The Three Musketeers (12A)

In this busy remake of the repeatedly remade The Three Musketeers we have a strong cast of recognisable genre actors. We have the trio of Matthew Macfadyen (Robin Hood, 2010) as Athos, Luke Evans (The Raven) as Arimus and Ray Stevenson (Thor) as Porthos and as a group they are excellent, each seizing upon the clichéd aspects of their fictional characters and not over doing it. Then comes the fourth musketeer Logan Lerman as the arrogant D’Artagnan and even after his experiences as Percey Jackson, in Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief, he fails to convince for much of the time, the fine gloss of this youthful American somehow out of sync with the rough to extravagant French setting.

The English Director, Paul W.S. Anderson, brings along a number of external influences to this film. His obvious casting of his wife Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) as villainess Milady de Winter, who excels at the action sequences but falls short on the acting, and his casting of English actors and notably the comedian James Corden as Planchet, who’s style of comedy sits awkwardly in the flow of the story. But this trusty and put upon side-kick follows the four Musketeers as they seek to recover a diamond necklace to save the Honour of Queen Anne and prevent war in Europe.

There are two problems with this updated version though, aside from the sudden invention of incredibly manoeuvrable airships. Orlando Bloom as the Duke of Buckingham fails at being a baddy and only achieves a poor imitation of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow and Christoph Waltz (The Green Hornet) as Richelieu is weak. Aside from this when the Musketeers are on screen they are entertaining and this just about holds the story together.

56/100

The Raven (15)

This dark murder mystery sees the relatively inexperienced James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) direct the gothic world of Edgar Allan Poe, the famous American Poet, whose short stories of grizzly horror are the inspiration for the twisted criminal. This means that Poe has an insight into the proceeding crimes and is therefore enlisted as an advisor to Detective Fields, aptly played by Luke Evans (Immortals) who is charged with hunting down the maniac.

The ever popular John Cusack plays Poe and asserts his usual, complex charm in the role. He plays the frustrated alcoholic writer with style, whose love for the beautiful Emily Hamilton, excellently played by Alice Eve, is his only positive driving force. But soon this comes under siege as the villain targets her and his ultimate goal is revealed. The poet must become hero and rescue his beloved.

Set in the nineteenth century we are treated to a range of dramatic sets and at times the film boarders on theatrical, Phantom of the Opera springing to mind in a number of sequences, or a crack of lightening might be thrown in to emphasis a dramatic moment. This does become a weakness though as it is over played and the real strength of the film can be found in the torment shown by Cusack and Eve when faced with desperate situations; a sense of intense intimacy as the odds mount up against them.

McTeigue has worked as assistant director on many films and has directed only four but offers a film of intrigue and captures something macabre which is true to the original works of fiction which Poe dreamed up. It also draws upon fact and the bizarre way in which the film concludes is a neatly worked explanation for the Edgar Allan Poe real life mystery.

71/100