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Order this DVD from
Amazon.com
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The
Musketeer
(Universal Studios
Home Video)
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| DVD
Release Date:
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February
26, 2002
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Length:
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104 mins.
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| Rated:
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PG-13
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| Format:
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Widescreen (2.35:1)
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Languages:
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English, French
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| Subtitles:
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English
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| Extras:
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"The Stunts" and "Casting" Featurettes,
Production Notes, Filmographies, Theatrical Trailers
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I have been a big fan of The Three
Musketeers ever since I watched Gene Kelly one Saturday afternoon,
swing and leap from rooftop to rooftop with cat-like grace and skill.
Gene Kelly used his extensive dance background to give his D’Artagnan
grace and flair. That said, I haven't seen another movie based on
Alexander Dumas' book that I have remotely liked. Including this
version.
This movie felt like it tried to be too "Matrix" and too
"Crouching Tiger", set in the 17th century and
unfortunately, the mesh didn't work. The movie stunts looked fake,
forced and staged. The stunts held promise but were too predictable
and telegraphed. Having renowned martial art choreographer Xin-Xin
Xiong of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" fame working on
this film couldn't overcome the bad acting by our leading man, Justin
Chambers. He should stick to the Calvin Klein stuff, or take some
acting lessons. My other problem with the stunt work was that it
looked like we had seen it all before, the swordfight on the side of
the castle was very much inspired by "Crouching Tiger" and
most blatantly, the ladder fight was a direct rip-off from a Hong Kong
martial arts movie whose name completely escapes me at the moment.
The only bright spot in this movie was Tim Roth, shining as always in
his role as the bad guy. He makes the movie interesting, by rising
above the horribly predictable script to inject some real bad ass
qualities into his character.
The DVD itself got as much time invested in it as the script did,
meaning not very much! The "Collector's Edition" (someone
tell me again WHY it's a collectors edition???) comes on a bare bones
one disc with minimal extras. There is a very short bit about the
stunt work and the choreography that Xin-Xin Xiong did and the style
that they were going for. Justin Chambers then tells us about his
stunt work and his preparation for it. The next featurette is on
casting Justin Chambers as D’Artagnan. After learning about his
modeling career we get to hear Justin tell us about how demanding the
shoot was and all about the stunt work he had to endure (the very same
stuff verbatim, from the first featurette). Much of the information
given in the extras section was repetitive and I found that very
annoying.
The movie was shot in Anamorphic Widescreen (2:35:1), which allowed
for some beautiful shots of the French countryside to shine through
and give you the feeling of France (until someone spoke in perfect
English). The quality of the film transfer isn't bad and nothing
stands out as a poor job. The sound is provided in Dolby Digital 5.1,
yet the soundtrack doesn't take advantage. Bland and flat at times the
soundtrack lacks passion and feeling. It's more like background noise
you'll soon forget, much like the movie itself.
| The Movie: |
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4/10 |
| The Extras: |
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2/10 |
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| Recommendation: |
Rent
This One |
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Blair Barbesin - Contributor
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