As Good As It Gets

Absolutely Fantastic

A Major Disappointment

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Frankly, I find it very hard to believe that a major Euro-Cult exponent, the legendarily irascible 85-year old Italian film-maker Riccardo Freda, came out of 13 years of retirement to make this belated French swashbuckler with such art-house favourites as Sophie Marceau, Philippe Noiret, Claude Rich, Sami Frey and Luigi Proietti, got himself fired from the project (as so often happened in the past, often to the benefit of his cinematographer Mario Bava) and distinguished director Tavernier stepped in to complete the picture; the more likely scenario is that it was avowed Freda champion Tavernier's idea to dust off (and update) an old script from the elderly director's glory days of the "Peplum" subgenre - already filmed by him as the obscure and elusive THE SON OF D'ARTAGNAN (1950), co-starring the ubiquitous Gianna Maria Canale, his then-current muse/companion - now that swordplay was once again en vogue on screen in France – presumably following the worldwide success of the Oscar-nominated 1990 Gerard Depardieu version of CYRANO DE BERGERAC! Having said that, Richard Lester had himself resurrected his long- dormant Alexandre Dumas diptych from the mid-1970s for one final (and, ultimately, fatal) fling with 1989's middling THE RETURN OF THE MUSKETEERS – in which Noiret (here as D'Artagnan) had played Cardinal Mazarin i.e. Proietti's role in the movie under review! Whatever the real story is, the eventual outcome was a solid effort all round which, while perhaps not scaling the expected heights given its pedigree of cast and crew, should provide lively entertainment for viewers of all persuasions. In retrospect, Marceau may have been right in complaining that, notwithstanding the film's title, her part should have been bigger: she still gets to shed her clothes and wield the sword on various occasions and her characterization here must have decided Mel Gibson to cast her in his own epic BRAVEHEART (1995) and she did get her own later period vehicle in MARQUISE (1997; which I am not familiar with) in which she romances Louis XIV (who is still a royal teenage brat in this one!). Instead, Tavernier's movie chooses to focus on the tattered relationship between the reassembled Four Musketeers: even the supposedly dead Athos turns up as the one-eyed henchman of Mazarin! Marceau gets her own romantic foil in a rebellious poet (played by Tavernier's own actor son, Nils), as does bumbling villain Crassac (a delightful, Cesar-nominated turn from Rich) in his unscrupulous accomplice Eglantine De Rochefort (Charlotte Klady). For the longest time, we follow the two factions on the separate trails of 'Double McGuffins': the musketeers' clue turns out to be nothing but a laundry list, in spite of Bishop Aramis (Frey) extracting Biblical references from the message, obtained from a fugitive black slave in the very opening sequence, the initials of which when combined together spell "Crassac"!; Mazarin's clue, then, was nothing but Tavernier's on-the- spot poem to Marceau during their first meeting in a tavern! Even so, fencing instructor D'Artagnan and his aging buddies still manage to stumble on the real plot on the young king's life during his coronation.Recently, it seems like I always get to make a reference to my unwatched pile in my reviews: this one is, obviously, no exception since I own several tenuously "Musketeers"-related films I have yet to catch up with: A MODERN MUSKETEER (1917; with Douglas Fairbanks), BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT (1926; with John Gilbert); CARDINAL RICHELIEU (1935; with George Arliss), THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1935; with Walter Abel), UNDER THE RED ROBE (1937; with Conrad Veidt), an unsubtitled Spanish-language copy of THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1942; with Cantinflas), Roberto Rossellini's THE TAKING OF POWER BY LOUIS XIV (1966), the uncut International version of THE FIFTH MUSKETEER (1979; with Cornel Wilde as D'Artagnan) and THE MUSKETEER (2001; with Catherine Deneuve). To end this review as I had started it by referring to Riccardo Freda again: it should be noted that I have just acquired off of "You Tube" a copy of his professional rival Vittorio Cottafavi's MILADY AND THE MUSKETEERS (1952), sourced from a late-night Italian TV broadcast

This movie must have been at its best at the concept stage. It seems to be a patriotic attempt to remake Lester's Three Musketeers as a French film. The actors are good, and Sophie Marceau is lovely, but Tavernier has no clue how to make an action film. The story rambles incoherently, the pacing is awful, even the action scenes lack tension, and the jokes fall flat. In this genre, DeBroca's Le Bossu is far superior. For a good film with Sophie Marceau, see Police.

As I began to view this film, I had quite a few doubts. Recent "Musketeers" films have been falling flat. I am now very pleased to say that "Revenge of the Musketeers" (U.S. video title) is a solid production, featuring an excellent European cast and fine direction.Set in the twilight years of the musketeers, the plot focuses on Eloise d'Artagnan (Marceau) and her struggle against perceived plots and conspiracies. When her convent is assaulted, she seeks out her famous father in Paris. There are some comedic moments and decent fight scenes. I was especially pleased to note that Eloise, who was raised in a convent and had no martial training, did not suddenly gain the magnificent fighting prowess of her father. Yes, she does get involved in a number of fights, but the director had the sense to clearly portray her absolute inexperience. Fans of Musketeers films and of swashbucklers in general should give this film a chance. Merely seeing a competent Musketeer film done in the French language alone is a treat.

Just to get a little balance here:The film is a lot of fun, certainly, and worth watching, but it has its problems. The winks towards modern issues and modern cultural references are hilarious to start with, but by the end of the film you do get a bit tired of them, and wonder whether a *little* bit more interest in making characters' attitudes credible in the 17th century wouldn't, finally, have improved the film. Another point - would it not have been possible to let Sophie Marceau definitively win just *one* of her battles? As it is she always seems to put up a good fight, but, in the last resort, her father or her boyfriend have to rescue her. I feel that the film-maker in his heart of hearts agrees with D'Artagnan when he suggests she should go back to making jam. Oh well, Sami Frey is still sexy.