This version of Alexandre Dumas’ oft-filmed adventure story
has “2011” stamped all over it, deliberately resembling a graphic novel brought
to life. It’s filled with cornball
action-movie lines, anachronistic humor, and ridiculous 300-style editing,
but it actually isn’t too bad; mostly thanks to a nice pace and some lavish
production design, (at times on a par with Richard Lester’s quintessential 1973
version). It also benefits from three
quality actors as the titular heroes, Matthew McFayden as Athos, Luke Evans as
Aramis and Ray Stevenson as Porthos, and especially Christoph Waltz as the
Machiavellian Cardinal Richelieu.
Unfortunately, the main hero, D’Artangon, is played by Logan Lerman as a
completely bland 21st century American emo kid, whose teased mop-top
never seems to fall out of place despite endless hurdling through the air
during swordfights and other swashbuckling antics. One thing that’s particularly frustrating is
that the Duke of Buckingham is played by an actor who seems born for the part,
Orlando Bloom, and yet he is wasted by being turned into a comically inept
supervillain instead of being given a real chance to give Simon Ward, (so
excellent in the Lester film), a run for his money. It’s nothing too substantial or memorable but
it works as mostly entertaining eye-candy.
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