Rating: ***
Some characters just defy how the
filmmakers adapt them and manage to play as unique, fun and interesting no
matter the creative talent behind the lens. Characters like Ebenezer Scrooge,
Hamlet, and Count Dracula have been adapted for the big screen, dozens, even
hundreds of times, and just when you thought that everything that could be
done, has been done with them, somebody makes a motion capture Christmas
Carol, or successfully sets Hamlet in modern day, or switches up Dracula’s
race to make him Blackula.
In the case of the new Three Musketeers,
directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, the 17th century swashbucklers of
Alexander Dumas’ classic novel become kind of French super-spies; James Bond by
way of steampunk times three. Or four, I guess with D'Artagnan. Anderson, a sphinx
of a filmmaker that somehow in his career managed to create both a beloved
adaptation of Mortal Kombat, and a reviled version of Aliens Vs
Predator, does what he does best with these Musketeers: entertain. I
could have done without the 3-D though.
Dumas’ story unfolds, at least according to
the big picture, just as it always does: France is
on the verge of war, the young and inexperienced King Louis XIII is on the
throne, and deferring to the counsel of the ambitious Cardinal Richelieu. The Musketeers
Athos, Porthos and Aramis serve at the pleasure at the King, but are finding
themselves progressively on the outside looking in at the kingdom as Richelieu’s power grows. But a
peasant boy from the country, D'Artagnan, arrives in Paris hoping to
join the ranks of the vaunted Musketeers, thus launching the trio on another
mission for the glory of France.
So where are things different between the
original text and Anderson’s film? Well, let’s start literally at the beginning, where we see
the Musketeers break into Leonardo Da Vinci’s vault in Venice to steal
plans for his war machine. A flying war machine. One that basically looks like
a wooden sailing ship with a zeppelin where the sails should be. The Musketeers
are successful, but they’re betrayed by Milady de Winter, who turns over the
plans to the Duke of Buckingham, who I believe was the Musketeers ally in the
book, but whatever.
The rest of the film plays out as expected
with Richelieu using Milady’s double agent status with Buckingham to set it up
so that it looks like that Louise’s bride, Queen Anne of Austria, is having an
affair with Buckingham, thus creating turmoil enough to start a war and give Richelieu
the pretext he needs to seize the throne. There’s also a killer balloon chase
during the climax, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Like any good Anderson
production, he steals – I mean “borrows” – from the very best. Pirates of
the Caribbean, Apocalypse Now, Mission:
Impossible, Raiders of the Lost Ark, even Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan all get a nod through various story elements.
Fortunately, with Alex Litvak and Andrew Davies on scripting duties, they were
able to put the whole thing together with a great deal more finesse than Anderson could have
if he was scripting himself. The plot is loaded with characters and
motivations, but it surprisingly doesn’t feel bloated. Granted it’s sometimes a
matter of grinding one’s teeth to get through some scenes, like D'Artagnan’s
seemingly serial obsession to start duals with everybody he meets, which
conveniently introduces him to many of the main characters, but it’s
surprisingly worth the effort.
Yes, whenever Musketeers is doing
its swashbuckling thing, it is on. The action is very well down, the sword play
is well choreographed and the climactic set piece is so gloriously over the top
you can’t help but cheer as the Musketeers beat impossible odds to save the
day, and the kingdom. In the end, there are a lot of things you can pick at,
but when it comes to sheer entertainment value, these Musketeers deliver
to those willing to accept.
The performances are decent enough. Matthew
Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson and Luke Evans make a satisfying trio of Musketeers,
although, interestingly, I with they had more screen time to really be
developed. A lot of that time is taken up by Milla Jovovich as Milady, who
obviously has that privilege being the director’s wife; and Logan Lerman who
gives D'Artagnan the same treatment that Kevin Costner gave Robin Hood in Prince
of Thieves, a Connecticut Yankee in King Louise’s court. Christoph Waltz
doesn’t bring Academy Award calibre villainy to the part of Cardinal Richelieu,
but he’s very effective just the same. But special credit goes to Orlando
Bloom, who while looking like Errol Flynn with a bad mullet managed to channel
both his Pirates co-star Johnny Depp and Jack Nicholson to play a
scenery chewing Buckingham.
With so many balls in the air, it’s a
wonder that The Three Musketeers came together as well as it did. It’s
not reinventing the wheel, but it’s a sufficiently crowd-pleasing, weekend
matinee kind of movie in the vein of Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy or Jon
Turteltaub’s National Treasure films. Literature purists and English
teachers will be pulling their hair out, but hey, it’s only a movie! See it
with popcorn.
