The Musketeer

I'm a huge Dumas fan and watch every one of the adaptations but I missed this one originally. Just caught it on netflix and it's nowhere near as bad as it's made out to be. Yes, the lead is a little off and there isn't much chemistry between him and Mena Suvari who isn't at her best either. The wire based fight scenes look dated and there are a few scene pacing problems.

But overall this was quite fun. There *is* chemistry between the Queen and D'artagnan thanks to Catherine Deneuve who exudes star quality in every scene she's in. There are some nice performances from most of the character actors, the original 3 musketeers are great, and the humor if not the plot is very in keeping with the book.

I first thought this was a made for TV movie because of the credits at the beginning so I wasn't really expecting much and this definitely beat my expectations. The movie looks good and aside from a few characters most of them seem fairly real, the balance between schtick and too- serious was handled well.

Overall, too many faults to be a classic but definitely enough class and fun to be very entertaining. Recommended for fans of period movies and the tongue in cheek dramedy.

Dártagnan (Justin Chambers) undergoes a revenge against the man dressed in black (Tim Roth) who murdered his father . Fourteen years later he goes out from Gascogne along with Planchet (Jean Pierre Castaldi) and confronting plunders and bandits on the trip to Paris . He meets for the first time worthless three musketeers , Athos (Kemp) , Porthos (Steve Speirs) and Aramis (Nick Moran) and get their swords crossed up . DÁrtagnan and the three Musketeers cross swords with the lackeys of scheming cardinal Richelieu (Stephen Rea) and first Mister Treville (Michael Byrne) , head of the Musketeers . They try to help king Louis XIII (Mesguich) who is negotiating a treatise with Duke of Buckinghan (Jeremy Clyde). Meanwhile , Queen Anna (Catherine Deneuve) and Francesca (Mena Suvari) are kidnapped by Febre and closed in his castle .

Mediocre version of the classic swashbuckler by Alexandre Dumas whose novel has been adapted a dozen times approximately . Attractive costumes , haunting french locations , fast paced and contains scrumptious action scenes with bounds and leaps in 'Matrix' style . This is primarily and middling made due to some blatant miscasting . Justin Chambers as Dártagnan and his co-star acting as the Queen's seamstress are never convincing as French citizens during the reign of Louis XIII . D'Artagnan did really exist , his name was Charles de Batz and was called D'Artagnan when he arrived in Paris probably because he was coming from the south-west of France where the movie was partly shot and where is the little city of Artagnan . Lively musical score by David Arnold , habitual in James Bond films . Dark photography by Peter Hyams , usually cameraman and filmmaker ; being filmed in south-west of France on location in Castle , Cassaigne, Gers, Castle Miramont-Latour, Gers, Midi-Pyrénées, and Auch, Gers, France . The motion picture was regularly directed by Peter Hyams . He's an irregular director with hits (Relic, Outland , Capricorn one , Timecop , Sudden death) and flops (Sound and thunder , End of days).

Other versions about this classic are the followings : 1921 mute rendition by Fred Niblo with Douglas Fairbanks ; 1935 adaptation by Rowland V Lee with Walter Abel and Paul Lukas ; 1948 the classic version by George Sidney with Gene Kelly , June Allyson , Van Heflin , Paul Lukas and Lana Turner ; 1973 amusing version by Richard Lester with Michael York , Oliver Reed and Raquel Welch ; 1993 modern adaptation by Stephen Herek with Charlie Shen, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt and Chris O'Donnell , among others .

The Musketeer really did the novel it was based upon no justice what so ever. The movie had incredible stunts and great fights...if you were in the Matrix. These fights are the only reason I give this movie a rating of four.

There is no acting what so ever. Tim Roth, although he can play a great villain, he shows barely any emotion. Justin Chambers is the same way. I'm sure he didn't perform those stunts such as the ridiculous scene where he is pictured jumping from saddle to saddle across moving horses.

This movie brings nothing to the table except fancy martial arts. Keep in mind this takes place in old France. I don't recall the Musketeer's learning how to fight while rolling across wooden wine barrels.

If you are desperate for a fight scene, be my guest. There are certainly some good fights going on in this picture. Everything in between is just a joke. The Musketeer is not the worst movie ever made, but it's far from great.

I am far to be a fan o Alexandre Dumas. So, this version is far to be a surprise. Except the presence of few good actors in not the best roles, some admirable fight scenes, a story reduced at conventional sketch, Tim Roth looking for the decent way to save his character from not happy script and, sure, Catherine Deneuve in a role who surprise not entirely in good sense . A film about nothing. This could be a virtue but , in this case, it remains bizarre. Because it is just a walk around characters, a poor script, fight scenes as fireworks. And this is all.

I thought that the movie was an original version of the classic novel. It incorporated great fighting scenes that were out of this world. They looked as if they were some kind of asian/western/ fencing techniques all blended in with awesome stunt men. Also the story had a nice pace, the only problems were that the characters were underdeveloped. Mena Suvari had a great part and also great chemistry with Dartagnon (Justin Chambers) and I would have like to see more of the romance, but it was short and vauge. I would recommend this for a movie to watch at home or maybe on PPV, I don't know about spending more than that on it.