‘Three Musketeers’ is Easy to Like, But Far From Original

By ERIN KENDERISH

I know what you’re thinking, “Another Three Musketeers film? But there are already so many!” I thought the same. But, the newest rendition managed to combine two of my favorite things: Matthew Macfadyen and flamethrowers.

Before I start talking about “The Three Musketeers,” let’s get something out of the way right off the bat. Yes, this movie is completely historically inaccurate. Should the historical inaccuracies bother you? Only if you’re a stickler. This film is fun and mindless. It doesn’t take itself seriously, so you probably shouldn’t either.

We tag along with young D’Artagnan, adequately played by Logan Lerman. His one goal in life is to become one of the famous musketeers of France. D’Artagnan’s only natural talent besides sword fighting seems to be irritating everyone. He travels to Paris where he finds himself on the wrong side of Athos (Matthew Macfadyen), Aramis (Luke Evans), and Porthos (Ray Stevenson). But after finding they have a common enemy in Rochefort, (Mads Mikkelsen), Cardinal Richelieu’s (seamlessly portrayed by Christoph Waltz) Captain of the Guard, the three band together with D’Artagnan.

“Musketeers” boasts a colorful cast of characters. Orlando Bloom plays the ever-fashionable Lord Buckingham, often inciting laughter because of his ridiculous hair. Freddie Fox is King Louis XIII, childish and obsessed with fashion. As Milady de Winter, a mercenary, Milla Jovovich is beautiful and deadly, nowhere close to breaking out of her stereotypical warrior roles. Gabriella Wilde is passable as young Constance, D’Artagnan’s love interest, but the chemistry in the relationship remains pretty dull.

While this film is entertaining, it hardly has any character development, with Athos and D’Artagnan being the only exceptions. In fact, the other characters are hardly given any screen time at all. Athos and Milady’s relationship is the only thing the film spends any real amount of time on.

The film is also lacking in fight scenes. Athos, Aramis and Porthos have only one swordfight, most of which is spent showing off D’Artagnan’s natural fencing talents. Practically everything in this movie is too easy for our adventurous gang; there is never really a point in the film where you actually believe they are in any danger.

Paul W.S. Anderson has managed to direct a gorgeous 3D movie, and the final fight scenes are really cool. The costumes and sets are absolutely stunning, despite the fact that Logan Lerman’s hairstyle was unfortunate (at its best it looked like he slept on it funny).

“The Three Musketeers” is a fun, good looking adventure, but isn’t groundbreaking in its plot. So enjoy it for what it is, but don’t expect too much originality.

Image courtesy of filmifilia.com