The Musketeer (DVD)

Advantages: Hilarious, funniest film of the year.
Disadvantages: It's not a comedy.

...of movies. It was during The Musketeer that I realised how true this is and how, I wished I hadn’t handed over the £4.20 when I pretended I was 17 so I could get in for cheap. How excited Pete (my movie buddy) and I and been when we saw the poster for The Musketeer now seemed like a distant memory as we patiently waited for what was probably the worst film I have ever seen to finish. The poster had been awash with colour and action and had ...
...actually enjoyed any aspect of the film and I was only laughing so much because it was so appalling. The plot was perhaps the most pathetic failure the film had to offer because it was based on such a brilliant and original idea. The classic by Alexandre Dumas has been much interpreted with many different films and plays, but never before has it been so abused. The story of young D’Artagnan, his travels to Paris to become a Musketeer and his ... Read review

Advantages: A decent family action film, Good direction, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Tim Curry
Disadvantages: Hugh O'Connor

...While Robin Hood is always the big motion picture epic that everyone remembers from the early 90's there was another from Walt Disney that maybe isn't so well remembered. It is of course the Hollywood version of the classic tale of The Three Musketeers. In fact even Brian Adams appeared on the soundtrack for this movie but these days only Prince of Thieves seems to be trotted out every year onto tele. At the time though I did really enjoy The Three Musketeers and in fact when I spotted it on DVD just after I bought my first player it was one of the first films I purchased. This is a Disney rework of the classic Dumas novel of the same name in which 3 members of the disbanded Kings guard (Sutherland, Sheen and Platt), link up with a brave young man who whished to join them (Chris O'Donnell) to once again save the kings life. The 4 men... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Lots of fun
Disadvantages: Can get mushy/emotional

...Ah, who thought up this cast? Keifer Sutherland, (as the notable and noble Athos), and Charlie Sheen (as the honorable father, Aramis), and Oliver Platt is SOO much fun as PORTHOS, the pirate, the liason to the Queen of America, -- you really should listen to some of his boasts) plus bonus actors (Tim Curry plays the evil Bishop, and Rebecca De Mornay plays the seductrice). Lots of fun! By the way, have you READ "The Three Musketeers" by Alexander Dumas? I have read it, and seen many different versions of the movie, but this one, in COLOR! and packed with sword fights and amusement, is by far the most romantic, the most engaging, and the truest to the story. By the way, Sting, Brian Adams, and Rod Stewart sang the Hit and Title Song "All For One". Anyway, the story starts with a young man, newly left home, played... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Decent storyline; accurate and involving set-piece battle scenes; OK special features on the DVD
Disadvantages: Mel Gibson's heroics can sometimes get out of hand

...history will know better. I think Roland Emmerich has done an admirable job of keeping the well-filmed battles historically accurate, where others before him have spurned this in favor of action that appeals to a wider audience. In addition, advances in computer graphics enhance the whole experience. Ricocheting cannonballs shearing off heads and limbs, scenes that I had never seen before in a full-length picture, are not merely inserted to increase the gore and violence, but were frequent occurrences on period battlefields, and are essential to a realistic portrayal. The only flagrantly unrealistic combat in “The Patriot” is that directly involving Mel Gibson. Not once do we see him fire and miss an enemy target, despite the woeful inaccuracy of the musket that is touched upon time and time again in the DVD’s special... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful