THE THREE MUSKETEERS: D'ARTAGNAN

 

This is the first part of a major production adapting Dumas' famed novel. There have been several Three Musketeers films over the years, and this new one has the advantage of being filmed in France, and featuring a French cast & crew. 

Richard Lester's two Musketeer films in the 1970s had the same concept as this one does--breaking the novel down into two parts. D'ARTAGNAN actually ends at about the same point as Lester's first Three Musketeers movie did. but the approaches to the material between the two productions are very different. 

D'ARTAGNAN is a faithful and realistic version of the legendary tale, following the young, earnest D'Artagnan (Francois Civil) as he travels to Paris to seek his goal of becoming one of the King's musketeers. D'Artagnan almost immediately insults--and then befriends--three accomplished musketeers: Athos (Vincent Cassel), Aramis (Romain Duris), and Porthos (Pio Marmai). The four become involved in various conspiracies dealing with the Queen of France and the conflict between French Catholics and Protestants. Behind it all is the scheming Cardinal Richelieu (Eric Ruf) and a mysterious femme fatale called Milady de Winter (Eva Green). 

This version is a fairly straightforward adaptation, a bit more serious than most, with a somewhat grimy-looking early 17th Century Paris. The movie has impressive costumes and settings, energetic camerawork, and plenty of atmospheric photography, and director Martin Bourboulon keeps things hopping--the only time the story slows down a tad is when D'Artagnan woos the demure Constance (Lyna Khoudri). The action scenes have a loose, helter-skelter attitude about them, and there's none of the outlandish elements one would expect from a Hollywood telling of the tale. One thing that makes this THE THREE MUSKETEERS stand out is that it pays more attention to the religious battles in France during the period of the story, an element most other adaptations stay away from. 

Francois Civil is quite good as the impetuous D'Artagnan, and the Three Musketeers themselves are given very distinct personalities. Eva Green, a longtime favorite of yours truly, is perfect as Milady. Her magnificent screen presence allows her to command every scene she is in, even if she doesn't have any dialogue. 

Speaking of the dialogue.....the version of this film available to rent on Vudu has English credit titles and an English dub voice track. I wish I had been able to watch it in the original French with English subtitles (the main reason this movie is notable is that it is a truly French version of a classic French story, after all). The English dub is decently done, but most of the voices sound plain, especially the one for Cardinal Richelieu. 

I had hoped that THE THREE MUSKETEERS: D'ARTAGNAN would get a theatrical release in the area that I live in, but so far no such luck. The film was released throughout the world last year, and the story's second part, THE THREE MUSKETEERS: MILADY, is in theaters overseas right now. I would really love to see D'ARTAGNAN on the big screen, with the original French voice track someday....but even at home through streaming this is an impressive adventure, and much better than the brand-name American popcorn movies made recently.