15th of October 2011 (Saturday)
Movie
The Three Musketeers
JR had gotten two free movie passes to GSC the other day so we both planned to watch a movie last weekend. It was a toss-up between Real Steel and The Three Musketeers but lo and behold she got another two free passes so we watched The Three Musketeers on Saturday then Real Steel on Sunday.
We had to pay a little extra (RM5 per person) for The Three Musketeers because the only one showing was in 3D, which coincidentally is my first movie in 3D at the cinemas! I’ve heard that some people cannot seem to adjust and find it very annoying to watch 3D movies but the transition seemed better for me once I learnt how to focus on the overall picture and not just one part of the screen. 3D movies are quite addictive I must say but a bit too pricey for me to want to catch a movie in 3D all the time.
Storyline:
The story (in this 2011 release at least) is based in France where a young and extremely foppish King Louis XIII is going around bullying the palace staff with his little whims whilst the country is effectively being run by the Cardinal Richelieu. The Cardinal, not content with having all the responsibility and none of the glory, plots to overthrow the present foolish Monarch and be France’s head of state and church. In the midst of all this plotting and trickery, a young and brash village boy by the name of D’Artagnan (read: Dar-ta-nian) travels to Paris to become a Musketeer and meets with the famous Three Musketeers: Athos, Porthos & Aramis where together they quell the Cardinal’s sinister plots and effectively save the day.
Cast/Production/Visual Effects: (not necessarily in that order)
When people ask me how did it find the latest interpretation of The Three Musketeers on the big screen, I usually respond to their question with a question of my own, which is “Have you watched the original (for our generation at least, the 1993 release was original) Three Musketeers?”. I’ve watched the 1993 release just shy of ten times and I feel that that particular version was much better than the latest movie which I feel has been too modernized for present day consumption. The new movie takes a lot of liberties at portraying the background of medieval France and more so with the personalities of those in power such as the young King of France, the Cardinal and the Duke of Buckingham. I mean come on, a young King obsessed with the color of his clothes, a man of the cloth who can fence? (that’s sooo breaking class restrictions) & a Duke who actually did not even have to show up in the movie at all except then you couldn’t include his flying warships and of course, his wit as comic relief.
The cast to me were forgettable, many of whom are not big names in the industry with the exception of Milla Jovovich. I felt that there was far too much poker face jokes (as in the character says something with a poker face but the movie audience is supposed to laugh) that made the acting a little rigid. The action scenes however, were well executed and choreographed quite nicely with all the nice slo-mo action scenes and none of the fake “keel over after being slashed from three feet away” sort of fencing crap. Of note would be the epic battle between D’Artagnan and Rochefort on the rooftops which was downright brutal coupled with feats of dexterity, granted Rochefort deserved a more dignified end but the way he was bested was quite original in my books.
The Three Musketeers is a very colorful movie, the costume designs and backdrop décor was brightly colored and just shy of being overtly gaudy. The effects were not too bad really as I was fully absorbed by the air battles and Mission Impossible stunt moves by Milla Jovovich (it seems the only thing she does in the movie are Prince of Persia ones, i.e. sliding, abseiling & jumping through a corridor of razor sharp concealed wires.
Verdict:
My wife enjoyed The Three Musketeers and I must admit that without my biasness towards the 1993 original, I would have enjoyed the movie as well. The plot is terribly thin, (except for when Athos chooses not to expose the Cardinal, which my wife couldn’t understand why, since most movies end up with the head criminal being exposed and suffering some terrible fate where his corpse ends up being unidentifiable) and full of illogical inconsistencies. However if you can bear up with history being looked at through the lens of the modern day telescope, I think there is good humor, cool fight scenes and hey, there’s Milla Jovovich if that’s your thing and there are far worse ways to spend 120 minutes of your life.
For me it was a good way to spend time with the wife but ultimately forgettable.
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