The Three Musketeers ***
Author Alexandre Dumas‘s classic novel The Three Musketeers has been done to death, time and time again. None so like this swashbuckling silliness that’s child-friendly and borrows heavily from Gulliver’s Travels and the success of the Pirates franchise.
Paul W.S. Anderson’s film centres on young hothead D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman) – as well as lots of gadgets – who comes to Paris to become a Musketeer and encounters with his soon-to-be friends and fellow Musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. The Musketeers unite to defeat a beautiful double agent, Milady de Winter (Milla Jovovich), and her villainous employer from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war.
There is no denying how inventive director Anderson and co have been here, as well as injected a lot of harmless fun into the story. The 2011 version has a lot less clashing of swords and far more amazing flying machines – Anderson admitted to his and the production team’s fascination with Germanic contraptions of centuries past at the London press conference. It’s still a shame, though, as the Musketeering quad of Matthew Macfadyen (Athos), Ray Stevenson (Porthos), Lerman (D’Artagnan) and Luke Evans (Aramis) makes for a fine group of hearty personalities with some comical banter that gets a little overshadowed by all the gadgets on show – all in order to keep the youngsters engaged, presumably.
It’s also very much a ‘Jovovich show’ – she’s married to Anderson who made her a star in Resident Evil. As the female villain of the piece, Jovovich fares better at being devilish than her male counterparts, but her Matrix slow-mo copycat moves and sporadic catwalk posing and TV make-up ad close-ups tire easily. Anderson appears to be steering Jovovich’s career in a different comedy direction – or getting his missus involved in films that they and their kids can sit down together and watch.
Typecast as a baddie since he burst onto the international scene as Col. Hans Landa in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Christoph Waltz does his best, bored villainous piece as the cunning Richelieu and is always a pleasure to watch. It’s the other dastardly men in this, Orlando Bloom as the cocky Duke of Buckingham and Mads Mikkelsen as the war-mongering Rochefort who are most disappointing. Bloom seems woefully ill equipped and miscast to play a conceited villain, while Bond baddie Mikkelsen’s is easily overlooked and pretty much forgotten. Basically, there is not enough theatrics from both to match the film’s goofy sentiment.
Talking of panto, Freddie Fox is a surprise tonic as young King Louis, making the part his own in a vulnerably eccentric manner, and portraying a younger monarch that is more fitting to the time period. His presence outshines that of Bloom’s, even when he doesn’t utter a word. It’s a credit to Fox’s talent and an exciting premise for like roles to come.
Fans of Pirates and Gulliver’s Travels may be tempted by this giddy adaptation, but those who hold the tales of the Musketeers dearly to heart may feel a little wanting.
3/5 stars
By @FilmGazer
**WATCH THE TRAILER HERE**
