The Three Musketeers is a 3D romantic adventure released in 2011. It is a reinterpretation of The Three Musketeers novel by Alexandre Dumas, with a steampunk-influence. The film was released in Switzerland, Austria and Germany on September 1, 2011 and will be released in the U.S. on October 21, 2011. The film features Logan Lerman in the starring role as D’Artagnan, and includes Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson and Matthew Macfadyen, as Aramis, Porthos and Athos, aka The Three Musketeers. The film also features Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom and Christoph Waltz as the main antagonists Milady de Winter, the Duke of Buckingham and Cardinal Richelieu, respectively.
Famed Musketeers Porthos (Ray Stevenson), Aramis (Luke Evans) and Athos (Matthew Macfadyen) steal highly popular designs of airship out of a high-security vault but their sweet taste of triumph is fleeting. Their gorgeous partner-in-crime, Milady (Milla Jovovich) plies the trio with drugs and sells off the designs to the very composed Englishman, Buckingham who is played by Orlando Bloom; this serves as a major blow to the Musketeers. A year pases and D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman), a hot-headed young man with a devil-may-care attitude took a journey to Paris in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a Musketeer; however, he discovers that they are a shadow of what they used to be, looking for causes worth serving and working basic, boring jobs.
The scheming, manipulative Cardinal Richelieu (Christoph Waltz) devises a deadly scheme to conquer young King Louis (Freddie Fox). Hiring the double agent Milady to carry out the dirty deed, he entraps Queen Anne (Juno Temple) in an adulterous affair with Buckingham, which never happened. If the King believes the lie, then there will be war with England, the Queen Anne will be killed and the French people will insist on having Richelieu, a stronger leader, to guide them through the calamity. So the Three Musketeers together with D’Artagnan take on the mission to recover an invaluable diamond necklace from the impenetrable Tower of London and give it back to the Queen before the famous ball.
Visually, director, Paul W.S. Anderson, appears to have diverted from his typical half-baked Michael Bay desires to perfectly capture both the spirit of playful adventure and the rolling foliage of France in the 17th-century which made the novel so appealing.
In addition, D’Artagnan is depicted by Logan Lerman, a young man who appears to perfectly fit the portrayal of the character as outlined in Dumas’s novel. “Face long and brown; high cheek bones, a sign of sagacity…” The directorial restraint may actually pay off. This certainly looks like it could be the definitive Three Musketeers edition.