Rating: 
Summary: A Little Disappointing: A. Dumas in Hong Kong Action Style
Review: Let me give you a quiz: "The Musketeer" is a very unique film in the US movie box-office history, but how is it? Guess. If "The Musketeer" should be remembered in the Hollywood movie history, it is not because it's the great action flick, nor an Oscar winner. It is very unique because it is a film that took the No. 1 of box-office hit chart of America, and it features French icon Cathrine Deneuve as its star. That makes this film something, isn't it? (But, though she takes the first billing of the credit, her role is slightly better than a cameo. Strange.) Actually, the film's greatest merit is its superb cast -- besides Deneuve, you got Mena Suvari, Stephen Rea, and Tim Roth. But how come this film is not exciting? Though action scenes are good, the story is dull, and the film lose its focus s as it goes on and on. In short, what does D'Artagnan (Justine Chambers, seen with Jennifer Lopez in "The Wedding Planner"), the hero of the film, really want to do, we cannot comprehend. The problem is the script by Gene Quintano, whose previous records include "Sudden Death" of Peter Hyams, and ... well, "Loaded Weapon 1." Some complain that Dumas's classic story was changed mercilessly, but that, in fact, is not the point. (Dumas himself didn't write every sentence of his book, hiring many assistants.) The real problem is that the film doesn't know what it wants to do. Athos, Porthos, & Aramis appear as if an excuse for using the name of Dumas while Mena Suvari's character is thrown into a simple revenge story of D'Atragnan. AND we got Deneuve in the Royal Court of France; AND we see Stephen Rea as Cardinal.... Oh, this is too much!! The main attraction, and probably the real hero, of this film is its great stuntwork cordinateded by Xin Xin-Xiong, who had been long working with Jet Li in his Hong-Kong era. His gravity-defying actions using wire seem to end in varied results, but the best of them simply reaches state-of-art. His stunts intentionally using vertical movement are executed on the ceiling of bar, on the window sill, on the turret of castle, and delicately-balanced ladders. And one of them, obviously done John Ford's "The Stagecoach" in mind, is marvellous. As a whole, "The Musketeer" is a wasted oppotunity. You may avoid the name of Hyams because of "End of Days" disaster, but he is usually capable of constructing good action sequences. However, inspite of stunning action stunts, the exciting feeling he produced in "Narrow Margin" or "Capricorn 1" is somehow missing here.
Rating: 
Summary: justin didn't do justice
Review: i felt this was just a mish mash of scenes. it didn't flow nicely along and the star could no way handle the lead. after seeing MAN IN THE IRON MASK, you saw the unity of the musketeers, something i didn't get out of this. 5 of us watched it together and in the end we all agreed it was pretty boring.
Rating: 
Summary: see Iron Monkey instead!
Review: Plenty of people have complained about the storyline and acting. I have to agree. I've read Dumas' book, it's great, and this is not even close. Enough said. Others have praised the fighting, but really, you can see better fighting in better movies. The fights range from no-skills brawling (for example, knocking out two men with two punches to the face, or beating down two swordsmen with a tree branch) to Hong Kong-style acrobatics. But then, it wasn't even close to the acrobatics you can find in Iron Monkey (from 1993, directed by Yuen Woo-ping) in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or in Jet Li's Fist of Legend. Those kinds of stunts fit nicely in the Asian culture but look strange in 17th century France. Are we really supposed to believe that overweight slob taught D'Artagnan how to fight like that? And in the end, Tim Roth might have won the fight if he'd spent more time fencing and less time jumping around on ladders like a circus clown. See Iron Monkey instead!
