Alexandre Dumas classic tale of The Three Musketeers gets a modern retelling from director Paul W.S. Anderson and a big-name cast - but can it stand the test of time?
We all know how it goes - 'All for one, and one for all', well now that concept has been taken to another level and flung into the modern world of 3D antics.
As the story goes - the legendary three musketeers: Athos (Matthew MacFadyen), Aramis (Luke Evans) and Porthos (Ray Stevenson) are betrayed by Milady (Milla Jovovich) who uses the trio to steal an ancient manuscript in Venice. Thus enter D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman), a young naive go-getter who wants nothing more than to be a Musketeer.
Anderson is best known for his work on Resident Evil and Aliens v Predator so this switch into 17th century France is a bit of a strange one for him and unfortunately in parts this self-fulfilling boyhood dream of his doesn’t come up to the mark.
While there's no doubt that that this swashbuckling adventure will be a hit with the younger family members the movie has managed to alienate those who are most familiar with the tale.
Very little time is actually given to our three heroes with most of Anderson's focus aimed at the villains - Milady, the Duke of Buckingham (Orlando Bloom) and Cardinal Richelieu (Christoph Waltz), which ultimately results in the essence of the story getting lost in a cloud of ridiculous flying machines and unnecessary special effects. This over-sight is a real shame given that the performances from MacFadyen, Stevenson and Evans are the most solid.
As with many D’Artagnan’s that have gone before (Chris O’Donnell to name the most recent) Logan Lerman, through no fault of his own, is the obvious heartthrob, cast only to please the American market and he struggles to hold his own against far more experienced actors.
What should be a fantastic old-school adventure, The Three Musketeers 3D fails to capture the magic of this legendary tale.
