The Musketeer
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Movie Reviews of The Musketeer
Movie Review: The Musketeer prevails
Summary: 4 Stars
I went to see The Musketeer on opening night and I thought that it was really fun. The fight scenes were great & the characters were likable. My companions didn't seem to like it that much, saying that it wasn't realistic enough. Story was predictable, but still fun.Movie Review: Musketeer-very good
Summary: 4 Stars
The background colors of this film looked like an old European painting; burnt umbers, browns, golds, old crumbly castles. I like horses and they were a large part of the film. Nothing vulgar in this film, lots of good action fight scenes. I'd recommend it.Movie Review: Great action movie
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed watching this film. The stunts were wonderful. I loved the storyline. I thought the backdrop and costumes were gorgeous. Justin Chambers was cute, funny and talented.Movie Review: Another version - with a twist
Summary: 3 Stars
Upon hearing that yet another version of Alexander Dumas' classic tale "The Three Musketeers" would be making its way onto the big screen, my friend was just a bit skeptical.
"They're making another one?" he said in a less than an enthusiastic tone. "How many times can they remake it?"
Fearing that my friends response may be duplicated by more than a few moviegoers, Universal Pictures made sure that their Musketeer film, "The Musketeer," would be unlike any rendition of Dumas' tale you've ever seen before.
Unfortunately, a little more similarity to other Musketeer movies probably would have propelled "The Musketeer" from average movie fare to cinematic classic.
Lest you think this is the same old story you've heard and seen several times before, a swift warning that "The Musketeer" is based on the novel by Dumas, not an exact interpretation.
The core element of the novel, a young, would be musketeer plays a pivotal role in stopping the Cardinal and his henchmen from stopping the Kings of England and France from signing a peace treaty is intact, but the rest of the story is hit and miss.
Imagine a Sherlock Holmes movie in which Watson has only a cameo role in the film and you'll begin to have a good idea of where "The Musketeer" is heading.
In screenwriter Gene Quintano's adaptation, D'Artagnan (Justin Chambers) witnesses the death of his parents and vows to become a Musketeer like his father before him. One of his father's friends trains D'Artagnan in the ways of all things Musketeer and by the time he arrives to Paris to join the King's elite fighting force, he is more than up to the challenge. Everything sounds fine so far, right? Well, here's where things get a bit complicated.
The film doesn't bother with the three incidents in which D'Artagnan first encounters Athos, Aramis and Porthos, resulting in the three pals challenging him in three separate duels. Before D'Artagnan begins his first duel, a band of the Cardinal's men attack and are easily defeated by the musketeers and their newfound friend. Instead, D'Artagnan simply meets Aramis and Porthos who are hard at work on reaching the bottom of their wine bottles while he runs into Athos in a bar, which would could conclude from the film is the Musketeer's sole hangout. Worse, D'Artagnan has to convince the others to assist him in protecting the King, the Musketeer's sworn duty.
By forgoing the pivotal meetings and subsequent battle where the musketeers befriend D'Artagnan, the audience is asked to buy into too much, specifically that the proud musketeers would follow a lowly, albeit brave, commoner.
Also rather hastily paced is D'Artagnan's romance of one of the Queen's handmaidens, Constance (Mena Suvari). The relationship is so poorly developed that it feels like Quinatno threw it in at the last minute as opposed to it being a pivotal aspect of the film.
For the most part, the cast seems overwhelmed by their roles, but that could probably be more attributed to Quinatno's script, which assumes you know enough of the musketeer lore and are more than familiar with the characters.
Catherine Deneuve handles her role as the courageous Queen of France perfectly and Tim Roth (Febre, the Cardinal's main henchman) as always is superb in the villain role. Roth practically carries the movie on his own and at least makes you care when he finally gets his comeuppance.
Chambers is merely adequate as D'Artagnan, but it may be fairer to say the script doesn't give him a lot to work with in terms of really capturing the hearts of the audience.
The film's advertising focuses heavily on the fact that Hong Kong choreographer Xin Xin Xiong designed the fight sequences.
