Movie Scene
Martial arts fail to make 'Musketeer' soar

By Marshall Fine
The (Westchester, N. Y.) Journal News

THE MUSKETEER (Rated PG-13 for graphic violence, partial nudity, adult content). One-and-One-Half Stars (Poor-to-Fair) Though he tries to mix Hong Kong martial arts with the swashbuckling genre, Peter Hyams only manages to dumb down and trivialize Alexandre Dumas' classic adventure story of D'Artagnan. Starring Justin Chambers, Mena Suvari, Tim Roth. Directed by Peter Hyams. Universal Pictures. 106 minutes.

Of the nearly one dozen film treatments of this story, Richard Lester's 1974 version, "The Three Musketeers," remains the gold standard.

Hyams, who works as his own cinematographer, had the notion to crossbreed the sweeping romance and swordplay of the swashbuckling genre with the lighter-than-air, faster-than-light action of Hong Kong martial arts. To that end, he hired stunt choreographer Xin-Xin Xiong to stage the fights, utilizing wires and acrobatics — not to mention an army of stuntmen.

But Hyams is remarkably cautious in his use of these scenes. And, given his efforts at realism in depicting the muck and filth of life in 17th-century France, Hyams missteps by suddenly shifting to fantastic action involving ludicrously gravity-defying acts of derring-do.

In this version, D'Artagnan (Justin Chambers) heads to Paris to become a musketeer. In doing so, he hopes to avenge his parents, who were murdered by Febre (Tim Roth), a kill-crazed henchman of powerful Cardinal Richelieu (Stephen Rea).

There's only the barest explanation of Richelieu's machinations, which involve weakening King Louis XIII and consolidating his own power. But he must contend with the politically savvy queen of France (Catherine Deneuve), as well as the dashing, ever-ready D'Artagnan and his resourceful girlfriend (Mena Suvari).

It's Classics Illustrated-Lite, a bare-bones "Three Musketeers" in which subtlety is replaced by action set-pieces — almost all of which are shot in dim candlelight. As a result, Xiong's magic is obscured both by darkness and Hyams' inept camera placement.

The one thrilling sequence is the finale, with D'Artagnan and Febre dueling in a three-story room filled with ladders, jumping from ladder to ladder like escapees from the recent "Planet of the Apes." It's a virtual recap of a similar fight Xiong staged for Jet Li in "Once Upon a Time in China."

On the other hand, a sequence in which D'Artagnan eludes three attackers on the side of a castle tower is just plain silly.

Roth could play this kind of villain in his sleep and very nearly does. Chambers and Suvari appear to be recent time-travel transplants from a beach in Malibu.

In the end, "The Musketeer" proves that just because a director can make his actors fly with wires doesn't necessarily mean that he should. The actors may be airborne, but the film rather quickly plummets to earth.

Rated PG-13 for graphic violence, partial nudity, adult content.

Marshall Fine reviews film for The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News and Gannett News Service.