Saturday, October 22, 2011

The Three Musketeers Movie Review (2011)


The Three Musketeers is just another film, in a long, long line of films portraying Alexander Dumas’ classic novel on the silver screen.  I think I’ve seen every one of these “adaptations,” which I use that word very lightly, and each of them are slightly different than the ones that came before, but in a sense, aren’t they all really the same. 

I guess one can make that statement fairly accurately when talking about any remake, but in the case of The Three Musketeers, it’s never truly a direct remake, it’s always a bit of a plot variation here or there, yet they always feel the same.

Now I’ll say this, I love the legend of The Three Musketeers.  I love the films as well.  But just because someone really enjoys something doesn’t necessarily mean that thing is any good.  That’s the case here.  This newest version of the Musketeer lore is not very good.  The acting is a bit campy at times, which is expected, or just a bit flat.  The plot is pretty outrageous, but still predominantly light.  The costumes are pretty good, but not as good as some of those variations that came before.  But let’s be honest here, none of the Musketeer movies are very good, are they?

No, no they’re not.  But they’re fun, they definitely take you to a different time; they transport you to a different place.  They’re cheesy, they’re campy, and they’re, for the most part, poorly spun.  Yet none of this means they aren’t good.

I think by now you get where I’m going with this review.  The movie is not very good, yet it’s fun and well-worth seeing.  Hmm… isn’t that a bit contradictory?  Well, yes it is, and that’s probably a good thing in this case.  If the film were too serious, or they acting too crisp, well then it wouldn’t be those Musketeers we’ve come to enjoy over the years. 

What do you go to see a Three Musketeer film for then?  For me anyhow, it’s a mixture of most of what I already stated.  I go to see that campy comedic routine.  I go to watch the costume of history.  I love seeing these outlandish plots seemingly get resolved, but never quite the way you want them to.  But most of all, for me personally, you go see a Three Musketeer film for the swordsmanship.  The duels are always great and there really can never be enough of them.  On that note there are three really good duels here and a few other action sequences that, although while not predominantly entrenched in swordplay, they do display the agility often used in duels.  All in all this is fun film, if you expect what you should expect out of a film like this.  I guess though, that this only applies if you’ve never seen a Musketeer film before.  Now if this stands to be the case for you individually, I feel the above mentioned descriptions would be necessary.  But if you’ve seen, basically any, The Three Musketeer films before, well then this recommendation is easy.  If you liked any of the previous variations than you’ll enjoy this latest effort.  But if you didn’t like it, well, than you probably won’t like this one either. 

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