The 3 Musketeers- A Tale of Milady

This weekend, i got a chance to see the new 3 Musketeers movie with a good friend of mine. To be honest, i didn't know what to expect because I have never seen any of the older versions, nor have I read the book. To be honest, I was pleasantly pleased with the movie, though i think it could have been better.

The story of the 3 Musketeers takes place in 17th century France, at a time when France's King Louis XIII and Queen Ann were in a bind, due to the having no allies. The King and Queen face attacks on all sides, and to the only way to prevent a war was to get the help of the 3 Musketeers, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos. Athos is a skilled diver, and the undeclared leader of the group, Aramis is a former priest and the silent assassin of the group. Porthos is more or less the comedian of the group, relying on brute strength to get him through. They aim to get rid of Buckingham, the English duke, and they enlist the help of Milady. After going in to the DaVinchi hall and turning the keys they got from their enemies, they come across a secret passage, a passage that leads to plans for an "air ship." After Milady breaks the laws of physics, she gets the plans, and then the musketeers flood the passage way, and flood out the guards. After they secure the plans, the 3 Musketeers and Milady decide to make a toast, "One for all, and all for one," which soon after leads to them being poisoned.

The story then skips to a year later, and for a while we follow the young D'Artagnan, a skilled sword fighter. He decides to go to Paris, where one by one, he meets the 3 Musketeers, chasing after Rocheford, the guy who previously shot him in the arm. He tells them to meet at the courtyard at noon, one, and two o'clock, to each one. They all arrive at the same time, and then the guards come and attack them. Also, during the fight, we meet D'Artagnan's love inerest, COnstance, a very pretty yooung lady, who is a lady in waiting.

Later one in the movie, you find out that Milady is truly playing all sides. She steals the Queens diamonds, to give them to Buckingham to break up the King and Queen, and ultimately destroy France. Once the queen and Constance realize the diamonds are missing, they enlist the help of the 3 Musketeers and D'Artagnan to get them back. From that point they go to England to find Buckingham, who directed Milady to steal the diamonds. But, it turns out the mastermind is actually the Cardinal, who instructs Milady to do all the stuff. After they get to England, the hijack the airship of Buckingham, and they unleash hell on him. Also, Milady boards the ship, though the Musketeers sentence her to death. 

The end of the movie, I will not spoil, though i was kind of dissatisfied with it. I think I can smell a sequel coming (Oh, please do, if it means more Aramis). 

The two main complaints i have with this movie is Milady and the CGI used. Milday was almost in ever scene, and she seemed to be driving the whole movie, though it felt like it should have been cardinal. Also, she seemed to appear when she wasn't necessary, for example when Rushford shot D'Artagnan. 

The CGI in this film was also way, way over used. Now, I saw this movie in 2D( I can't watch 3D), but you can tell that the effects used were meant for 3D. Also, along with the obvious 3D meant effects, the CGI also seemed to slow down the fight scenes. Also, when there was the hundreds of guards, you can sorta tell they clicked the "people spawn" button on the computer and went with that. The CGI scenes actually reduced the quality of the images used, and they seemed to use it when it wasn't needed, such as zoom in shots.

On two minor notes:  The movie needs more Aramis and less Athos, and the technology and the physics are impossible behind the movie. Seriously, how can a person dodge bullets WHILE wearing a big, poofy dress? I would love to see that happen in real life. Also, the air ship is practically physically impossible to maneuver. Yes, I understand its basically a zeplin, with a boat, but still, it still is physically impossible.
I will give the film creidt for the sound track and the artistic effects used. Though the CGI made the movie and the scenes when used seem to go slower, the scenery used and the choreography for the sword fights was amazing. The sound track further heightened the experience, making it overall pleasurable to watch.
The movie is overall very good, and i would recommend you to go see it.

Mata ne Chii

(Please note, my friend will be doing an article on the movie as well. I'll link you to his review as soon as its up :D)