Les Trois Mousquetaires: Milady

It's good to return to the big screen, connect again with the magic of the dark room and much better to do it with a film that captivates you from beginning to end.

The second part of the great project led by Martin Bourboulon is much more vibrant, fast-paced and entertaining, with a narrative rhythm that does not falter at any time, but does not leave plot gaps either. The dramatic arc of the characters is much more solid and clear, Vincent Cassel as always does not need many minutes to demonstrate his stage presence, François Civil finishes shaping a rising D'Artagnan, but who steals the screen every time he appears is Eva Green, who from start to finish makes a truly impeccable hero-villain game.

A real pleasure to enjoy an epic film project far from the great arms of Hollywood.

Well.. Since watching the first installment I really looked forward to this. The first one was everything I could ask for from a classic swashbuckling adventure.

However, this left me with a kind of unsatisfying feeling but there were a lot of positives too.

The scenery and atmosphere and general is great. Everything I could ask for. And Eva Green.. What an actress she is.. I know she usually plays mysterious villains but still. She's just good.

In general I enjoyed the acting as well. Maybe not great from everyone but the characters were ok.

But then the plot and the climax.. I still don't know what was really going on and from what I've read I am not alone in that. I believe they changed a lot from the book as well which messed it up more than it should have (never read it but I will).

I will watch it again some day though to maybe get a better understanding and possibly after reading the book to at least know the core of the story a bit better.

Still watchable but could have been better.

Continuation of the European blockbuster, started in 2023 in the first part ¨Les trois mousquetaires: D'Artagnan¨, a brilliant and colorful French version based on Alexandre Dumas' classic novel . It's a nice rendition from the immortal novel with pretty budget and breathtaking scenarios which adapts the classic of 1844 cape and sword literature written by Alexandre Dumas, dealing with D'Artagnan the three Musketeers, they're rollicking adventurers , fighting to live and living to love . Full of adventures, romances, betrayals and conspiracies. It is a good visual spectacle but inferior to the previous one.

The picture contains rousing action , intrigue , romantic adventure , romance , treachery , mayhem and a lot of fence .The film vindicates and reinterprets the figure of Milady de Winter's spy. Eva Green declared regarding her role: ¨Milady is a feminist and ahead of her time, who does not care about social conventions or what people think about her. She is not, as one might believe, just another psychopath¨.

Again an intrepid young D'Artagnan along with three legendary Musketeers have to fight Milady of Winter and villainous Cardinal Richelieu. Lavish scenarios , spectacular action, court intrigue, exciting swordplay and recreating historical events such as the siege of La Rochelle against the Protestants. Last version based on Alexandre Dumas' classic yarn of intrigue at the 17th century French court . Entertaining and fun version based on the classic Dumas novel with spectacular swordplay in nifty style , this is a modern version of the classic Dumas novel set in 17th Century France . Alexandre Dumas's source for his novel was a book by 19th-century writer Courtils de Sandraz, which was purporting to be D'Artagnan's biography ; the Musketeers were actually real people, not fictional characters created by Dumas . Director Martin Bourboulon presents Dumas' exciting story of love and adventure , ¨The three musketeers¨ including a lot of sword-play, and overwhelming fights . For this French rendition is adapted in the greatest splendor , the complete romance , the historical characters, the full novel by Alexandre Dumas though including important changes . It is packed with comedy , derring-do , intrigue , a love story , action , drama and moving swordplay . An awesome casting and big-budgeted production shot in real locations make for a fairly amusement swashbuckler . This is the recent recounting of the Dumas's novel with a fine cast headed by handsome François Civil as Charles d'Artagnan, Vincent Cassel as Armand de Sillègue d'Athos d'Hauteville, Romain Duris as Aramis and Pio Marmaï . Stars hot-headed D'Artagnan in a brave role as a young and handsome soldier of fortune , a dashing , audacious lover and nimble athlete. Charles d'Artagnan and the three musketeers must defeat a beautiful double agent and her villainous employer from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war. At the beginning of the movie, the map of Europe shows several states and kingdoms of that era. This delightful adaptation based on Alexandre Dumas classic novel deals with the youngster D'Artagnan is forced to join forces with Milady to save Constance, who was kidnapped before his eyes. But as war is declared and Athos, Porthos and Aramis have already joined the front, a secret from the past shatters old alliances. DÁrtagnan and his pals join forces in their objective to struggle against guards of Cardinal Richelieu and the astute Milady De Winter who is lovely as a jewel, deadly as a dagger the wickedest woman in all Christendom . Meanwhile, D'Artagnan has to save his gorgeous girlfriend , Constance, she is a golden-haired beauty entangled in a web of treachery and intrigue. Furthermore , there is twisted intrigues with participation de Luis XIII : Louis Garrel, Queen Anne of Austria : Vicky Krieps, dazzling as her gilded palace for her, men dared a thousand perils , and Duke of Buckingham, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd; and of course the nasty Richelieu: Eric Ruf , as evil as ever . The musketeers join forces for royal vengeance with the shout : ¨One for all and all for one¨. Then , the musketeers whose friendship has become a legend to stir the hearts of men and shouting their slogan set out to help the Queen . Straightforward as well as gallant D'Artagnan and the three musketeers scheme a plan to save Constance , clashing against a malicious Richelieu and his hoodlums.

