MOVIE REVIEW – Directed by Martin Bourboulon, Alexandre Dumas’ timeless romantic historical adventure novel, The Three Musketeers, is given a new lease on life. This historical action-adventure film offers an exciting modern approach while remaining faithful to Dumas’ original work. With its visual spectacle, stunningly accurate character performances and dynamic storytelling, the film will captivate classic story lovers and new audiences alike. Now that’s how you adapt a great classic novel! The French have shown the world!

The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan is a breath of fresh air in a genre. The French have shown that you don’t need a Hollywood super-production or billions of stolen public money to make a first-rate adaptation of a world literary romantic classic. Director Martin Bourboulon was able to balance classical elements with modern filmmaking techniques, allowing the film to appeal to both old and new audiences.

Produced in France, the film hits the mark not only in terms of historical accuracy, but also in terms of the visuals and classic characters that define the film. The film explores the political and social conditions of 17th century France with stunning visuals and exciting storytelling, while also following the personal development of the central characters – D’Artagnan and the Musketeers – and the deepening of their friendship in the first part of the two-part film now being shown.

The story is compelling and the characters are truly vibrant and diverse, while the movie deftly combines classic and modern elements, offering a time-honored escapism and an adventurous journey for the viewer hungry for quality novel adaptations that will impress even today’s skeptical and burnt-out Hollywood superhero movie fan (like myself).

1627, France, bloody religious wars, conspiracies: this is The Gallic Avengers!

It’s 1627, and young D’Artagnan (François Civil) is riding to Paris to join the bodyguards when he finds himself in a murderous brawl in which characters he doesn’t know are killing each other and he almost loses a tooth. This proves significant to the relationship between Queen Anne of Austria (Vicky Krieps) and an English minister that Milady (Eva Green) and her boss Richelieu (Eric Ruf) are trying to manipulate. D’Artagnan and his soon-to-be friends must foil these plans to save the queen and King Louis XIII (Louis Garrel).

The cast is strong even before we get to the title trio of Athos (Vincent Cassel), Aramis (Romain Duris) and Porthos (Pio Marmai), but when we see the three actors (especially Cassel as Athos), it becomes clear that the choice of these three actors is a perfect match. It also becomes clear that this is a kind of Gallic Avengers, but in a real historical setting, in fabulous (but authentic!) costumes: not everyone is dressed in well-combed, clean and sumptuous clothes, as in Jeanne Du Barry, but our heroes are often dirty, disheveled and stubbled, according to the hygiene conventions of the time.

This is how you adapt a classic novel!

But what really sets the movie apart is its incredibly intelligent adaptation. Bourboulon is close to Dumas in the iconic moments – D’Artagnan’s ill-advised introduction to his companions, Athos’s backstory – but never obsequious. He raises timely questions of religious and political paranoia to add depth to the impressively chaotic battle scenes, shot in long, sweeping takes, and to dress up Dumas’s classic in a kind of modern style.

The movie’s story is simple but effective. The political and religious conflicts underlying the story deepen the conflicts between the characters and the plot. The director was able to put the classic story in a modern context, which makes the plot relevant and exciting for the audience. The movie cleverly uses the historical context to raise questions about loyalty, friendship, and betrayal, while providing the audience with exciting action scenes and a twisting plot.

You’ll feel like you’re in France in the 1600s

The scenery is also breathtaking. The real historical locations, detailed sets and costumes all contribute to creating a true-to-life atmosphere of 17th century France. The director has taken great care to use visual elements to evoke an old world that immediately captivates the viewer. The choreography of the fight scenes and the use of the camera are dynamic and exciting, and the viewer can almost feel the clash of swords on the screen.

However, the visuals are not only outstanding in the fight scenes, but also in the interactions between the characters and the presentation of the historical locations. The use of natural light, color palette and sets all contribute to making the film visually stunning and memorable. In addition, the technical execution of The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan is also of a high standard, with CGI effects cleverly integrated into the real sets and locations to provide an even richer visual experience.

And yes, this movie also showed the Hungarians that you don’t need pathetically over-the-top software porn or a silly apotheosis of Game of Thrones (yes, I’m thinking of you: Fairy Garden, Golden Fleece) to get a truly stunning cinematic adaptation of a classic historical adventure novel.

With a slightly over-the-top conspiracy, perhaps typical of spy movies, many of the plot threads are intertwined at times in a way that will hopefully be better unraveled in the second part (perhaps the only weakness of this movie), but it’s hard to really fault this when there’s such a fresh energy and professionalism to this movie.

When even the character of Louis XIII is played by a professional actor

In addition to the aforementioned great title characters, Civil is also an excellent D’Artagnan, full of youthful verve and puppy-dog charm, but the real hit is Eva Green (her mother is the equally beautiful and extremely talented Marlène Jobert, who was born in the seventies and eighties), who is the best milady you could find.

But perhaps most surprisingly, even two-time Caesar winner Louis Garrel (a true sex symbol for female audiences in France) manages to bring considerable depth to the usually thankless role of Louis. When even Louis XIII is played by such a talented actor, and played so well, it is obvious that the French film industry has now, with The Three Musketeers, slammed the formulaic table full of dull, woke, discredited pseudo-historical works and superhero films that have become boring. We are looking forward to the sequel!

Merci!

-BadSector-