“The Three Musketeers” (2011) Movie Review

By Jacquelyne Yawn | November 1, 2011

“The Three Musketeers” remake recently came out, and the revival of The Musketeers’ story offers a unique twist to the original story.

Who ever thought to add a sky battle between the Musketeers and the Cardinal’s men was brilliant.

What particularly added to the experience was the D-Box seating (available at UltraStar Cinemas). It really helped make the movie come alive. The seats moved the audience along the story and made the viewers experience the full power behind the fighting.

As the story progressed the character development within the plot was lacking. The film hardly offered insight into the characters such as the twisted passion of love and hatred between Athos and Milady, the Musketeer’s influence on the young D’Artagnan, and the Captain Rochefort’s (Mads Mikkelsen) villainy seems underplayed. D’Artagnan’s character seemed more like that of a young super hero with his fighting against majority of the Cardinal’s guards with perfect aim and ease.

For those who are fans of the classic novels and films, they may find the film disappointing.

All in all though, despite the lack in character development and subplots, the film was overall good. The action sequences with the sword fighting and martial arts were thrilling and exciting. The Musketeers provided excellent wit and hilarious humor throughout the film and really moved the audience in their sense of honor and loyalty.

This swashbuckling starts off in Venice, Italy with the Musketeer’s mission to infiltrate the vault of Leonardo Da Vinci’s work. There they hope to find his battle airship designs. Each of the Musketeer’s strengths and fighting styles are beautifully displayed as they perform their roles with perfection.

Athos (Matthew Macfadyen) is shown emerging from the deep canal waters while wearing a modernistic underwater breathing mask. He takes down the guards with quick ease and is joined by his love, the beautiful Milday de Winter (Milla Jovovich), who gives him a key.

The next scene is suddenly switched to the city’s rooftops where Aramis (Luke Evans) lurks, waiting in the darkness, as he finishes his prayers. He is then seen scaling down the rooftop to pounce on the unsuspecting noble and lady in their gondola. Where he steals the key from the noble, dumps him in the canal, and makes love with the lady.

Porthos (Ray Stevenson) is hilariously shown in the next scene as he takes down all the men in the room after he is seemingly chained to the wall. He breaks down the chains with his arms and steals the key from a noble, whom he had been waiting for in the dungeons the entire time.

However, the famous warriors’ success with the theft of Da Vinci’s work is short lived upon their realization of Milady’s betrayal. Having failed their mission, they are forced to return home in dishonor and shame.

Thus the introduction of the young D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman) comes into play as the young wanna-be Musketeer brashly challenges each of them into a duel. Instead of dueling, they band together to take on the Cardinals’ guards, much to the pleasure of the citizens and secret delight of the King (Freddie Fox).

We also meet the corrupt Cardinal Richelieu (Christoph Waltz) as he hopes to take down the King and Queen (Juno Temple) through his manipulations of court intrigue. As the Duke of Buckingham (Orlando Bloom) visits to show off his new ‘war machine’ toy, the fighting airship, the Cardinal plans to use this visit to his advantage by insinuating to the King an affair between the Duke and Queen.

Faced with the possibility of gaining their honor back, not to mention much needed funds, the newly spirited Musketeers take up the challenge to protect the Queen and thwart the Cardinal’s villainous plot.

The entire cast’s performance was excellent. Macfadyen, Stevenson, and Evans got the Musketeers’ personalities perfectly. And the villains, Jovovich, Bloom, and Waltz did a splendid job in showing the characters’ ease of court and psychological manipulations.

While Lerman did a great job as D’Artagnan with the action scenes, sadly he failed at performing as the handsome, masculine youth. He seemed too much like a pretty boy to play a musketeer.

All in all though the director, Paul W.S. Anderson did a great job in his remake of Alexandre Dumas’s novel, The Three Musketeers. AMC Film Critic stated, “There are times when director Anderson — channeling his inner Zack Synder and his own work on the Resident Evil franchise — ratchets up the sword play with amazing visual flourishes. His players bob, weave, and literally fly through the air in an ersatz wire-fu bullet time take on the old world fights.”

The film is definitely worth seeing and the D-Box features really help increase the story’s special effects. The D-Box really made the movie come alive and without it the film almost seemed dull. So go see it in D-Box while you still can.

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Brought to you by UltraStar Cinemas

UltraStar Cinemas’ DBox seat features were a fantastic addition to the film.  The DBox seats make the audiences feel as if they are in the middle of all the action.

They are reserved in the middle of the theater room surrounded by regular seats for those who choose to watch the film in the non-DBox format. Each one has a setting for the viewer to choose their preference of the seats’ motion effects as well.

Ultra Star Cinemas is headquartered in San Diego County and operates 141 screens at 14 sites throughout Southern California and Arizona. The company was formed in 1999 by John Ellison, Jr.and Alan Grossberg with the same goal in mind – be a pioneer in the industry and consistently stay onthe forefront of technology, while providing the best movie-going experience to every guest that walksthrough the doors.

UltraStar was the first exhibitor in the world to be equipped with D-BOX Motion Seats. D-BOX Technologies uses motion integrated within theater seats to capture some of the best action scenes in all types of movies. Feeling the action immerses the guest in the movie like never before.

Photos courtesy of 2011 Constantin Film Produktion GmbH, NEF Productions, S.A.S., and New Legacy Film Ltd. via film site.