Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Last Friday, I saw the 2011 film adaptation of ‘The Three Musketeers’, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, which is on Disney+. In 2021, I saw the 1993 film adaptation of ‘The Three Musketeers’, which is also on Disney+. 🙂 I hoped that I would have a pretty fun time checking out the 2011 film.
I heard criticism laid against this film. At the time of its release at cinemas in 2011, it received a negative critical reaction. From seeing the film on Disney+, I can see what the criticism is getting at, as the 2011 film takes more liberties adapting from its source material compared to the 1993 film. 😐
Like the 1993 film, the 2011 film is based on Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel called ‘The Three Musketeers’. The story focuses on young d’Artagnan who wants to join the three Musketeers, including Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, on a quest to protect the King of France against his enemies. 🙂
The criticism laid against the film is on its writing, its direction and its characters. There are also clock-punk elements featured, especially when airships are featured. I don’t recall this being in the 1993 film and in the 2014 BBC TV series, but it doesn’t appear to be faithful to the original source material.
There are also a number of really bizarre moments involving characters cheating death, particularly Milady de Winter in the opening Venice sequence, as well as the King of France – King Louis XIII – wanting to wear a variety of colourful outfits. The tone of the film does seem to be uneven at times.
With that said, some of the action sequences are quite compelling, particularly the sword fighting stuff. There is a hint of this film setting things up for a follow-up sequel at the end, especially with characters like Cardinal Richelieu, Milady de Winter and the Duke of Buckingham remaining at large.
Sadly, the film’s critical reception didn’t help to get it the sequel it wanted, which is a shame. I don’t think the 2011 film is as good as the 1993 film and the 2014 BBC TV series, but there are elements I admire in the film and the cringeworthy moments being omitted could’ve helped to make it a big success.
In terms of the film’s cast, they’re mostly pretty good. There’s Logan Lerman as d’Artagnan. Incidentally, d’Artagnan sounds more American compared to the titular Three Musketeers in the film. That was the case with Chris O’Donnell’s version of d’Artagnan that appeared in the 1993 film.
There’s Matthew Macfadyen as Athos. It was nice to see Matthew Macfadyen in an action film role compared to seeing him in period drama films like 2005’s ‘Pride & Prejudice’ and recently in ‘Operation Mincemeat’. There’s also Ray Stevenson as Porthos and Luke Evans as Aramis in the film.
Luke Evans played Bard in ‘The Hobbit’ film trilogy and I’ve seen him in the 2017 film adaptation of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. There’s Milla Jovovich, who I’ve seen in ‘The Fifth Element’ with Bruce Willis, as Milady de Winter, and there’s Mads Mikkelsen as the villainous Captain Rochefort in the film.
Mads Mikkelsen has a black eye-patch in the film. Maybe he’s prepping up to play Captain Jack Sparrow in the next ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film. He took over from Johnny Deep in the third ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movie after all. 😀 James Corden also appears in the 2011 film and he plays Planchet.
There’s also Gabriella Wilde as Constance, d’Artagnan’s love interest. There’s Juno Temple as Queen Anne, Freddie Fox as King Louis XIII and Til Schweiger as Cagliostro. Orlando Bloom (well-known for playing Legolas in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ film trilogy) plays the Duke of Buckingham alongside Luke Evans. 😀
Christoph Waltz plays Cardinal Richelieu. Honestly, I think Christoph Watlz’s performance as the evil Cardinal is as good as Tim Curry’s and Peter Capaldi’s in other versions of this story. Mind you, I must see Peter Capaldi’s version of the evil Cardinal more in the 2014 BBC TV series. There’s also Carsten Norgaard as Jussac and Nina Eichinger as the Lady in Waiting
I was quite surprised to see Helen George, who usually plays Trixie in ‘Call the Midwife’, make a cameo in the film. I’m disappointed that she didn’t appear much in the film beyond her one scene in the Venice opening. Clearly, Helen George appeared in this film before making her success in ‘Call the Midwife’.
Also her character is simply called ‘Blonde’ in the film. Because…she’s blonde? Anyway, the 2011 ‘Three Musketeers’ has been an interesting and quite fun film to check out. It’s not as good as the 1993 film and the 2014 BBC TV series and I don’t think I’ll be watching it again anytime soon on Disney+. 😐
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now.
Tim 🙂
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