Okay, there seems to be a lot of hate out there for The Three Musketeers, but seriously people relax… there is no way this film is the shocker that most people are calling it. I’ve heard all kinds of negative feedback including that director, Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil: Afterlife, Death Race) should be trialled for raping classic literature. However, the fact the person then went on to say that the character of D’Artagnan makes it Four Musketeers not Three Musketeers would suggest that his memory of the original novels may have lapsed over the years. In my view The Three Musketeers is an alright family film.
This time around the film picks up the story with D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman – Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief, Gamer) leaving his parents to become a Musketeer. On arrival in Paris he meets Athos (Matthew Macfadyen – TV’S Any Human Heart & The Pillars Of The Earth), Aramis (Luke Evans – Immortals, Blitz) and Porthos (Ray Stevenson – Thor, Kill The Irishman) shortly they have been embarrassed by a scheme put together by the Duke Of Buckingham (Orlando Bloom – The Good Doctor, Main Street), Richelieu (Christoph Waltz – Water For Elephants, The Green Hornet) and the seductive, Milady de Winter (Milla Jovovich – Faces In The Crowd, Bringing Up Bobby). With the plot now set to embarrass King Louis XIII (Freddie Fox – TV’S The Shadow Line & This September) and The Queen (Juno Temple – Killer Joe, Little Birds) the Musketeers decide to take action to save their own dignity and the dignity of France… oh and D’Artagnan decides it is the best way to impress the beautiful, Constance (Gabriella Wilde – St Trianian’s II, TV’S Doctor Who).
The only thing that Paul W.S. Anderson (and his screenwriters) can really be accused of with his version of The Three Musketeers is for having an over-active imagination, but for what it is worth I thought the idea of ‘flying ships’ actually enhanced the story for the modern generation. Anderson has very smartly made the action sequences family-friendly although I am sure that some people will be ready to knock that fact that some of the scenes seem inspired by Asian martial arts films. My only real criticism was that Anderson seems to have directed all the actors playing The Aristocracy or a bad guy seem to over act and I can’t for the life of me work out why they were directed to do so because it even makes Orlando Bloom look extremely cheesy.
As you would expect from a film of this nature there are no Oscar-worthy acting performances although the one thing you do learn from The Three Musketeers is the fact Logan Lerman has taken the next big step in his career and is well and truly able to hold down the lead role in a film. Gabrielle Wilde will also have a big future ahead of her if her performance here is anything to go on, but it seems to be Juno Temple that stands up and demands to be noticed.
The Three Musketeers may not be one of the films of the year but it certainly doesn’t deserve the hate it is being shown. As far as family films go it is okay and certainly shows that Anderson can be imaginative. The re-booted story works and will be thoroughly enjoyable for some.
Year: 2011
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Stars: Matthew Macfadyen, Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Orlando Bloom, Logan Lerman, Christoph Waltz, Freddie Fox, Juno Temple, Gabriella Wilde
Classification: M
Runtime: 110 mins
Rating: 
Out on DVD/Blu-Ray 22nd Feb 2012