Rating:
Summary: Weak lead drags action-packed MUSKETEER
Review: Alexandre Dumas' classic novel of swashbuckling derring-do, "The Three Musketeers" has long been a favorite of film-makers ever since the silent days of Douglas Fairbanks. From the definitive version with Michael York, Oliver Reed and Faye Dunaway to the extremely campy Disney version with Tim Curry and Charlie Sheen, this tale never ceases to entertain. This latest version uses the old revenge sub-plot in which young D'artagnan (Justin Chambers) not only seeks to become a Musketeer, but avenge his parents' murder at the hands of the villianous Febre' (Tim Roth). In an attempt to "freshen up" the classic adventure, director Peter Hyams uses the classic fight choreography of martial arts specialist Xin-Xin Xiong. In that regard, the movie is a success as the fight sequences are quite amazing. However, the screenplay ignores the rich characters of Dumas' plot while basically reducing the classic trio of Athos, Porthos and Aramis to little more than minor supporting roles. If the role of D'artagnan had been played by a strong actor, it might've worked. However, a rather bland and flat performance by Justin Chambers in the lead as the heroic D'artagnan nearly sinks the entire enterprise. While he looks the part and handles the action scenes well, Chambers seems to have left all emotion on the cutting-room floor. As a result, Mena Suvari tries hard as his love interest, but has nowhere to go. As for the other Musketeers, only Steven Spiers as Porthos comes across with any sense of depth. Jean-Pierre Castaldi provides light humor as the wry mentor/servant Planchet. Catherine Deneuve is a regal delight as the Queen, while Stephen Rea is solid in his role as the crafty Cardinal Richeleu. Tim Roth is sneering perfection as the sinister Febre', despite the fact that his eyepatch has long become a cliche' in Musketeer filmmaking. Hyams directs the whole thing with a sure hand and is mostly successful in presenting the time period of the story. It's a shame that Chamber's performance drags this film down so much as this flick had a lot of potential. If you enjoy fight choreography, I do recommend this film. But if you want to see this story done right in all respects, see the 2 part Michael York films: THE THREE MUSKETEERS and THE FOUR MUSKETEERS.
Rating:
Summary: How Not to Make a Dumas Epic
Review: The tagline on the theatrical poster for "The Musketeer" proclaims: "As you've never seen it before!" We can only pray that we never see it this way again. This updated, revisionist version of the classic Alexander Dumas novel, "The Three Musketeers", manages to eviscerate the story without putting in its place anything interesting or entertaining. This is the kind of movie that gives historical epics a bad name. It's the early 1600s in France. D'Artagnan's [Justin Chambers] parents are killed in front of him when he is a little boy. He does manage to wound the assailant, who gets away. The kid vows to join the Musketeers, a group of swordsmen who protect the king of France, and find the killer. Fourteen years later, he arrives in Paris to fulfill his destiny. The Musketeers, however, aren't what they used to be. They sit around and drink a lot because the powerful Cardinal Richelieu has ordered them to stop doing their jobs. It seems the Cardinal [Stephen Rea] has plans to overthrow the king and also to instigate a war with England [or is it Spain?] D'Artagnan tries to rouse the lethargic Musketeers into helping him to save France from the Cardinal and his evil henchman, Febre [Tim Roth], who also happens to be the man our hero is looking for. It takes D'Artagnan most of the movie to figure out who Febre is, possibly because he spends much of his time pursuing the lovely Francesca [Mena Suvari]. I've noted in past reviews how tricky it is to make a good historical epic. Accuracy has to be altered somewhat to make the movie understandable and/or entertaining. "The Musketeers" manages to throw out all historical truths and still not be fun, plausible or very comprehensible. The movie portrays the king, Louis XIII, as weak and Richelieu as a power hungry back stabber. In fact, Richelieu was France's Prime Minister and the king's ally against the French Huguenots and, for that matter, most of the rest of Europe. He thwarted plots against the throne rather than instigated them. The movie portrays the king as such a foolish fop that it's easy to see the Musketeers as not even wanting to go back to work. All this makes D'Atagnan's attempts to rouse them seem somewhat unbelievable. Someone decided it would be cool to bring in a famous Chinese martial arts choreographer to stage a lot of Kung Fu style fights, a la "Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". This requires the actors to do a lot of jumping around, doing stuff that was as physically impossible then as it is today. These stunts work in a movie that is surreal or is just plain fun, but "The Musketeer" is so dark and plodding that these sequences seem tacked on and very obviously staged. Instead of being exhilarating, they are, for the most part, simply irritating. The acting ranges from mediocre to dreadful. There are some fine actors here [Roth, Suvari, Stephen Rea, Catherine Deneuve], but they seem bored with that's going on. Chambers seems to have few acting skills. If he's lucky, he can fill in after Steven Segal retires. Coincidentally, I have seen two other historical epics recently, both of which were great. One is "The Count of Monte Cristo", which has wonderful acting and a script that places story and character over action. The other is "The Brotherhood of the Wolf", a French film with tons of marvelously choreographed fight scenes, many of them also with a Far East flavor. Neither of them is on DVD yet. If I were you, I wait until they are and avoid this pathetic Musketeer.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing result for a vision with so much potential
Review: The Musketeer, billed as a visionary new interpretation of one of the most filmed stories in movie history, falls far short of its promises.
