The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan / Les Trois Mousquetaires: D'Artagnan

What now feels like an eternity ago; I wrote about the first season of the BBC's adaptation of The Three Musketeers which featured a solid cast and was fairly entertaining by my memory. This, along with the best forgotten 2011 Hollywood flick, form much of my experience with Alexandre Dumas' famous stories about the fictional characters working in and around real-life historical figures in 17th century Paris but enough with English speaking adaptations, where is the French version?! Then came along Les Trois Mousquetaires: D'Artagnan from Pathé in 2023 to readapt the classic story with a new cast. 

This would be the first of two parts released in the same year and follows the adventures of a young D'Artagnan who travels to Paris with the dream of joining the Musketeers of the Guard. Things do not go quite to plan but he soon forms an unlikely alliance with three of their members; Athos, Aramis and Porthos. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing amongst the French monarchy and the musketeers soon find themselves caught in a battle of political scheming and espionage. 

While I have never read the books or seen some of the more classical adaptations, The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan proves to be a highly entertaining action flick that comes along with plenty of great visuals, costumes, French locations and all the other trappings of a big budget period action adventure. The sword play is also a lot fun when it comes about, benefiting if maybe slightly over relying on the extended one-takes, and it isn't afraid to show a dash of blood in this swashbuckling adaptation.

François Civil makes for a solid leading man as D'Artagnan which is useful as it's his shoulders where the film rests and his charisma keeps the well-worn story alive and well. However, the real standout is Eva Green as the cunning, Milady, who forms a femme fatale presence to the story and steals every scene she's in effortlessly. We do also get an enjoyably moody turn from Vincent Cassel, leading the musketeers as Athos. The fellow musketeers played by Romain Duris and Pio Marmaï also inject a good level of personality to their roles keeping it all light and entertaining.

To summarise, The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan is a very enjoyable action flick from director Martin Bourboulon and it left me looking forward to the sequel. This isn't quite as polished as some might hope as there are some rough corners with the story in the first act but it quickly comes together and is one I feel I can recommend if you don't mind subtitles and looking for some old-fashioned swordplay adventure.