Jason KingThe Three Musketeers: A Review
October 19th 2011 19:05
:
Review by Mitch Lewis
Category: Reviews
The Three Musketeers didn't exactly fill me with the greatest of confidence going in to this movie. In my opinion, the theatrical trailer looked very "blockbuster-by-numbers" and with Milla Jovovich in a movie directed again by her husband, Paul W.S Anderson, who also directs her in the Resident Evil films, I figured I'd have a 3 or 4/10 review score in my head at the ready and just let the movie wash over me until the lights came back on.
Cut to me eating my words because The Three Musketeers was bloody awesome!
Before you do anything though and before you think you can pass judgement on this film just by watching the trailer, be aware that, having watched the trailer just before watching the film, I realised how much of an injustice the trailer actually does to the movie. I'm not saying Musketeers is a masterpiece by any means but it is far, far more entertaining than the marketing had led me to believe.
The Three Musketeers is a modern interpretation of the classic swashbuckling tale that has transcended throughout the decades and has been brought to life in more ways than you can poke a sword at. Filmed on location in beautiful Germany and shot in 3D, this Three Musketeers tale stars Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief) as D'Artagnan, Matthew Macfadyen (Death at a Funeral), Luke Evans (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) and Ray Stevenson (Thor) as the titular musketeer trio Athos, Aramis and Porthos respectively. Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) also appears as the villainous Rochefort, Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) stars as the femme fatale Milady, Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Carribean) as the Duke of Buckingham and Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) as Cardinal Richelieu.
Quite a mixed bag of a cast, yes, nevertheless, this Three Musketeers tale follows the young and cocky small town boy, D'Artagnan as he leaves his poor mother and ex-Musketeer father for bigger and better adventures in Paris. After immediately making his presence known to the townsfolk, the three musketeers and the young and childish King Louis XIII (Freddie Fox), he promptly finds himself teaming up with the, now down-trodden three musketeers, to maintain peace and harmony between France and England as the dastardly Cardinal Richelieu and the fierce double-agent Milady, vie to sneakily engage both country's in a war with one another behind both Kings backs.
First thing's first, the story is not fantastic, it's not even great, it's just good enough. It is undeniably paper thin yet despite this, there are times where it tries to get complex and attempts to deliver too much at one time, which in turn, makes it weaker. However, if you're clever, you won't come and see this movie for the story, you'll come and see it because it looks fun to watch.
Honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and the whole time I remained completely aware that it was just a pretty piece of cinematic fluff, it is possible to do both, it's called suspension of disbelief. It is very much a surface film, in that it doesn't get deep at all with it's development and try to flesh out every character on screen nor does it try to win you over with emotionally involved story telling, which, to many people, is the basis for all movies... This is, simply put, an entertaining costume adventure flick with a bunch of cool action scenes, crazy costumes and stunning visuals, peppered with humour and special effects. It really is as shallow as they come but for some strange reason, I can't act like it didn't work for me.
Let's be fair, if the studios were fair dinkum about having a gritty, intelligent and credible Three Musketeers reinterpretation, they wouldn't have let Paul W.S Anderson within 100 feet of it. The unique writing collaboration of Predators' Alex Litvak and Bridget Jones' Diary's Andrew Davies shows that they find a common ground between their romantic, comedic, adventurous and action backgrounds but also proves how crucial casting is when it comes to having actors who can successfully deliver their dialogue without the dialect and period-accurate (and I use that term loosely) terminology, tripping them up and hindering their performances.
Milla Jovovich was the weakest link here. There were several scenes where she just barely managed to have the words fall out of her mouth, luckily these scenes didn't call for her to necessarily act at the same time otherwise it would have been disastrous. As much as I love the Jovovich, I do believe she is here purely as a favour from her hubby.
Orlando Bloom also seems like such an odd casting choice for me here too. His character, the Duke of Buckingham, is such an oddly written character. He's villainous without being a main or even directly threatening villain and serves more as a comic relief with Bloom taking ham to crazy new levels. That being said, it's good to see Orlando flexing his funny bone and to his credit, a lot of his comic banter, which is shared with Freddie Fox's King Louis, earned some solid laughs.
Juno Temple appears as the doll-faced Queen of France and her right-hand lady Constance, played by the phenomenally stunning British actress Gabriella Wilde, are on hand as the love interests of King Louis and D'Artagnan respectively, both of which, unfortunately, share absolutely no chemistry what so ever and just come off as bland and soulless. Although, I believe that's the very point of the King and Queens relationship.
Everybody's favourite Jew hunter Christoph Waltz brings to life a solid Cardinal Richelieu. It's crystal clear this guy is at home playing the villain and will no doubt be playing them for the rest of his Hollywood career. As with Mads Mikkelsen, although he has played both villain and hero in various Hollywood films and smaller Indie films from his homeland, ever since his triumphant appearance as Le Chiffre in 2006's Casino Royale, his career as a dependable bad guy has greatly solidified. His character Rochefort isn't always present though which makes it frustrating trying to figure out how important a villain he is to the story line.
