D'Artagnan witnesses the death of his father, a former musketeer, murdered by the Cardinal's assistant Febre. Once older, trained by Planchet, a man who took him in, D'Artagnan learned to be a musketeer. He then sets out to find and join the musketeers and avenge his father's death.

The Musketeer joins over a dozen other films that have been made about the musketeers over the years. Although I have only seen a couple of them, The Musketeer tends pale in comparison to others I've seen. Although the action is good, the acting is good, and the characters are good, the story is so-so and the editing and directing is horrendous. So is it watchable? Definitely? A great film? Not really. But a bad film? Not really either.

Oh yeah, the sound's pretty bad too. I think I missed about half of the dialogue in the entire film and we were in a pretty good theater too. Also, the direction was so haphazard (that one's for you, Mark) at times that it becomes really hard to tell what is going on. This is true especially in the film's ending. The story was OK, but again, it was hard telling why they were doing what. The love story also seemed pretty forced and contrived, but that didn't harm the film much. Mena Suvari's character as Francesca offered some pretty humorous moments and dialogue, but she wasn't given much to do in the film but look pretty.

What was redeemable about the film? It was just interesting and at times fun to watch. I had wished they spent a little more time on all the musketeers, but it was made pretty clear that D'Artagnan was the main character and the story was centered around him and his quest for revenge and justice. The main characters of the musketeers were definitely likable, and from the get-go you root for D'Artagnan's character due to being orphaned by the ruthless jerk that Febre is.

Content-wise, the film's pretty violent, but seldom bloody. We see some characters sliced by swords, but without blood or gore, most which result in deaths. There is some minor innuendo, but nothing excessively explicit, and we do see what appears to be D'Artagnan skinny dipping, although he may be wearing just his shorts, too. Francesca is about to join him (we see her untying her dress a little-- doesn't reveal anything), but is interrupted. Earlier in that sequence, we also seem him and Francesca kissing, followed by him lying down on top of her (clothed), but we see nothing happen. We also at one point in another scene, see her bathing in a tub with an shot from above through floor boards. A floor board covers any possible nudity that there might be. When D'Artagnan accidentally falls through the floor into the room where she is, she covers herself up, and when we see her get out of the tub, we briefly see her bare back (but nothing else). Later, her uncle tries to make a pass at her, but she takes a knife and threatens him by placing it at his crotch. In another sequence, Francesca awakens D'Artagnan, and pulls him out of bed (they weren't together), but he is reluctant as we find out his is naked. She sees this (we don't) and is mildly embarrassed, but nothing sexual happens.

Overall, I thought the movie was decent. The editing and direction were poor, but the movie was nevertheless still entertaining. It's too violent for the younger crowd and although it has some sexually-related material and isn't very explicit at all, it still would probably be unsuitable for the younger crowd as well. It was enjoyable, but if you want a good modern swashbuckling adventure, rent The Man in the Iron Mask or Disney's The Three Musketeers. Please read all the content details carefully.

- John DiBiase (reviewed: 9/9/01)