3 gibbles outta 5

Director: Pierre Aknine

You know the plot already. …Right? This version of the story involved a lot more mysticism than I recall, but having not read the original, I cannot truly comment on that. However, I can comment that I enjoyed this take on the tale more than several other versions I have seen, and that is thanks to the dedication of the filmmakers and actors.

Essentially, films made of this era tend to, by my opinion, carry some kind of under-current of over-seriousness OR silliness. It’s either gritty we are all passionate, or mustache-twirling aren’t we clever. People are dirty or beautiful. Whereas with the French “4 Musketeers,” there was an excellent balance between these extremes, across the board.

They had a budget but not enough to go all lavish, so efforts seemed focused on making the core believable. Even when the action scenes seemed to go a tad Matrix-y, I was willing to go with it because I believed in the characters and what was going on, and this is a simple feat many films fail to achieve.  It’s cast incredibly well, and the buildup to particular plot points is paced nicely.

Are you a musketeers fan? Then according to other reviews I’ve read this film might incite your ire. But if you’d favor an enjoyable film over a tighter adaptation, I think is the right way to go.