The Musketeer (2001)

Adapted from the Dumas classic The Three Musketeers and set in 17th-century France, The Musketeer focuses on young D'Artagnan (Justin Chambers), who revives the musketeers in a campaign against Cardinal Richelieu (Stephen Rea) and his vile henchman Febre (Tim Roth), who killed D'Artagnan's parents 14 years earlier. The heroes must rescue the abducted queen (Catherine Deneuve) and her comely confidante Francesca (Mena Suvari), with the obvious highlight being D'Artagnan and Febre's inevitable showdown, which trades "All for one, and one for all" for ludicrous swordplay on teetering ladders. The film gets a trendy boost from Hong Kong action choreographer Xin Xin Xiong (Time and Tide, Double Team), but the results are decidedly mixed. While director Peter Hyams achieves convincing period atmosphere (lighting by torch and candles, etc.), he's burdened by a lifeless script and a bland leading man. The Musketeer is lightly entertaining, but another viewing of Rob Roy will provide greater satisfaction. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

I'm man enough to stick up for this movie

Since there is alot of people putting tis movie down I'm man enough to say it was a good movie. Mabey not as good as The 3 Musketeers but I'll say it's a close second. Yeah mabey the acting was not the greatest from some people but it's still better than some done by the garbage hollywood pumps out now.This was a fun film to watch and I for one was entertained though the whole thing. It's not a docudrama as some reviewers seem to think but just a fun movie. June 22, 2008

Missing the Target....

"The Three Musketeers" has been a Hollywood staple for decades. 2001's "The Musketeer" was an attempt to update the franchise using the latest in movie special effects and a focus on the character of D'Artagnan. Unfortunately, it falls short of being a successful adaption.

In "The Musketeer", Justin Chambers plays D'Artagnan as a hunky superwarrior, capable of fantastic feats of martial arts and swordsmanship on a par with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." The movie's traditional story gets buried beneath a series of set-piece fight spectaculars. The fight scenes are interesting, but the plotline stringing them together has become paper-thin. The traditional plot complication involving the Duke of Buckingham and the French Queen is told in a confusing manner, while the three Musketeers themselves seem to have little to do with the story. Only Tim Roth as the Cardinal's evil henchman shines at all. Young and attractive actress Mena Suvari is prominent as the Queen's aide and as a love-interest for D'Artagnan, but her very modern and very immodest female personna wrong-foots the role. Catherine Deneuve seems uncomfortable as the Queen, as if looking for the nearest exit. Justin Chambers is wooden in delivery and lacking in the on-screen charisma we have come to expect from D'Artagnan as a character.

This movie will be entertaining primarily to those with no expectations of the traditional story of "The Three Musketeers." December 20, 2007

It's not Errol Flynn, but it is fun

I've never understood the tidal wave of revulsion for The Musketeer. It has a lot of problems - Peter Hyams' typically limited cinematography that rations color like it was wartime, the atrocious swordwork from the blandest bunch of Musketeers ever to have a camera pointed at them, the worst credits sequence of all time and an impressive ladder fight that is really just a reprise of stunt director Xin Xin Xiong's own work in Once Upon a Time in China - but for all that it's an enjoyable romp and David Arnold's unapologetically fullblown romantic score (quite possibly based on his rejected score for Cutthroat Island) is rather splendid. Certainly as modern-day swashbucklers go, it's better than most. The DVD extras are pretty perfunctory though. December 16, 2007

Mediocre at best

I will not review this based on the book, as I was never a big fan of the book anyways, but on the film itself.
Mostly, I simply found most of the characters to be bland and lifeless, with the notible exception of the villian Febre, and the plot and dialogue to be fairly weak and unexciting.
The swordfighting skills displayed in the movie were dazzling, but (as another reviewer also mentioned) considering that everyone appeared almost identicle, it was a little hard to tell at times who was fighting whom. Also, while again the fight scenes were dazzling, there was no practicle reason why some of the more over the top ones were even engaged in. I am referring mostly to the fight outside the tower on ropes (why didn't someone attempt to cut D'Artagnan's rope instead of engaging him in an ariel fencing match?) and the fight on the ladders (why would Febre give up stable ground to fight D'Artagnan on unsure footing?). May 23, 2007

it can't get any worse than this

it's just awful. although the movie is allegedly based on a famous novel by dumas (the three musketeers), the movie violates both the spirit and the plot of the original story. There is no Milady, D'Artagnan's young lover does not die, D'Artagnan does not go on a mission to the UK, and so forth and so on.
What makes the movie truly unwatchable is not just the fact that it has little if anything to do with Dumas's masterpiece, but is the fact that the movie is phenomenally poorly scripted and equally poorly acted.
don't waste your money buying this dvd. it's not worthy. it rarely gets any worse than this. May 8, 2006

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