With weak screenwriting and poor dialogue, the audience will find itself silently groaning over poorly delivered, predictable lines and wondering if the director's intention was humor or high drama.
Poor editing can be found throughout the film and even the most casual viewer will notice inconsistencies.
The action sequences, which add some fresh intensity to the film, ocassionally leave much to be desired. Obvious time compression in action scenes can leave an audience expecting blockbuster-quality seqences disappointed.
Overall, the Musketeer is indeed a new vision of a tried-and-true classic, but whether this vision is worth seeing is debatable.
Rating:
Summary: Crouching Frenchman - Hidden Plot
Review: Apparently in 17th Century France, the laws of gravity were suspended for a time. Everyone leaps around on wires to the point that it is getting silly. The swordfighting is O.K. but, it's heavly influenced by Wu Shu Kung Fu which is understandable given the stunt coreographer for the movie. The acting is wooden with half the cast speaking with a French accent and everyone else speaking Californian.Justin Chambers can't pronounce D'Artagnian, it sound like he is saying "Darten" overall, it's not that great a version of the Three Musketeers.
Rating:
Summary: Enough with the Musketeers
Review: It's not so much the fact that there have been far too many Musketeer films, as the fact that this movie stinks!!! The acting is totally atrocious!!! SOme of the worst acting I've seen on film. Mena Suvari was so good in American Beauty, but in this dud she couldn't act her way out of a paper bag.Whoever that guy is playing D'artanan...he looked a bit like Chris O'Donnell, who did play this character in the three musketeers, he needs to take some acting classes or find a new career. What a bore!
While this fellow was nice to look at, he was such a bad actor! He needs to just stick to something easy, like male modeling.
This is just another attempt at a swashbuckler film, and it failed miserably. Reminds me of some made for t.v. movie that might show up on the WB network.
Watch the Musketeer film with Chris O'Donnell and Kiefer Sutherland. It's a much better made film.
Rating:
Summary: Great concept but flawed
Review: PROS: Great scenery, cinematography is usually good, great costumes, brilliant choreography (sword fighting CONS: Scenes lack strength due to Impassionate acting. Its almost a pity because the movie has so much promise but falls short to be just flawed. The scenery and costumes were great and the choreography added a fresh twist to 17th century swashbuckling--the fighting scenes are all very interesting and the moves are somewhat like a martial arts movie, but never do they look out of place. It desperately needs stronger acting by almost all actors in the film (the acting isn't awful but nothing note worthy), however, and due to this, there is less tension and excitement in the scenes that need them most.
Rating:
Summary: It's fun but that's about all you can get from this film.
Review: Peter Hyam's should take lessons from Steven Speilberg or even James Cameron at making a entertaining film most of his films are garbage and they don't amount to anything except a
good time but to expect to pay 5 to 9 dollars for his movies
when most of them are just straight to video releases is to
much to contemplate.If you expect to get a good telling of
this classic then maybe you should look at some of the british productions or even Disney's 3 Musketeers good fight scenes
and but no where near as good as the matrix Justin Chambers
who plays D'artaign who couldn't act his way out of a paper
bag who plays the hero like a cardbord cutout is obviously
here as look's , Mina Suvari is given ditzy cardboard lines
and Tim Roth what good actor he is wasted with a one demensional charachter who is just bent on killing but if you watch this for
fun you will get that out of it.
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