The Three Musketeers 3D

Editorial

A rip-roaring swashbuckler with a looser grasp-of-reality than the Resident Evil series at its most loopy, Paul W.S. Anderson's The Three Musketeers is a hugely entertaining romp that defies expectations at every swish of a blade.

Beautifully shot, at stunning locations, using James Cameron's Avatar bag-of-3D-tricks, the zany adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas classic garishly captures the opulence and splendour of the 17th Century French aristocracy. Full of flamboyant swordplay and lashings of broad-stroke humour, the dashing Musketeers use their jousting skills and way-with-the-ladies to defeat a plot against the King of France.

The Musketeering trio may win the day but the fiendish villains take the acting honours. Milla Jovovich is suitably slinky as double-agent M'lady De Winter, Orlando Bloom camps it up as the caddish Duke of Buckingham, Christoph Waltz erupts as Cardinal Richelieu and Mads Mikkelsen glowers as henchman Rochefort. The wise-cracking heroes are less-interesting but Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson and Luke Evans build a good camaraderie. Only Logan Lerman stumbles as the arrogant D'Artagnan.

Dumas scholars should avoid this like the plague but The Three Musketeers is a well-coiffured hoot.

David Michael Brown