Furthermore , a vein of humour is evident here , though sometimes falling flat . For this movie itself , though , energetic and frantic are the best adjectives you could think of to describe its attraction. Charming, attractive François Civil in the title role who performed his own stunts, as he bounds and leaps , fights , hits and run. Francois executes athletic feats , moving fencing and spectacular fights. François Civil performed 90% of his own stunts in the two films following an intense six-month preparation on fencing, sword-fighting and horseback riding. He is accompanied by a good cast as veterans as newcomer actors. Almost entirely shot on location in France. First part shot back to back with this sequel (2023) for a total shoot of 150 days that started on August 16, 2021 and wrapped on June 3, 2022. Out of the 150 days shooting these two films took, only one day was scheduled for filming in studio.

It contains adequate and colorful cinematography -although quite dark at times- by Nicolas Bolduc stunningly showed on the splendorous images being filmed in Paris and surroundings . Thrilling as well as evocative musical score by composer Guillaume Roussel. Glamorous production design is well reflected on the luxurious interiors, impressive sets and exteriors stunningly filmed .The motion picture was professionally realized by Martin Bourboulon . This cool filmmaker provided visual style , comedy , fencing , drama , clangorous action in equal proportions . Thi is first French film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers since 1961, when the two-part saga (The 3 Musketeers (1961) and Vengeance of Milady (1961) directed by Bernard Borderie was released. Bertrand Tavernier's 1994 film The daughter of D'Artagnan (1994) was focused on D'Artagnan's daughter. Director Martin Bourboulon watched several films for inspiration during preparation, including Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), Queen Margot (1994), The Duellists(1977). Shot back to back with its sequel Three Musketeers: Milady (2023) for a total shoot of 150 days that started in 2021 and wrapped in 2022. Rating: 5.5/10.

Plenty of positives including an exceptional cast (with the exception of Constance), the cinematography was mostly good (a few scenes a little too dark) , most of the scenes were well paced and costumes looked authentic.

However, the story seemed a lot more disjointed than the first movie and it didnt seem like there was enough time for character building (maybe we get spoilt with the amount of time series have but with 3 movies it felt like more could have been achieved). The worst part however, was the sudden revelation of super female fighters able to compete if not better the supposed best male sword fighters in the country....

The story was frustrating enough that i feel the need to re read the book after 20 plus years as im sure i remember it being a lot more coherent than this movie !

I can't say that I enjoyed this as much as the first outing for this new breed of musketeers, but it's still an enjoyable and authentic looking adaptation of these timeless and honourable Dumas characters. We know that "Constance" (Lyna Khoudri) has been kidnapped and that the enamoured "D'Artagnan" (François Civil) is determined to get her back - but how? Well the almost fatal attack on the king (Louis Garrel) has galvanised everyone - friend and foe, and the musketeers determine that they must get to the ringleader of that plot before it is eventually accomplished and the kingdom is plunged into chaotic warfare. Now everyone suspects the malevolent Cardinal Richelieu (Eric Ruf) but surely it's not in his interests to kill Louis XIII? The Queen (Vicky Krieps) and her not-so-secret English lover Buckingham (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) might be in the mix, or maybe just a disgruntled nobleman? "D'Artagnan" is first with a clue after he inadvertently rescues "Milady" (Eva Green) from a prison (after she fell off a cliff!) armed with a secret, coded letter. What does it mean? Can it help find his love and save the kingdom? Meantime, we start to learn a little more about this enigmatic "MIlady" and of her relationship with "Athos" (Vincent Cassel) whilst his two pals "Aramis" (Romain Duris) and the affable "Porthos" (Pio Marmaï) do their bit for the story and the country too. It looks great - the settings, the costumes, the combat scenes all smack of effort having been spent on making the scenarios ring true. I'm still no great fan of Eva Green, but here she starts to exude just the tiniest hint of menace as the story builds to the conclusion of this search for love and traitors. It's a wee bit more earnest, this time around - there's less humour and I missed that. I don't mean laugh out loud stuff, but here we rarely see all the musketeers together; their camaraderie isn't so obvious. This is essentially Civil v Green and that doesn't always work so well. Still, it's a solid and quickly paced adventure story that I found passed two hours effortlessly.