When you watch the film, this doesn't immediately seem apparent but afterwards, when you think about it, The Three Musketeers themselves don't seem to be the main focus in their own flick. I don't quite know how to explain it but because there is so much going on, you kind of find that their story line is the most flat. Macfadyen, Evans and Stevenson are an enjoyable trio of troublemakers and do exude an onscreen camaraderie that would be sacrilegious if it were absent but if the writers had gradually faded them out as the movie played out, I probably wouldn't have batted an eye.
Logan Lerman was the surprise here. Yeah, he's got a weird name and the it boy features that Hollywood suits open their wallets for and tweens will gawk at but unlike the Lautner's and the Pattinson's who just flash some flesh or snarl at the camera to sell tickets, this kid's believable acting chops seemed to be able to carry this movie just fine. He's been around the block, acting in more movies than you probably care to realise, a lot of which you're likely to have in your DVD collection and I've got to admit, this guy is the star of this movie for a reason, he just owns it. Like Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Lerman pulls off the cocky lead hero without becoming an unlikeable douchebag and his final duel atop the Notre Dame Cathedral is a stand out scene.
However, this movie does not belong to the actors, it belongs very much to the creative, artistic and choreography crew. When I mentioned before that this movie was a visually stunning surface film, this is what I meant. The movie is a pleasure to look at, from the bold and striking costumes to the elaborately glamourous locations to the entertaining and fantastically executed swordplay scenes and the entire airship sequence... even the 3D fly throughs of the CGI maps is brief but cool. A lot of people will cry blasphemy at the use of the "matrix-style" fighting technique in a Three Musketeers movie but it's the 21st century, if this movie were a total traditional period piece, the target audience, Pirates of the Caribbean fans, would turn their noses up at it.
I don't expect this movie to do big things because people will be quick to shut it down based on the same reasons I initially did. I hadn't seen enough promo's, didn't know enough about it, the directors name is synonymous with cheap video game movies like Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat and Alien Vs. Predator and The Three Musketeers being an old French story, I feared it would be one of those movies that narrowly avoided the straight-to-DVD path by a hair merely because of it's star power... I was wrong.
The Three Musketeers is pure fun! Despite it's hit-and-miss performances and mixed cast, it showcases spectacular fight scenes, epic action sequences and great humour, so unplug that socket in your brain that's labelled cynical and if you have nothing better to do, go and watch The Three Musketeers in 3D, it's great if you don't want to think and just want to be entertained for 100 minutes.
The Three Musketeers 3D is in cinemas Thursday, October 20 and is better than you think... 7/10
Cut to me eating my words because The Three Musketeers was bloody awesome!
Before you do anything though and before you think you can pass judgement on this film just by watching the trailer, be aware that, having watched the trailer just before watching the film, I realised how much of an injustice the trailer actually does to the movie. I'm not saying Musketeers is a masterpiece by any means but it is far, far more entertaining than the marketing had led me to believe.
The Three Musketeers is a modern interpretation of the classic swashbuckling tale that has transcended throughout the decades and has been brought to life in more ways than you can poke a sword at. Filmed on location in beautiful Germany and shot in 3D, this Three Musketeers tale stars Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief) as D'Artagnan, Matthew Macfadyen (Death at a Funeral), Luke Evans (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) and Ray Stevenson (Thor) as the titular musketeer trio Athos, Aramis and Porthos respectively. Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) also appears as the villainous Rochefort, Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) stars as the femme fatale Milady, Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Carribean) as the Duke of Buckingham and Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) as Cardinal Richelieu.
Quite a mixed bag of a cast, yes, nevertheless, this Three Musketeers tale follows the young and cocky small town boy, D'Artagnan as he leaves his poor mother and ex-Musketeer father for bigger and better adventures in Paris. After immediately making his presence known to the townsfolk, the three musketeers and the young and childish King Louis XIII (Freddie Fox), he promptly finds himself teaming up with the, now down-trodden three musketeers, to maintain peace and harmony between France and England as the dastardly Cardinal Richelieu and the fierce double-agent Milady, vie to sneakily engage both country's in a war with one another behind both Kings backs.
First thing's first, the story is not fantastic, it's not even great, it's just good enough. It is undeniably paper thin yet despite this, there are times where it tries to get complex and attempts to deliver too much at one time, which in turn, makes it weaker. However, if you're clever, you won't come and see this movie for the story, you'll come and see it because it looks fun to watch.
Honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and the whole time I remained completely aware that it was just a pretty piece of cinematic fluff, it is possible to do both, it's called suspension of disbelief. It is very much a surface film, in that it doesn't get deep at all with it's development and try to flesh out every character on screen nor does it try to win you over with emotionally involved story telling, which, to many people, is the basis for all movies... This is, simply put, an entertaining costume adventure flick with a bunch of cool action scenes, crazy costumes and stunning visuals, peppered with humour and special effects. It really is as shallow as they come but for some strange reason, I can't act like it didn't work for me.
