Starring: Matthew Macfadyen, Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Orlando Bloom, Logan Lerman, Madds Mikkelsen, Christoph Waltz, Freddie Fox, Gabriella Wilde, Juno Temple, James Corden and more.
Directed by: Paul W S Anderson Screenplay by: Alex Litvak and Andrew Davies Based on the Novel by: Alexandre Dumas Original Music by: Paul Haslinger
Premise: D'Artagnan leaves home to go to Paris to join the King's Musketeers. However, when he finds them, he's told the musketeers are no more and that all is not well in France as Cardinal Richlieu plays for power with the young king. Then the Cardinal sets a plot in motion, helped along by Milady de Winter, which may push England and France to war unless the Musketeers regain their drive and go put a stop to it. (Rated PG-13)
Review: If you've followed my reviews for a while, you've come to know I have certain things I will see no matter who or what put them together - the Three Musketeers is one of those.
Be prepared. If you're a purist, this movie is not for you. If anachronisms bother you - not for you. However, if you want something fun, fast paced, with some innovative ideas, and fresh takes on some of the beloved characters thrown in, plus lots of great fights and some explosions - this IS for you!
Yes - Alexandre Dumas meets Mission Impossible meets Wrath of Khan. I kid you not! (For those of you with SF flowing through your veins, you'll know what I mean when you get there. Try to restrain yourselves from standing up and yelling out "KHAN!" If I can do it, so can you. :P)
Orlando Bloom as the Duke of Buckingham is nothing like you'll be expecting and he was a total BLAST! Milla Jovovich was actually a very fun Milady even with the stolen signature moves from her Resident Evil films. Freddie Fox was a totally wonderful King Louis, he was great for comedic relief, several touching moments, and more.
Sadly Christoph Waltz and Madds Mikkelsen didn't get enough face time to show the true oozing Evil they can be. Mr. Mikkelsen suffered the most, but he did get an awesome sword fight, so that made up for a lot. The rest of the cast did great work as well, even those with minor bits.
The beginning credits and several other sections did wonderful maps with miniatures and even had them do things. Very innovative and worked extremely well!
The sets, the costumes, all top notch! And even accurate. As I mentioned earlier, however, the dialogue is incredibly modern with many cliche phrases thrown in. And very few, if any of the actors, actually had French accents. Still, a lot of good dialogue zingers, and even some Word Fu, which was quite nice.
The general plot and a lot of details are just like the Three Musketeers novel (though it's been a LONG time since I read it) and looked like some homage was paid to the Three Musketeers film with Michael York. (That one wasn't entirely serious rendition either, though more tongue-in-cheek I think than this one.)
With some Da Vinci inventions thrown in we even get some Airship Fu. And they still gave us several just darn fun sword fighting scenes to get our musketeer on.
So overall, the movie was way too much fun! Fast paced, lots of comedic touches, good sword fu, airship fu, some word fu, betrayals, politics, fantastical science but not way-way over the top. If you want a fast romp with lots to see and hear and FUN, this one's for you.
Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Would Pay Full Price to See It Again!)
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