Musketeer, The
	Director:	Peter Hyams
	Actors:	Catherine Deneuve (as The Queen), Mena Suvari (as Francesca bon Ansau), Stephen Rea (as Cardinal Richelieu), Tim Roth (as Febre the Man in Black), Justin Chambers (as D'Artagnan), Bill Treacher (as Bonacieux, Francesca's Uncle), Daniel Mesguich (as King Louis XIII), David Schofield (as Rochefort, Richelieu Henchman), Nick Moran (as Aramis), Steven Spiers (as Porthos (as Steve Speirs)), Jan Gregor Kremp (as Athos), Jeremy Clyde (I) (as Lord Buckingham), Michael Byrne (I) (as Treville, Head of the Musketeers), Jean-Pierre Castaldi (as Planchet), Tsilla Chelton (as Madame Lacross)
	Country:	USA
	Category:	Action
	Year:	2001

Description:	Alexander Dumas' novel is updated with an eastern influence as D'Artagnan attempts to join the king's elite guards, the Royal Musketeers, and find the man who killed his parents.
Comments:	OK, class, here's the question. How do you make a mediocre film? Here's the answer -- start with a script that isn't particularly imaginative, add a few sub-standard actors in key parts, make sure the lighting is never quite right, use a film lab that can't quite get the colors right, use foley artists that don't quite get the background sounds right, and make the action a fusion of Zorro, Kung Fu, Indiana Jones, and Roy Rogers. That, in a nutshell, is what they did with this film, "The Musketeer." I didn't expect a lot, but I expected more. There are a couple of fine performances. Tim Roth as the evil Febre is just plain evil. I first noticed him as Archibald Cunningham in "Rob Roy" (1995) where he also played a very evil person. In "Musketeer" he is so much better than the others that it just magnifies their mediocrity. Also Catherine Deneuve as the Queen and Steven Rey as Cardinal Richelieu were excellent. I was most disappointed in Mena Suvari as Francesca, young friend of the Queen. Her only half-believable line was near the end, after being shot, when she whispered to Dartagnan, "I'm not dead, now go and kill him," referring to Febre. She has a prime role, but her expressions and delivery never seemed to ring true, even in this story which sometimes seemed more like "The Princess Bride" in style and depth than the other Musketeer films. Suvari just doesn't have the acting chops of many of the good young actors we are seeing today. Although he did not have the lead, much of the film focused on Dartagnan played by former model, Justin Chambers. He actually wasn't bad, but against the other fine actors his inexperience was greatly magnified. In all I thought he did a credible job. mild SPOILERS - As all musketeer films, they become "all for one, one for all" in some cause involving the king and/or queen, and have to defeat the enemy, often insiders. In this version, Febre had killed Dartagnan's parents when he was only a young boy, but got in one swing of the sword that blinded Febre in his left eye. Febre wanted revenge, Dartagnan wanted revenge, and the whole film uses about 90 minutes to set up their eventual showdown. Our interest is piqued by Febre's attempt to also kill the king and the queen. The last 5 minutes is the highly choreographed swordfight among very tall ladders. And, in the end, Dartagnan whispers to Richelieu, "Bless me father, for I will sin. You will see me some night", as Richelieu assumes a worried look. When the credits roll we see a very large concentration of Asian stuntmen, and the action sequences have a strong Asian action quality to them, which in one way is a welcome change from the standard swordfights. The filming was in France, the film lab and sound lab were in Germany. I look at the 1998 "Mask of Zorro" and see a beautiful film. I look at this "Musketeer" film and see one that looks amateurish in comparison. Still, with all its flaws, I found it mildly entertaining. It however is certainly a good example of how to make a mediocre film. Study it, class, and do the opposite.
Languages:	English
Subtitles:
Length:	104
Video format:
Audio format:
Resolution:
Files sizes:	991