Widescreen Warrior
The newest version of The Three Musketeers storms into theaters this weekend. Being a fan of the novel, I knew I needed to see this updated reimaging of the classic story, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Anderson previously directed two of the Resident Evil films and Alien Vs. Predator and he now brings some of his futuristic flavor to 17th century France.
The film opens in Venice where a caper is afoot to steal da Vinci’s plans for a flying machine. The thieves turn out to be our beloved musketeers, Athos (Matthew MacFayden), Porthos (Ray Stevenson), Aramis (Luke Evans), and Milady de Winter (Milla Jovovich). But unfortunately, Milady betrays them and turns the plans over to the Duke of Buckingham (Orlando Bloom). Buckingham delights in beating out the musketeers. Jumping forward a year, we find D’Artagnan leaving home to join his heroic Musketeers.
When he arrives in Paris, he finds out that the musketeers were disbanded (budget cuts!). But he joins up with Athos, Porthos, and Aramis after he impresses them with his skills in a battle with Cardinal Richelieu’s guards. When the four come out on top of a four-on-forty battle, the king of France summons them to “punish” them for Richelieu, but he is too happy and impressed and the king grants them new outfits and a bag of gold. Richelieu hates being thwarted and has been working on a plan to overthrow the royals and install himself as King of France. The musketeers stumble unto his plot and set about spoiling it.
While the story takes its cues from the original novel, it is updated with things like the flying machine and other fight sequences that seem to be purely to add flash not substance. This brings about the film’s biggest problem: except for the moments that are straight from the novel, the story is jumbled and hard to follow. It’s the kind of movie where they added specific scenes in order to make it better in 3D, but these add nothing to the 2D story. The costumes are gorgeous and the sets were amazing, all creating a pretty dressing for the story and the cast.
Speaking of the casting, it is spot on. Each character is given life by an actor that breathes life and soul into their depiction. Christoph Waltz takes the evil, plotting Cardinal Richelieu to a new smarmy level. He is ambivalent and conniving all at once. Orlando Bloom plays the Duke of Buckingham as arrogant, ambitious, and in control. The Musketeers and D’Artagnan are all played with all the heroics and romantic power that we expect. However, Milla Jovovich is weaker than the cast around her. She comes across as very flat and falls back on the spectacles around her to bring life and movement to her performance, rather than supplying it herself.
The film breaks my heart, since I wanted to see a solid movie built on the grounds laid by the novel, but what we get is a pretty version with very little emotion to it. I would see it again for the cast, but not for the storyline, which is a sad place to be. I would recommend seeing this film if you are interested in the period, or the costumes, or the flashy sword fights, but not as an adaption of the book.
-Nicole O’Connell
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