Let me acknowledge right off the bat that I have a long-standing crush on Kiefer Sutherland. So anything that he's in automatically attracts me to it. This version of The Three Musketeers was released by Disney Studios in 1993. It should come as no surprise to anyone that this was marketed as a family movie, and strayed quite a bit from both the original novel and earlier screen adaptations. The violence and graphicness of some of the fighting in the story was toned down so the movie would receive a PG rating. That said, this movie is a good one to develop enough curiosity to read the original Alexandre Dumas novel - I know I did after viewing it. The story begins with D'Artagnan (Chris O'Donell) on the run from the brothers of a girl he was involved with. D'Artagnan is on his way to Paris to join the Musketeers, which his father used to be a member of. Before he gets there, the evil Cardinal Richelieu disbands the Musketeers, choosing to have his own guards in charge of protecting the King instead. This is, of course, all a ruse for him to put himself into power. There are three Musketeers who don't fall for Richelieu's charade: Athos (Kiefer Sutherland), Aramis (Charlie Sheen), and Porthos (Oliver Platt). D'Artagnan manages to get on the bad side of all three of them in short order after reaching Paris, not realizing he has picked a fight with Musketeers. As he prepares to duel with them, the Cardinal's guards try to arrest the errant Musketeers and D'Artagnan proves his worth by fighting with them. Unfortunately, he is later captured by a second band of guards and taken prisoner. When D'Artagnan is in prison, he learns of Richelieu's treachery to the King. When D'Artagnan refuses to divulge where the wayward Musketeers are, he is sentenced to death. Athos, Aramis, and Porthos stage a spectacular escape for D'Artagnan just as he is about to be beheaded. He tells them what he knows of Richelieu's plan. They set off to stop the unknown courier from delivering the message of betrayal to the King's enemies in England.The movie strays far from the original novelization, which after reading it, I found to be so much better. However, this is a movie aimed at pre-teens and early teens. If it grabs their interest enough that they end up picking up the novel, it has succeeded. I totally enjoyed this movie. Oliver Platt as Porthos seems to be having the most fun of anyone throughout the film. He hardly seems to be taking himself seriously throughout the film. This is a direct contrast to Charlie Sheen, who I found tedious as the former divinity student turned Musketeer Aramis. Kiefer Sutherland does a decent job as Athos. I thought his scenes with Rebecca DeMornay (who portrays Lady DeWinter) were the best scenes of the movie. The rest of the time he mostly seems to be moping around and getting drunk. Chris O'Donnell does a decent job as the young D'Artagnan. I thought that casting Tim Curry as Richelieu was a masterpiece! He, along with Michael Wincott as Rockefort do a marvelous job as the villains. Practically every scene Curry is in is played for a laugh and I thoroughly enjoyed this performance. The script could've been written better, but again, I felt this was not aimed at an adult market. The action scenes are decent and it's a coherent story. The soundtrack to this movie is one thing that is absolutely superb! Watch this with your kids and together maybe you'll generate enough interest for them to pick up the book!
I hadn't heard about this film when I sent for it from netflix. I just knew that my heartthrob, Kiefer Sutherland was in it and I hadn't seen it yet. There was a sweet surprise waiting for me in this film. I found myself glued to my seat, knowing that there was more going on than was being revealed, but not quite sure of what twists the plot would take next. Rebecca DeMornay portrays Derian, a former cop turned private detective. She is hired by Anthea (portrayed by Dana Delaney) to follow her wealthy & workaholic husband Michael (Sutherland) who she believes is having an affair. We learn through flashbacks that Derian left the force after becoming a bit too close to one of the suspects in an undercover sting and then watched him get shot. When she reports back to Anthea that Michael is not having an affair, Anthea then wants Derian to tempt Michael and see if he would - if The Right Temptation was placed in front of him. I have trouble believing that the character of Derian would be as stupid as she is, not once but twice. If she really was as good of a cop as her friend on the squad, Falco tries to paint her, she wouldn't have gotten involved with the suspect the first time. She also, as a quality private detective, would not have gotten involved with her client's husband. All that aside, this is a decent suspenseful film. There are plot twists galore once Derian falls for Michael. Neither he nor his wife are what they seem, and I really wasn't sure until almost the end exactly what was going on. Is he a husband who is the victim of an overly-jealous wife? Is she being betrayed and emotionally beaten down by a control-freak husband? Is Anthea the one having an affair and wants out of her marriage? The actors do a superb job with what has been thrown at them here, rising above the unbelievable plot points. I found this to be one of DeMornay's better performances, even if I had problems with the character. Dana Delaney portrays Anthea perfectly cold-hearted and calculating. Sutherland's portrayal of Michael is great because he keeps us guessing, never giving away through his body language or expressions what's really going on. I don't want to write too much of the plot since I want the surprises to remain should you decide to rent it. The movie is rated R for violence, sexuality and language. While I didn't find the violence to be all that bad, the sexual situations were pretty intense.
I may be in the minority on this one, but I positively hated this movie. I hated it the first time I saw it, but I thought I'd give it a chance when the movie was on cable again. Nope, still hated it. I actually found myself rooting for the bad guy (okay, woman) about halfway through the film. It starts out as your basic suspense/action flick: one character feels she was done wrong by another character and sets out for revenge. The problem was that nothing felt the least bit believable. Maybe part of it was me bringing my own prejudices into this movie. I meanClaire Bartel (Annabella Sciorra) is a stay-at-home-mom to these two beautiful kids, has a husband who's got a terrific job, has a handyman around the house & yard, and she still has to hire a nanny!!! Hello! You know what woman - you deserve someone like Peyton Flanders. But Peyton is not who she seems to be. She is actually the widow of the OB/GYNClaire accused of improper conduct during an examination. The subsequent hoopla surrounding the accusation caused Peyton to lose her own baby, and now she wants to take revenge by stealing Claire's life. The kids might be worth it. But Claire's husband Michael must have a cocaine business on the side because Matt McCoy looked wide-eyed and strung out throughout most of the movie. Why would anyone want him? Claire is supposed to be asthmatic as well, but Sciorra and the director can't even get that down right. Every time she has an attack it's like one little puff barely into her mouth and *poof* - it's over! Rebecca DeMornay seems to have a knack for picking pictures like this and parts like this after starting off her career so wonderfully in Risky Business. Though I ended up rooting for Peyton, it was more because of my disgust at the characters of Claire and Michael than DeMornay's performance. Of course, one of Claire's savvy working-friends (see, Claire is just a dumb housewife - she couldn't possibly figure it out for herself) figures out who Peytonreally is and ends up dead in a freak accident that Peyton had originally intended for Claire. Darn! I would've liked the movie better if it ended a bit darker than the way this one ends. Their handyman, Solomon was set up by Peyton because she knew that he was onto her. So of course, he comes back and saves the family despite being learning disabled and despite being driven off.
