (Macfadyen), Porthos (Stevenson) and Aramis (Evans) and challenges each to a duel at midday. But when the Cardinal’s guards come to arrest the Musketeers, the 4 come together and defeat all 40 of them. D’Artagnan is invited into the Musketeer’s homes and learns that life has become dull and boring for the 3 since they no longer have a cause to be passionate about. Meanwhile Cardinal Richelieu has taken control over France because King Louis XIII (Fox) is far too immature and inexperienced to lead France seriously. Later, the Musketeers and D’Artagnan find their respective causes when they are tapped by the Queen’s maid-in-waiting to retrieve a diamond necklace from Lord Buckingham (Bloom) to avert the Cardinal’s plan to tarnish the Queen’s reputation and launch a war between France and England.
The story tries to be faithful to the novel and cleverly adds the right twist to make the plot more palatable to the younger audiences. The costumes and set design are outrageously impressive. There was an attempt to update the dialogue but it didn’t really quite have enough wit and bite to be funny and memorable. The characters and their acting feel caricaturist and theatrical. The battle and fight scenes are lame and tedious. There is no excitement either in the choreography or the shots or the over-all direction of the scene. The special effects were done to impress rather than to deliver a point. As a whole, the movie which had enough promise and potential did not really get there and failed to be engaging to its audience.
The good news is the movie has very little disturbing scenes, save for the inevitable swordfights, some crass language and the musketeer’s love for liquor. It briefly talks about honor, valor, friendship and loyalty to the crown but does deliver a clear message. Even the famous “All for one and one for all” battlecry has been lost. Although some might find the role of the Church against the monarchy a bit disturbing, especially since the real-life Cardinal Richelieu did play a controversial role during the time of King Louis XIII, is still presented as fiction and should not be taken any more than a twist in the story. The move has no valuable message to take home but neither does it have any objectionable one. As long as viewers are clear that they are watching fiction, mature teenagers can handle both the material and the treatment but the younger ones should be guided by their parents.
