Tripwire Reviews The Three Musketeers: Milady

By Royal Imperative

Tripwire’s editor-in-chief Joel Meadows reviews The Three Musketeers: Milady, out on Blu-Ray now…

The Three Musketeers: Milady
Director: Martin Bourboulon
Stars: François Civil, Vincent Cassel,  Romain Duris, Pio Marmai, Eva Green, Louis Garrel, Lyna Khoudri

Bourboulon’s The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan was an impressively made, very French adaptation of part of Dumas’ story but it left us hanging with the uncertain fate of D’Artagnan’s girlfriend Constance (Khoudri), kidnapped at its end. So Bourboulon had a number of loose ends to tie up with this, its follow-up.

The Three Musketeers is one of the most adapted stories in film history with probably the Richard Lester pair made back in the 1970s with Richard Chamberlain, Oliver Reed, Michael York and Frank Finlay the best known for UK and US audiences.

Milady moves the action forward a little from its predecessor. D’Artagnan (Civil) is no longer the bumbling country bumpkin who has come to the city to find fame and glory but a fully-fledged musketeer now, accepted by the other three. Here he is forced to team up with the malevolent, scheming Milady (played with verve and aplomb again by Green) to rescue Constance. But the musketeers find themselves again in the middle of the conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants with three of them fighting for king and country at La Rochelle, the place where the conflict is at its most intense.

Bourboulon is a very accomplished director, able to keep the action moving again and just as at home orchestrating huge battles as he is with more intimate one-to-one swordplay. Visually, there is an epic and lavish sweep here which brings 17^th century France to life with  the able assistance of production designer Stephane Taillasson. Cassel, as with the first film, is one of the best things here lending a touch of gravitas to the whole affair. Also his backstory as the Count de la Fere and his tragic connection with the duplicitous Milady has always made him the most interesting dramatically of the Musketeers. Green has always been gifted at playing evil, maladjusted figures and she is very good again as Milady although she does feel as if she’s a little bit underused here. Eric Ruf as Cardinal Richelieu is adept here although his role doesn’t feel quite as pivotal here as it did in D’Artagnan and Ruf is less flamboyantly oileaginous than Charlton Heston who played him in Lester’s films.

For people who have seen the Lester adaptations, Constance’s fate is very similar here albeit the way that she meets it is a little different.

Civil’s D’Artagnan is likeably pure and heroic as he was in the first film while Duris and Marmai offer decent support again as they did in its predecessor.

Bourboulon leaves things open for a third new Musketeers film as Milady appears to have escaped the fiery furnace we last see her in which makes sense as both of these films have been well-received.

As with its predecessor, Milady is less bawdy and knockabout than Lester’s The Four Musketeers, which this is a retelling of  for all intents and purposes. For those who enjoyed D’Artagnan, this will feel like a satisfying wrap up with the potential for a third outing.

Dumas’ story of four men fighting for the French crown against the political and religious turmoil of the day is one that continues to appeal to audiences centuries after its debut and The Three Musketeers: Milady is a worthy addition to that canon.

JOEL MEADOWS

The Three Musketeers: Milady is on Blu Ray in the UK now from Pathé/ Entertainment Film. Here’s the film’s trailer