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Laura's screening with Laura Weaser |
Word of warning: historical accuracy is not Paul W.S Anderson's strong point, so if you are looking for a period piece, abandon all hope now. What Anderson is good at is explosions, sword fights, bizarre military contraptions and making his wife (Milla Jovovich) have amazing breasts.
Milla Jovovich certainly has a lovely set of…diamonds.
Based (loosely) on the 17th century French novel by the same name, young D'Artagnan (Logan Lerman) travels to Paris to make his way as a Musketeer.
Pity for him, the Musketeers – Athos, Porthos and Aramis (Matthew Macfayden, Ray Stevenson, and Luke Evans respectively), are washed up and with a real cause to fight for. When King Louis' wife's honour comes into the question, a quest begins to unravel a sinister plot to take down the throne's power.
The Three Musketeers definitely doesn't seek to make any historical judgments, and it isn't looking to be a time-less period piece.
Like a less-clever version of Sherlock Holmes or a less successful version of Pirates of The Caribbean, swords, action, romance, and comedy are used at excess to add up for a swashbuckling good adventure.
Anderson has a nack for the ridiculous, particular in weapons.
History would show, to my knowledge, the 17th century didn't produce a wide-range of canon Gatling guns, fleets of flying ships, an underwater diving suit that looks like Darth Vader or corset dresses that allowed for scaling castles. But what do I know?
I put his ridiculousness down to years of working with Resident Evil. He seems to have lost all touch with reality. That said, it is dammed good fun.
Taking a leaf out of Guy Richie's book, Anderson uses an excessive use of ramping, slow motion and rapid cutting during sword-play to hype up the action. Errol Flynn, eat your heart out.
Aside from the Musketeers, the ensemble cast of well to moderately known actors flanks the leads and manage to play sufficient parts to carry the sense of adventure.
Anderson places his leading lady (in life and in films) Milla Jovovich in the role of Milady – as sinister seductress.
He manages to not only make her boobs look fantastic, but gives her the ability to fight guards at the drop of the hat in some stunts I image would be pretty tricky to achieve in dresses you can't actually breathe in.
Christopher Waltz, aka The Jew Hunter from Inglorious Bastards, channels his most famous character by being his type-cast as the cunning Cardinal – a manipulative figure behind the plot to destroy the King with a real bent for power.
Orlando Bloom is his usual wooden self with a hint of Johnny Depp's roguish nature and unknown beauty Gabriella Wilde adds a touch of gorgeousness to the backdrop as D'Artgnan's love interest without contributing anything substantial at all.
Not the most memorable of films, but certainly one of the most entertaining, The Musketeers isn't going for any Oscar's this year, but is a good summer flick to watch over a few bowls of popcorn and bottles of wine.
Reel Moments
The crowd pleaser – The Musketeers of course. (minus D'Artagnan who is incredibly whinging and in my opinion is something out of an American high school TV show). Suave, handsome and given the best lines of dialogue in the film to work with, these leading men are introduced with a bang right from the get-go that continues on a high throughout the film.
The stage dive – The terrible mix of accents. Based in France, the film seems to have one genuine French actor in the lead with a mix of English, an American D'Artagan, a German cardinal, and a Russian seductress. Only Sean Connery can get away with using the same Scottish accent for every role.
Final curtain call? – Without taking the film too seriously or being ‘that guy' in the movie that complains how historically inaccurate the film is, it is light-hearted popcorn fun that never has a dull moment – despite how ridiculous.
