Anyone see this non-adaptation? Reviews are pretty mixed- a love it or hate it affair. As a fan of Dumas' book, I know I should skip this. As a fan of steampunk, period pieces, hot babe, and awesome swordplay, I know I'm probably gonna get suckered in. Just wondering if anyone else gave it a whirl yet.
I'll probably see it, it looks like fun and if I want a faithfull to the book version, I'll always have the 1948 (or '49) MGM version with Gene Kelley, Lana Turner & Vincent Price.
Why is it that when any FX are played out, they decide to do a remake of The Three Musketeers? At the tail end of the wire-work craze, I remember some "Musketeer" movie that had the characters flying about ridiculously. Now we get a CGI/3D crapfest. For as campy and terrible as a lot of 70s movies are, it is frustrating that this is when we got one of the better versions of "The Three Musketeers".
Incidentally, I'm not a particularly good swordsman, but I have fenced a bit and taken some classes and know the basics. In the past, I quite enjoyed any swordplay, but an instructor one suggested watching Tyrone Power fight Basil Rathbone in "The Mark of Zorro" if you want to see actual, good fencing, and that has ruined me on the over-the-top choreographed fights you see in movies like this. Oh, I still enjoy "The Mask of Zorro" and "The Princess Bride", but the swordfights aren't as thrilling.
^I usually call sword fights in most movies these days "dancing" because of the way they do them these days. Case in point would be the SW Prequels, especially when you compare them to the original trilogy. I have to admit, though, another pet peeve of mine when it comes to sword fighting in movies is that no matter what type of sword it is, Hollywood usually treats it like a fencing sword. For instance in Gladiator, they did this with gladii, which were stabbing swords, and would actually break if someone tried to use them that way because the steel they were made out of was very brittle. That was way the Romans had those huge shields to block blows with. Broad swords also had a fairly interesting fighting style that would be used with them, but whatever. I guess Hollywood thinks all swords are rapiers.
You should check out the duel between Mel Ferrer (sp?) and Stewart Granger in Scaramouche sometime, it's pretty good too. [YT="Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?"]MFhfKcwbw5k[/YT] And back on topic, (sort of), here's a nice mash-up of the '48 MGM version with the audio from the new trailer. Gene Kelly, Vincent Price, Van Heflin and Lana Turner lend more than a little star power here! [WYT="The Three Musketeers"]BjsNSIcr9h0&feature=related[/WYT]
It's directoed by Paul W. S. Anderson, so you know it's going to suck. Only Uwe Boll is a worse film maker.
And after looking at some of the other duels linked to Scaramouche, I broke down and ordered a couple fun old flicks from Amazon. First, a funny classic, starring Danny Kaye & Basil Rathbone, [WYT="The Court Jester"]2ztcOEBcAOs&feature=player_embedded#![/WYT] And an Amazon exclusive, based on Howard Pyle's Men of Iron, [YT="The Black Shield of Falworth"]Bf20rEhfXKk[/YT] The Court Jester was a little pricey, but it's out of print, so, what the hell. :turkey2:
My favorite Musketeers movie will probably always be the 1970s Oliver Reed/Michael York version. It's a fun flick that feels very "period" to me, both in setting and filmmaking style. Plus, as a ten year old kid, these made quite an impression on me.
Going back and watching some of those old medieval movies is a real crack-up. When I was a kid that style was already going out of vogue- I much prefer today's bloody realism that depicts an era no right-minded person would actually want to live in. As a common man today I live like a God in heaven compared to any Roman Emperor.
I'm getting a bit tired of the fact that you have to have a woman action hero in it, the grllz kick ass meme. Actually, no, they really don't, and they sure as hell didn't in this time period. So genetically modified superwoman? Which basically started the meme. Sure, why not. In a historical piece in renaissance France? Fuck no. There's a few examples of legendary warrior women in real history, but those were a very big exception, not the rule.
...there was Joan of Arc, and Jovovich played her too. Without bullet-time powers though. I kinda dig that version, it shows her as a religious maniac, and possible schizophrenic, but doesn't diminish what she pulled off.
I liked the Joan of Arc movie, but Jovovish was so horribly miscast it almost destroyed the flick for me. She can't act her way out of a wet paper bag.
Has no one gone and seen this yet??? Ok, I took one for the team last night and tried it out, after our party of five bought the last THREE tickets to Immortals. Three refunds later, we had tickets to The Three Musketeers. The good: The costumes, architecture, and period design was AWESOME! Paris, from the bird's eye view, right down to the streets, was really a site to behold, and now I'm going to put a visit to the City of Lights on my bucket list. The movie uses 3D rendered miniatures on a map, and zooms right down to the live action several times, and I really like this effect, and thought it was well done. The actors, for the most part do an alright job. This movie is so full of action that there really wasn't much time to flesh them out as much as I'd like to see, but they were, to a man, compelling enough and likable enough to care about. The swordfighting, though not the 'classical' swordfighting as seen in the previously posted videos, was believable and dramatic enough to be at least passable. And Milla Jovovich as a redhead! Wow! For those who like redheads, I dare say this movie might be worth going to just to see her! The bad: The story, to me, seemed to be very simple, but it was enough to give them an excuse to go through their action sequences. (Very mild spoilers ahead) Basically, they are trying to recover a treasure, or they face France going to war. The kid, who is the son of one of the Musketeers, isn't believable as a swordmaster. No way a kid that young should be that good, IMO, unless he's some sort of phenomenon. The way he meets them all just seems so contrived. Final thoughts: This is a good, nay, I say it, GREAT action flick. Sure, the story could be a little bit more advanced, and they could've put a little more characterization into it, but if you're willing to turn off your super analytical brain for a few hours, and enjoy yourself, this takes you on a great ride. I can't honestly give an A to a film such as this, but this movie is really quite fun, if you let down your guard and just go with it. Final Score: B+ I saw this in 3D, but I really don't think it was needed. Worth going to in the theater, but wouldn't kill you to wait for the bluray. (And do see it in bluray, just for the gorgeous costumes and buildings.)