Director Peter Hyams does an outstanding job capturing all the action and keeps the movie moving at an even pace. The fights are indeed dazzling, but make up such a minimal part of the movie that they're not as epic as the commercials would lead you to believe.
The costumes make it hard to distinguish who's who when there's more than two people fighting on the screen at one time as well.
Remember how everyone began using "The Matrix"-type special effects after the success of the 1999 Keanu Reeves action film? With the raves of the fight scenes in "Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon," don't be surprised if mid-air flights become commonplace on the big screen. There are some moments when you may experience déjà vu, but for the most part, the action scenes are completely original.
"The Musketeer" is a movie with great action, effects and a likable cast that's just begging for a better story to replace the script, providing a new look at Dumas' classic that no one was clamoring for. Ironically, in this case, a better story was written. It just wasn't used.
Movie Review: Where is the rest of the film?
Summary: 3 Stars
GREAT FILMS: The director/producers take the time to ensure the movie looks good, plays good, sounds good, and spins the audience into its web of wonder. All scenes are intact, with all pickup shots (close-ups, transitionary moments, shots of what the actor is looking at, shots of things unseen by the regular camera that are neccessary to let the audience know what is going unseen).THE MUSKETEER is not a great film. It is a good film that is missing many elements that could have made it a GREAT film.
THE MUSKETEER is an interesting movie with nice - yeah just NICE - action sequences. Much more could have been accomplished as I found that these "action" scenes were fairly predictable.
The acting is decent yet could have used a little more gusto. The characters seem to take way too many things for granted, leaving much unexplained in the sense that everyone knows all about the reasoning behind the motivation and why things are happening... This portrays the entire cast as shallow vessels, and opens up the can of worms reminding the audience that this is JUST a movie.
I believe the following problems lead to the boredom I found myself enraptured within while viewing the second and third parts of the film (even though the beginning was pretty lame).
THE SCORE. Where is the thrill? I believe that with a much better score that drove the action and story, this film could have been much better.
THE MISSING SCENES. Near the middle of the film it is hinted that the lead, D'ARTAGNAN, has a history with his horse. We have seen no evidence of this. The writers and directors could have incorporated a short scene showing how D'artagnan bonds with the horse who becomes a companion and friend to him. The first time we see the horse, he is tagged to the back of the wagon fighting to keep up as they race away from the bad guys.
There are also several moments - pick ups - that are missing. I think the director went after a "Quick CUT" style for this movie to keep the action flowing. This film, however, is not suited for such a drastic style. Transitions and little things that are missing throw the audience off guard, as we are suddenly in the midst of another scene of dialogue or action. This happens too many times throughout the film and makes me wonder if they just ran out of time/budget and cut together what was done and left it at that. NOT A GOOD THING.
THE DVD EXTRAS. Laughable. Redundant. Laughable. Redundant. There is the "Production notes" which are simply a type-up of all the words spoken in all of the video extras which include, "Casting Justin Chambers" - a sixty second clip of the model-turned-actor talking about the movie and how it was a great experience. Then there is "The Stunts" - a less than five minute dialogue with the director talking about the wonders of the Stunt Coordinator, with nearly all of the "Casting Justin Chambers" footage clipped in as filler. The "Theatrical Trailer" is amusing in how they sliced and diced the more interesting aspects of the film into a promo piece that outshines the film itself. And why in the world do they bother to put "Widescreen anamorphic format" on there anyway? It is NOT an extra. It is the format of the film that - in my opinion - should be the only format they allow.
A good film? Yeah.
A great experience? No.
A good plot? Sure.
Good sound? Heck NO!
A good rental? Maybe...
Should you buy it? I do not encourage you.
All for one and one for all? Nope.
Overall, 3 stars is a generous rating. I enjoyed moments of this film. I am glad I did not waste my money in the theatres watching it. This is a film that had great potential but became a shallow, empty tale due to shoddy sound, editing, and lack of thoroughness.