La Femme Musketeer (2003)

The Next Generation Musketeers???

La Femme Musketeer was a bit of a disappointment, considering the presence of Gerard Depardieu (!), John Rhys-Davies, and Nastassja Kinski, among others.
D'Artagnan's daughter (!!!) decides to ride to Paris to join the King's Musketeers...
There, she meets up with Athos', Aramis', and Porthos' sons in order to foil Cardinal Mazarin's plans and save France.
In short, the acting was average to substandard (though Marcus Jean Pirae as Captain Villeroi does steal the show and provide for that second star), the setting and the music are good, while the plot and the dialogues are average and way "below average," respectively.
The four old musketeers' performances were insulting to say the least; they were a walking circus of old geezers, mocking the original characters/heroes.
D'Artagnan, the father, was pathetic in his interaction with both his wife and daughter to the point that one wonders whether the film was a parody!
John Rhys-Davies is far from being the experienced actor that we are used to, and if I'm not mistaken, Aramis is played by someone straight off the Xena set!
The daughter, Susie Amy, was completely out of place and seemed that she did not belong in this role or on this set.
As to what Gerard Depardieu and Nastassja Kinski were thinking taking part in this film, I honestly have no idea!
The cherry on the cake was how all the Frenchmen had English accents, while the Italian Cardinal had a French one!
Though the potential for a decent movie was definitely there it fails to take off, primarily due to the writers who seem to lack the ability to write, and the actors who do not seem able or willing to act.
Most importantly, the film goes "Xena" (sloppy/amateur work) on us early on, shattering any hope of it being anything more than a mediocre movie that unless you're under 13 and/or are heavily intoxicated, cannot truly enjoy.
Save your money and wait till they show it on TV for free.
August 20, 2007

Adventure with fun

I enjoyed this movie because there was no cussing, foul language or nudity. The actors did a good job and kept me
interested in the plot until the end, even though a lady musketeer probably never existed in real life. I had previously seen this movie on TV and enjoyed it enough to buy the DVD. August 9, 2006

One more worthy of the junk pile

For the most part none of the musketeer movies even come close to doing justice to the original series of books by Alexandre Dumas. Which is surprising given the fabulous potential of the oiginal material. Why the material has been bastardized to fill the egos of movie stars such as Depardieu, Irons, Di Caprio and the like beats me. Or why they would chose to demean this wonderful material to stage yet another thin, vacuous, and misleadingly moralizing "politically correct" charade to stand for women's lib. It's insulting to anyone who read these books that the greedy pinheads who infect the moviemaking industry would seek to plagiarize Dumas' work simply becase his copyrights have expired. The Lester piece with Michael York, Raquel Welch and the rest is probably as good as it gets...yet it remains at heart simply a spoof of the original story. I am hoping that one day someone will come and make a decent "Three Musketeers", not to mention bring to screen the unforgetable, poignant and exciting follow-up, "Twenty Years Later" with a middle-aged and career-stuck Artagnan, a well established and wise Athos, Porthos as a widowed baronet and Aramis as a philandering priest...not to mention the amazing revenge from the past...For the time being just read the books. October 5, 2005

Musketeer, Next Generations: OK Adaptaion of Dumas' Classic Story

Back in 1973, Richard Lester made a film of Alexander Dumas' popular story 'The Three Musketeers,' a delightful film, with Michael York as young D'Artagnan. After 31 years, Hallmark Entertainemt took up the same material to make this TV Mini-series, again starring Michael York as "older" D'Artagnan, with Susie Amy as D'Artagnan's daughter Valentine. This time, it is Valentine who goes to Paris, encounters three musketeers, and vows 'All for one, one for all,' to protect the king from the plotting Cardinal.

[NEXT GENERATION MUSKETEERS] In short, this is the story of 'The Three Musketeers' of the next generation. If you remember the story of Dumas's book (or Charlie Sheen's filmed version if you like), put in the sons of Alamis, Atos, and Porthos in their original muskteers' place, and you know what you will see in this film. Instead of deadly femme fatale and spy MiLady, you see Lady Bolton played by Nastassja Kinski. In place of Cardinal Richelieu, you get Cardinal Mazarin played by Gérard Depardieu.

Considering the origin of the TV film, the actions are decently done (often very acrobatic for this kind of film), and the locarions are beautiful. The acting is reasonable, if not exceptional, and it is amusing to see a female muskeeter in the central role, though the unique casting could have been more effective with deeper interpretation of being a female musketeer. Anyway, Susie Amy succeeds in making the heroine a likable one, with strong will occasional humor.

The film has, however, deep flaws. One of them is, the film has too many characters. You see eight musketeers in one film -- the original four and their children. John Rhys-Davies appears as Porthos (no, not his son), but I'm afraid he is not required to do much. The direction is often slack, and though Steve Boyum (responsible for many TV films) is good at presenting actions, he needs more skills in showing dramatic scenes. That means the Cardinal should be made more charismatic, and Lady Bolton should be made more bewitching, if not sexually.

[TRIVIA] By the way, Richard Lester made 'Return of the Musketeer' starring Michael York as D'Artagnan in 1989. In this film, "Cardinal Mazarin" was played by Philippe Noiret (French actor like Depardieu).

As to the female version of musketeer, we have already seen 'La Fille de d'Artagnan' (aka 'Revenge of the Musketeers') in 1994 starring Sophie Marceau as D'Artagnan's daughter. Incidentally, D'Artagnan was then played by none other than Philippe Noiret. July 28, 2005

A short and sweet review......

I love movies that take place in history with kings and queens and where you can tell the good from the bad because the bad guys always have this evil look about them. The feminine touch to this film is awesome. It is about time that a girl got to be a musketeer and save the damsel in distress. Not that the princess couldn't handle herself. You have to see this movie if only to say that you saw it. Don't you want to see what your missing??? August 26, 2004

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