The Musketeer (2001)
It seems odd that yet another re-make of Alexandre Dumas'
The Three Musketeers should be produced so shortly after
the 1993 film adaptation of this story. In any case, for this
new version, director Peter Hyams (2010), sought to blend the
European swashbuckling genre with the frenetic combat of Hong
Kong martial arts movies. An intriguing idea, but the film does
not offer much that is particularly fresh or inventive.
Overall, the production is visually quite good, boasting of fine
photography (Hyams served as cinematographer as well as director)
and some impressively acrobatic fight scenes choreographed by
Xin Xin Xiong (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Likewise,
the action sequences and the overall pace of the film are invested
with good energy and propulsion by editor Terry Rawlings (Alien).
But the human elements-the adaptation of Dumas' story, and more
especially, the characters-are pure cardboard. Former Calvin
Klein model Justin Chambers plays the hero, D'Artagnan. While
Chambers can swing his sword with conviction, he is otherwise
out of place among a cast with far superior acting ability, and
the romance between D'Artagnan and leading lady Francesca (Mena
Suvari) is more like something out of Us Magazine than
from a classic Dumas novel. However, the Musketeers themselves,
and their normally distinct personalities, tend to blur together
in this production, with the exception of Tim Roth (as the villainous
Febre), who steals the show, snarling with cold-blooded menace
in one of his best roles since Rob Roy.
David Arnold's score follows in the footsteps of the Korngold/John
Williams tradition, with requisite heroic brass and romantic
strings, but like so much else in this film, it just feels formulaic.
The screenplay is also deeply flawed, and its attempts at clever
dialog is embarrassingly contrived.
For a film whose director was apparently aiming for something
new and different, The Musketeer offers nothing of the
kind. For certain there is some interesting stuntwork, but the
filmmakers' regard for both the characters and the story trails
far behind. When one considers the plethora of far better Dumas
adaptations readily available at the local video rental counter,
there is not much to recommend this film.
Paul Andrew MacLean
© 2002 
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