The Musketeer (2001)

There are some wonderful actors in this interpretation of Alexander Dumas' classic novel--Tim Roth, Stephen Rea, Catherine Deneuve--but sadly the star of the film is Justin Chambers, a young man whose acting is so wooden that you can almost see termites gnawing on him during close-ups. The Three Musketeers themselves are a total afterthought, getting little screen time and absolutely zero character set-up or development. They may as well not be in the film at all. As usual, Roth makes a gourmet meal out of store brand ingredients, and Rea and Deneuve do what they can with their undercooked roles.The film's "hook" was that its action sequences were choreographed by Xin-Xin Xiong, a well known Hong Kong stunt man. Unfortunately it's poorly shot, with much of the action taking place in dimly lit rooms and seemingly edited with a Cuisinart. Two of the scenes are moderately entertaining--a duel between d'Artagnan and some thugs at a pub, and then the final duel between he and Roth's Febre using a series of ladders. But even if you can swallow its video gamey quality, it's not enough--not nearly enough--to save this wretched effort.

I'm a huge Dumas fan and watch every one of the adaptations but I missed this one originally. Just caught it on netflix and it's nowhere near as bad as it's made out to be. Yes, the lead is a little off and there isn't much chemistry between him and Mena Suvari who isn't at her best either. The wire based fight scenes look dated and there are a few scene pacing problems.But overall this was quite fun. There *is* chemistry between the Queen and D'artagnan thanks to Catherine Deneuve who exudes star quality in every scene she's in. There are some nice performances from most of the character actors, the original 3 musketeers are great, and the humor if not the plot is very in keeping with the book. I first thought this was a made for TV movie because of the credits at the beginning so I wasn't really expecting much and this definitely beat my expectations. The movie looks good and aside from a few characters most of them seem fairly real, the balance between schtick and too- serious was handled well.Overall, too many faults to be a classic but definitely enough class and fun to be very entertaining. Recommended for fans of period movies and the tongue in cheek dramedy.

I'll be honest: this movie isn't' exactly a emmy winning movie of godhood. There are other movies that tell the same story but they either tell it better or worse depending on your point of taste. This movie is really just a good action flick, same thing goes for the movie Pathfinder.The plot of the movie is straight forward: D'art sees parents killed, friend of family teaches him how to be awesome with the sword, decides to join the legendary heroes of the age to find killer, and of course get the girl in between sword fights and political intrigue. If you were hoping for something a little more in-depth then I suggest you read the actual Dumas book because this movie carters to people like me who want more action and less plot.The stunts are just awesome, the dialogue has its moments, and the actors are well....a nice change from the normal ones you'd expect in movies like this.To sum it up this movie is like Pathfinder...a good time killer. If your not in the mood for something that has big namers, complicated story lines, or something that won an award for whatever made it popular, then pick this up and watch it. It's a nice rental and don't feel like it'll scar your collection if you own it.

Inconsistent film. Actors falling in & out of accents. Great performance by Deneuve. Rich cinematography, costumes, scenery & equines.Justin Chambers is likable, but he is no Michael York, Bruce Campbell, or Douglas Fairbanks. Tim Roth is always a good villain, but this performance seemed flat.Many of the stunts were direct lifts shot for shot from Xena Warrior Princess. The most notable stunt theft is the ladder fight scene which appears five years earlier in the May 1996 Xena episode, "Callisto".It's a fun rainy Saturday afternoon TV movie, but I wouldn't spend money to see it.