The Three Musketeers

<em>'The Three Musketeers'</em> is a fun time. I must really like this story, given I rated and similarly enjoyed the 1993 version from Stephen Herek and Disney - I even put this one above that one! This 2011 version starts off so strongly, I love the opening few scenes... humour and editing was right up my street. Now, it admittedly doesn't quite keep such a high footing throughout, but all in all I certainly found entertainment with this. For the '93 release I was split on the cast, but for this flick I had a good time watching everyone onscreen. I didn't think Matthew Macfadyen would work in this sorta role but he performs astutely. Ray Stevenson and Luke Evans join Macfadyen in portraying the titular trio, again to positive effect. The famous D'Artagnan is performed by Logan Lerman here and I was impressed - a top performance from someone I hadn't seen much of before, aside from in <em>'Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief'</em>. As for the rest of the cast, Mads Mikkelsen, Milla Jovovich and Orlando Bloom spearhead the rest well. I will say that Freddie Fox and his character's part of the story didn't interest me as much but Fox is fine. Christoph Waltz is involved alongside Fox and is very forgettable... quite a frustrating use of Waltz's (incredibly high) talents, now I think about it. Elsewhere, James Corden is iffy... and I usually like Corden as an actor. I haven't looked at the average rating as of typing this sentence, but I presume it'll be rather low. It is sometimes easy to spot films that won't have scored well online. As per usual, each to one's own opinion. I personally had a happy experience with this and would definitely rewatch it if the opportunity arose.

There’s more than a little of the spirit of the Oliver Reed et al adventures (1973) to this adaptation of the intrigues at the court of King Louis XIII (Freddie Fox). This time, it’s Logan Lerman’s “D’Artagnan” who arrives in Paris and swiftly encounters three strangers with whom he has to duel. There’s “Athos” (Matthew Macfadyen), “Porthos” (Ray Stevenson) and “Aramis” (Luke Evans) and all are eager to teach this young upstart a lesson. Luckily, they are diverted by the guards of the Cardinal Prime Minister Richieleu (Christophe Waltz) under the command of the menacingly eye-patched “Rochefort” (Mads Mikkelsen) and are soon before the king and becoming aware that there is a dastardly plot afoot that might just involve the queen (June Temple) and the perfectly coiffured Duke of Buckingham (Orlando Bloom). With “D’Artagnan” also becoming enamoured of the lady-in-waiting “Constance” (Gabriella Wilde) who tells him of the appropriation of the queen’s diamonds to Britain, these four gents have their work cut out for them if they are to save the honour of a lady and the crown of a king. Aside from the innovation of some early cross-channel air travel, the rest of this is really quite disappointing. Colourful and swashbuckling at times, certainly, but the characterisations are all a bit pantomime-esque. There’s not enough menace engendered by the not very threatening “Milady” (Milla Jovovich) nor from the underused combo of Mikkelsen and Waltz and just how the foppish Bloom stopped himself from laughing each time he was on screen is anyone’s guess. The production and it’s design is sumptuous, the locations grand and imposing but there’s just nothing really original about any of this - and that’s best epitomised by the annoying James Corden fairly shamelessly mimicking the efforts of Roy Kinnear as the hapless “Planchet”. It’s watchable television fodder, but disappointing at just about every turn.