The Three Musketeers - Part I: D’Artagnan (2023)

Director: Martin Bourboulon

Starring: Francois Civil, Vincent Cassel, Eva Green, Romain Duris

Primary genre: Epic

Secondary genre: Action

Third genre: Adventure

How many adaptations do we need for Alexandre Dumas’ ultimate swashbuckling and timeless classic novel “The Three Musketeers” (1844)? Paul WS Anderson took a chance in his hate-it-or-love-it steampunk (!) re-imagining in 2011 which featured a dazzling production and costume design, an uneven tone and lackluster performances. It seems though that the French had enough with the meagre Hollywood attempts and sought to go for broke in a 70 million euros be-all-end-all spin properly set and shot in the baguette homeland with an entire French speaking cast.

The first half of this period epic named “D’Artagnan” focuses - you guessed it - exclusively on its titular protagonist, his funny interactions with Athos, Porthos and Aramis and all the investigative work required to uncover a conspiracy against the kingdom of Louis the XIII. Themes of heroism, duty and courage are placed front and center throughout a “Game of Thrones” (2011-2019) inspired Versailles which feels like a breath of fresh air. This cinematic France of the 17th century resembles (thank God) its historical counterpart lacking off beat humor, neurotic individuals and modern “takes” on its characters. Interestingly, there are some (minimal) modern touches that give the film nonetheless a unique personality.

“D’Artagnan” does a fine job at establishing all the heroes, anti-heroes and villains through a clear geographical sense. The decision of having the material spilling over two movies means that we have more room to breathe without going from one action segment to the next, thus giving quieter moments more running time to unfold. Its sudden ending (“To be continued“) though does make it look like a prologue to something greater drawing a similar audience reaction from the conclusions of “The Matrix Reloaded” (2003), “Kill Bill volume 1” (2003) and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006) and much more recently, “Dune” (2021).

Not withstanding this sentiment, this new iteration of the famous musketeers restores a cinephile’s faith to the long lost genre of epic filmmaking. Director Martin Bourboulon has a blast utilizing his budget across magnificent French and British locations under the striking and authentic cinematography of Nicolas Bolduc and the outstanding production and costume design which bless the film with an expansive scope and scale untouched by lame CGI and directionless creativity. The pace is strong and both the director and the screenwriters do not waste time to engage their audience with this been-told-thousand-times tale embracing a more gritty/realistic side. The colour palette is surprisingly muted and earthly tone based, the violence R-rated and the swashbuckling scenes are frenetically (if not manically) charged under long takes that resemble a mash between “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) and “The Revenant” (2015). Occasionally it works but Bourboulon’s camera sometimes is too close to the meat of the action which does the opposite of highlighting the impressive and aggressive stuntwork.

The cast is exceptional too playing well established characters under a new light; Aramis is a Jack Sparrow-esque charmer but more dangerous, Porthos is a now a fluid libertine (!) and an expert shooter, Athos bears a tragic backstory and an unmovable moral code and D’Artagnan is our clean cut hero and plot avatar. Their excellent chemistry though does not shine through the thickness of the story with Aramis and Porthos suffering in particular by a limited screentime leaving the dramatic work for Vincent Cassel’s Athos - a tale told around a camp fire is enough to win awards - and most of the action for Francois Civil’s D’Artagnan.

In the antagonist department, Eva Green was born to play Milady with her stunning looks, impeccable costumes and a European panache that is sorely lacking from modern Hollywood productions. Yet, she is a part of a bigger problem; we hardly know any of the villains. The script treats them more as obstacles for our heroes rather than fully fleshed baddies lacking motivations, traits or important moments to be remembered by. This could be solved in the second part where alliances and betrayals will be laid out in the open so at this stage “D’Artagnan” is being judged perhaps too harshly for its own merits as a standalone flick.

Nevertheless, Bourboulon’s movie is a superb production overall, a thrilling and engaging swashbuckling tale with an infectious enthusiasm for the source material and a justly visual representation. Roll on part 2.

Luscious European epic

+Amazing production values

+Real locations

+Exceptional cast

+…especially Cassell and fiery Green

+Dynamic pace with lots of action

-Porthos and Aramis’ limited screentime

-Nonexistent villains

-Too many close ups during action

-Abrupt ending