Let's be fair, if the studios were fair dinkum about having a gritty, intelligent and credible Three Musketeers reinterpretation, they wouldn't have let Paul W.S Anderson within 100 feet of it. The unique writing collaboration of Predators' Alex Litvak and Bridget Jones' Diary's Andrew Davies shows that they find a common ground between their romantic, comedic, adventurous and action backgrounds but also proves how crucial casting is when it comes to having actors who can successfully deliver their dialogue without the dialect and period-accurate (and I use that term loosely) terminology, tripping them up and hindering their performances.
Milla Jovovich was the weakest link here. There were several scenes where she just barely managed to have the words fall out of her mouth, luckily these scenes didn't call for her to necessarily act at the same time otherwise it would have been disastrous. As much as I love the Jovovich, I do believe she is here purely as a favour from her hubby.
Orlando Bloom also seems like such an odd casting choice for me here too. His character, the Duke of Buckingham, is such an oddly written character. He's villainous without being a main or even directly threatening villain and serves more as a comic relief with Bloom taking ham to crazy new levels. That being said, it's good to see Orlando flexing his funny bone and to his credit, a lot of his comic banter, which is shared with Freddie Fox's King Louis, earned some solid laughs.
Juno Temple appears as the doll-faced Queen of France and her right-hand lady Constance, played by the phenomenally stunning British actress Gabriella Wilde, are on hand as the love interests of King Louis and D'Artagnan respectively, both of which, unfortunately, share absolutely no chemistry what so ever and just come off as bland and soulless. Although, I believe that's the very point of the King and Queens relationship.
Everybody's favourite Jew hunter Christoph Waltz brings to life a solid Cardinal Richelieu. It's crystal clear this guy is at home playing the villain and will no doubt be playing them for the rest of his Hollywood career. As with Mads Mikkelsen, although he has played both villain and hero in various Hollywood films and smaller Indie films from his homeland, ever since his triumphant appearance as Le Chiffre in 2006's Casino Royale, his career as a dependable bad guy has greatly solidified. His character Rochefort isn't always present though which makes it frustrating trying to figure out how important a villain he is to the story line.
When you watch the film, this doesn't immediately seem apparent but afterwards, when you think about it, The Three Musketeers themselves don't seem to be the main focus in their own flick. I don't quite know how to explain it but because there is so much going on, you kind of find that their story line is the most flat. Macfadyen, Evans and Stevenson are an enjoyable trio of troublemakers and do exude an onscreen camaraderie that would be sacrilegious if it were absent but if the writers had gradually faded them out as the movie played out, I probably wouldn't have batted an eye.
Logan Lerman was the surprise here. Yeah, he's got a weird name and the it boy features that Hollywood suits open their wallets for and tweens will gawk at but unlike the Lautner's and the Pattinson's who just flash some flesh or snarl at the camera to sell tickets, this kid's believable acting chops seemed to be able to carry this movie just fine. He's been around the block, acting in more movies than you probably care to realise, a lot of which you're likely to have in your DVD collection and I've got to admit, this guy is the star of this movie for a reason, he just owns it. Like Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Lerman pulls off the cocky lead hero without becoming an unlikeable douchebag and his final duel atop the Notre Dame Cathedral is a stand out scene.
However, this movie does not belong to the actors, it belongs very much to the creative, artistic and choreography crew. When I mentioned before that this movie was a visually stunning surface film, this is what I meant. The movie is a pleasure to look at, from the bold and striking costumes to the elaborately glamourous locations to the entertaining and fantastically executed swordplay scenes and the entire airship sequence... even the 3D fly throughs of the CGI maps is brief but cool. A lot of people will cry blasphemy at the use of the "matrix-style" fighting technique in a Three Musketeers movie but it's the 21st century, if this movie were a total traditional period piece, the target audience, Pirates of the Caribbean fans, would turn their noses up at it.
I don't expect this movie to do big things because people will be quick to shut it down based on the same reasons I initially did. I hadn't seen enough promo's, didn't know enough about it, the directors name is synonymous with cheap video game movies like Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat and Alien Vs. Predator and The Three Musketeers being an old French story, I feared it would be one of those movies that narrowly avoided the straight-to-DVD path by a hair merely because of it's star power... I was wrong.
The Three Musketeers is pure fun! Despite it's hit-and-miss performances and mixed cast, it showcases spectacular fight scenes, epic action sequences and great humour, so unplug that socket in your brain that's labelled cynical and if you have nothing better to do, go and watch The Three Musketeers in 3D, it's great if you don't want to think and just want to be entertained for 100 minutes.
The Three Musketeers 3D is in cinemas Thursday, October 20 and is better than you think... 7/10
| 31 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by AmyHuang
Project Job Search
Travel Debate
Travel String
Love Adventures
Thanks for the review. My first thoughts were "another film on the three musketeers??"
I'll put that on the list.
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness