THE MUSKETEER

By: Michael Tunison
Date: Friday, September 07, 2001

The ad tagline for THE MUSKETEER boasts that this umpteenth screen version of Alexandre Dumas' 1844 high-adventure classic THE THREE MUSKETEERS will present the familiar story of D'Artagnan and company "As You've Never Seen It Before." Note the careful wording. Nobody's claiming anything is "Better Than You've Seen It Before," or even "As Good As You've Seen It Before." Just different somehow as if there's a danger a new set of filmmakers and actors working in a new millennium might exactly replicate some earlier spin on the tale.

While this latest adaptation of Dumas' genre-defining novel is certainly different than its predecessors, the bad news is that the differences add precious little to a screen legacy that, to mention Hollywood's efforts alone, includes a 1921 silent spectacular starring Douglas Fairbanks and director Richard Lester's memorable 1973 adventure-comedy take with Michael York, Richard Chamberlain and Oliver Reed. Believe it or not, director Peter Hyams' action-centric new spin on the story doesn't even compare favorably to the half-serious 1993 Brat Pack THREE MUSKETEERS, which at least offered the sight of leading hams Charlie Sheen and Oliver Platt smirking all the way to the bank.

As its title indicates, THE MUSKETEER is focused somewhat more narrowly on D'Artagnan (Justin Chambers) than most Musketeer flicks, consigning the "All for one" trio of Aramis (Nick Moran), Porthos (Steve Spiers) and Athos (Jan Gregor Kremp) to back-seat supporting roles. Whether it's attributable to Hyams, screenwriter Gene Quintano or the storytelling troubles suggested by the film's choppy flow, the added prominence of Chambers' D'Artagnan shows just how wise earlier screen adapters were to hang more of their versions on the bickering but always faithful Three Musketeers rather than their younger, blander compatriot. While D'Artagnan always has been portrayed as the story's nominal protagonist, Dumas' original title choice and the group emphasis of countless subsequent films suggest that the author and most of his previous adapters grasped an essential fact: D'Artagnan simply isn't as much fun as the Three.

After setting up the hero's lifelong quest

to be a Musketeer with a laughably generic childhood prologue showing how the nefarious mercenary swordsman Febre (Tim Roth) cut down his parents before his eyes, Hyams' film skips ahead to follow an adult D'Artagnan as he heads to not-so-gay Paris to join the king's legendary elite guard. He arrives to find Louis XIII and his queen (Catherine Deneuve) under the thumb of the sinister Cardinal Richelieu (Stephen Rea), whose dirty work happens to be carried out by D'Artagnan's archenemy Febre. The disheartened, drunken remaining Musketeers seem unable to face up to the Richelieu menace, so it's a good thing the wet-behind-the-ears D'Artagnan has come along to whip them back into shape. The kid may be new to the swashbuckling hero business, but he's apparently the only guy in France who can protect the monarchs and his chambermaid love interest (Mena Suvari), outwit the cardinal and save the kingdom.

Cue the series of Hong Kong-influenced action set pieces which, to judge by the film's marketing campaign, are considered its main appeal. In a conscious departure from the old-fashioned theatrical fencing and rope-swinging routines of past efforts in the genre, Chinese stunt choreographer Xin Xin Xiong (Tsui Hark's TIME AND TIDE) brings some characteristically cranked-up Asian energy to the on-screen combat characters fight from the rafters in a tavern, atop rolling wine casks, hanging vertically from ropes on a castle wall. While these sequences do indeed showcase some first-class stuntwork, generating a few exciting moments on their own steam, they fit clumsily into the dramatic material around them and rarely build up much overall momentum. Patchy editing contributes to the problem, sometimes confusing the viewer as to what is happening.

The actors navigate

their thinly written parts with varying degrees of success, with the always-amazing Roth (PLANET OF THE APES) and Rea (THE CRYING GAME) supplying the few truly choice character bits and easily stealing what little show there is to steal. Former model Chambers (THE WEDDING PLANNER) is reasonably convincing in his first big leading role, but there's nothing larger-than-life or Musketeerish about his presence whatever magical quality allows certain actors to project action-heroism just standing around he doesn't demonstrate here. The picture is so muddled dramatically that it's hard to tell if he's supposed to be a more down-to-earth spin on the dashing Fairbanks/Errol Flynn type or not; either way, he's a weak engine to pull this type of big-screen roller coaster. Rounding out the main ensemble, AMERICAN PIE's Suvari is as embarrassingly out of place and un-17^th Century as they come you keep expecting her to ride off to the mall or flip on MTV.

As has been the case with westerns, attempting to resuscitate the swashbuckler genre has defeated many a filmmaker in recent years, resulting in a long string of expensive, mediocre flicks the Martin Campbell-helmed THE MASK OF ZORRO being the only exception that comes to mind. Hyams has proved himself a capable director of both hard sci-fi (the under-appreciated 2010) and sci-fi action (TIMECOP, OUTLAND) in the past, but he has no more idea how to recapture the spirit of this type of adventure yarn than the makers of CUTTHROAT ISLAND and the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK did. Is there any way (short of drafting Ridley Scott, that is) of restoring one of the richest traditions of popcorn action fare to its rightful place of glory on the big screen? THE MUSKETEER certainly isn't the picture to do it.

THE MUSKETEER

Grade: D+

Reviewed Format: Wide Theatrical Release

Rated: PG-13

Stars: Justin Chambers, Tim Roth, Mena Suvari, Stephen Rea, Catherine Deneuve

Writer: Gene Quintano, based on the novel THE THREE MUSKETEERS by Alexandre Dumas

Director: Peter Hyams

Distributor: Universal