The Three Musketeers (2011)

The Three Musketeers - 2011

Our final foray into a famous story comes in the form of 2011's "The Three Musketeers", easily the most visually stunning of any version of Alexandre Dumas's famous tale.  It's quiet a different take on the story, almost in the genre of steam punk.

The film's cast includes Logan Lerman, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Matthew Macfadyen, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Mads Mikkelson, Freddie Fox, Juno Temple, Gabriella Wilde, Til Schweiger, and James Corden.

 "It is the dawn of the seventeenth century.  After the assassination of his father, the young King Louis XIII ascends to the French throne.  His once peaceful nation is surrounded by enemies on all sides.  Within the borders of France itself, Cardinal Richelieu, the king's advisor, plots in secret to seize power for himself.  The inexperienced Louis and his new bride, Queen Anne, find themselves without a single friend.  Europe is a powder keg waiting to explode in a war that will engulf the entire continent.  And only a few men can prevent the coming apocalypse."

We turn to the city of Venice, Italy, where three men (Athos, Porthos, and Aramis) and one lady (Milady de Winter) have traveled from France.

They travel to da Vinci's Vault, where they hope to gain some information vital to France.

After gaining access to the secret vault and getting passed some seriously insane booby traps, they find what they are looking for: plans for an airship designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

Unfortunately for the men (Musketeers), Milady de Winter betrays them and gives the plans to the Duke of Buckingham.  They spike their drinks/cups with a toxin that knocks them out, and the two make their escape.

In France, D'Artagnan, a young man of Gascony, is making his way to Paris in order to realize his dream of joining the Musketeers.  Sadly, they are disbanded before D'Artagnan gets to Paris.

Milady de Winter arrives at the palace to see Cardinal Richelieu.  It turns out that she is a double agent.  She informs the Cardinal that the Duke of Buckingham is on his way to France, and that he's built it (meaning the airship).

D'Artagnan, after arriving in Paris, has had altercations with our three principle Musketeers and ends up having to duel with them.

They join forces, however, when they must battle forty of the Cardinal's guards.  The Musketeers accept D'Artagnan into their ranks after a successful battle.

It's at this point that D'Artagnan meets and falls for Constance, a lady-in-waiting to the Queen.  The feeling is mutual, though Constance tries to play it cool.

At the palace the next day, D'Artagnan and the Musketeers are brought before the King to answer for the way in which they defeated the Cardinal's guards.  Instead of being punished, they are rewarded, much to the ire of Cardinal Richelieu.  D'Artagnan takes the opportunity to smile at the lovely Constance.

Cardinal Richelieu devises a plot to take power in France.  He enlists the help of Milady de Winter.  She is to steal a necklace belonging to the Queen and plant fake love letters from the Queen and the Duke of Buckingham in the Queen's room.  She is to put the necklace in Buckingham's vault in England.  When this is all discovered, the King will be angry, the Queen will be executed, and France will be at war with England.  Richelieu feels that the people will turn to him (a strong leader) during the war.

When the Duke of Buckingham arrives in Paris, it is not in the manner everyone was expecting.  He arrives by airship, which throws the ordered lines of guards into chaos.

After having a fashion "war" with the King, Buckingham turns his attentions to the Queen, which makes the King jealous.

Richelieu and Buckingham have a meeting to discuss plans, and each discovers that that there is a spies planted in their respective palaces.

Milady infiltrates the Queen's bedroom.  After doing some stunning acrobatics through some deadly silver wire, she is able to steal the Queen's diamond necklace.

Afterwards, she goes to Cardinal Richelieu and tells him that the plans are well in hand.  Later, she accompanies the Duke of Buckingham back to England.

The Queen goes to Richelieu after the scandal is revealed.  She tells him that she knows.  When he tells her that he has no idea what she's talking about, she says, "I thought you'd say that."  "Then why did you grace me with the honor of your visit?" asks the Cardinal.  "To look into your eyes when you said it," replies the Queen before turning from the room.

Constance goes to D'Artagnan and tells him of the Queen's plight.  He agrees to help.

Along with the Musketeers, D'Artagnan makes his way to London, where they must come up with a plan to get the necklace by means other than what Milady would suspect.

They are successful in infiltrating Buckingham's fortress and stealing his airship.  The thing they need, however, is the necklace.

They've made arrangements to procure the necklace and Milady.  Having used their own servant as her coachman, he stops the carriage at a remote location and then the airship literally picks them up.

Athos prepares to execute Milady because of her treachery.  However, before he can, she seemingly commits suicide by jumping off the airship into the English Channel.

Back at the palace, the Queen is anxiously awaiting any news of her necklace and D'Artagnan's whereabouts.

Richelieu has his own airship, and he uses Constance as a bargaining chip in return for the necklace.  D'Artagnan fights valiantly for Constance.  Eventually, the airship crashed on top of Notre Dame and he and Count de Rochefort have a duel, leading to D'Artagnan's victory.

Richelieu is shocked to see that the Musketeers and D'Artagnan fly into the palace gardens.

He's even more shocked to see that the Queen has her necklace and all of his plans came to nothing.

D'Artagnan is rewarded with an official position in the Musketeers and with a kiss from Constance.

Later, we find that Milady is on the deck of the Duke of Buckingham's ship.  He says they followed Athos and fished her out of the Channel.  When she asks where they are going, he tells her to they are going to France.  A huge armada and airship convoy is revealed racing towards the French coast.

Cast rundown:

   Logan Lerman.........................D'Artagnan

   Milla Jovovich..........................Milady de Winter

   Orlando Bloom........................Duke of Buckingham

   Christoph Waltz.......................Cardinal Richelieu

   Matthew Macfadyen.................Athos

   Luke Evans.............................Aramis

   Ray Stevenson........................Porthos

   Mads Mikkelson.......................Count de Rochefort

   Freddie Fox............................King Louis XIII

   Juno Temple...........................Queen Anne

   Gabriella Wilde.......................Constance

   Til Schweiger..........................Cagliostro

   James Corden.........................Planchet

And that's it for The Three Musketeers.  This is also our final look at various versions of the film.  I definitely hope you enjoyed it.  The variations are each fun in their own ways and all worth watching.  Although the country depicted in this film is France, the film was actually made in Germany.  The palace scenes were filmed at Herrenchiemsee, a palace built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria based on a model of Versailles.

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