The Three Musketeers : One for All and All for One. Review on Ten Favorite Hollywood Movies

The Three Musketeers - One for All and All for oneQuite like what I wrote in my earlier post, I was waiting to see  “TheThree Musketeers” in 3D, and indeed I did yesterday, a day after its release in India.  Ours is the fourth country in the world, after its release in Germany, Austriaand Switzerland  and is set to release world-wide on 21st Oct.  This means, I can now proudly claim that I had seen the movie much before folks in US did.

The Three Musketeers is an action movie and is loosely based on Alexander Dumas' novel of the same name.  The story has been changed a lot from the original and except for the title and the names of the characters, there is little in common between the book and the movie.

The plot follows the young D'Artagnan(Logan Lerman) who leaves his country home to go to Paris and join the valorious Musketeers Athos(Mathew Macfadyen), Porthos  (Ray Stevenson) and Aramis(Luke Evans).   In the meanwhile, the musketeers have been duped by Milady De Winter(Milla Jovovich, looks femme fatale in this role), while retrieving the Leonardo DaVinci's drawings of the Airship, which she does and then gives it to the Lord Buckingham(played brilliantly by Orlando Bloom).  Milady De Winter plays a double agent between her employer the King of France Louis XIII(Freddie Fox), the Cardinal Richelieu(again, beautifully enacted byChristoph Waltz), and the Lord Buckingham.  Cardinal Richelieu is scheming to start a war between France and England and is trying to capture power and be a dictator.  D'Artagnan, upon reaching Paris, come across various misadventures and challenges the musketeers onto a duel and finally, the musketeers take him under their wings.  In the meanwhile, he meets Constance(Gabriella Wilde), the queen's lady and becomes his romantic interest.

Cardinal's scheming ways follows in a plot to steal the diamond necklace that Louis XIII had gifted to Queen Ann(Juno Temple) and then take it toEngland.  Now, D'Artagnan have to go to England, ably assisted by the Musketeers, to retreive the necklace and bring it back to France, thus saving the honor of the queen and as also to prevent France from going into war with England.  In the end, the four-some do succeed in bringing the diamond necklace back, thereby nullifying the  Cardinal's nefarioius designs and restors the honor of their King and the country.

The movie, as such, is pure entertainment but there are some big turn offs too. Mainly, I feel, the movie should not have diverted too much from the book.   As I said, except for the names of the characters, there is nothing common.  Lord Buckingam has been turned into a villain and Milady De Winter to be a double agent.  Another big let off is the way in which the charcters are etched.  Though the movie is titled Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan is not one of those, and he and his love interest Constance takes a lot of screen space. So does Lord Buckingham and Milady De Winter.  So inspite of being titled'Three Musketeers' the movie is not at all about them.

But to those who are looking for some grandoise spectacle in the form of Sword fights and Fencing, as also the battle of the air-ships, the movie come across as simply breathtaking.  Particularly, watch out for the unbelievable fencing duel between D'Artagnan and Rochefort(Mads Mickelsen, resembling a pirate, another big turn-off), on the roof-top of the Notre Dame Cathedral, and is just awesome.  Also, a big thumbs up for the Leonardo Da Vinci's Secret Vaults and the battle of the Air ships, that too, above Paris.

To sum up, I would suggest one should watch the movie, for its entertainment value, and when one has to watch it, watch it in 3D, because, I thought, the 3D version has been shot pretty well, when compared to some of the earlier 3D movies that were released in India, like for example, theHarry Potter and the Alice in Wonderland. It may just be a case of the 3D projection system getting better this time, but still, it was enjoyable to watch.  So switch off your brain, don't go about searching for logics, and just put on your 3D glasses.  As the motto of the ‘Three Musketeers’ goes, “Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno”("One for all, and all for One."), the movie, too, does justice to the latter, and can be enjoyed by Kids, teens and adults alike.   The adventure will just engulf you.

Directed by: Paul S AndersonStarring: Logan Lerman, Milla Jovovich, Christoph Waltz, Mathew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans and above all, Orlando Bloom