Movie Review: The Three Musketeers

It's my understanding that "The Three Musketeers" had a poor showing their opening weekend. A pity that. It's rather a good movie. Well. Good. There's varying definitions of what makes a movie "good". But this movie is fun. It's enjoyable. It's got very little to do with the classic book of the same name. Sure, there's at least 4 characters using the same name as characters in the book. But the rest is only loosely connected.

Did you see "Sherlock Holmes" with Robert Downey Jr? Inspired by Holmes, sure, but done with a bit more flash than the character in the books. Most everyone enjoyed it more than the Holmes we see on PBS.
How about "Pirates of the Caribbean"? Nearly no connection to the Disney ride that it's based on and certainly unlike actual pirates. But we're 4 movies in and counting.
"League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"? OK, a lot of people didn't like that movie. It was a different story than in the comic version with a few changes in character and sporting a bit of technology that wouldn't be quite correct for the era. But I liked it.

I bring up these movies because "The Three Musketeers" got the same treatment as those movies. Take a classic story and give it a bit of flash. The musketeers are more like Special Forces than mere king's guards. D'Artagnan picks fights with pretty much everyone he sees. Milla Jovovich gives one of her more enjoyable performance since "The Fifth Element". And Orlando Bloom, well, it's not a character you've seen him do before and you can't help but laugh.

You haven't seen a movie review from me in months. First there was garbage. Then there was stuff that looked alright if I was going to a movie, but nothing driving me to see it. This is the first movie in awhile that looked interesting, if a bit insulting to it's source material. And comparisons to "Pirates of the Caribbean" are apt.

I do recommend this movie and I'll probably get it on DVD.