An adventure, a historical drama. A direct continuation of the first film called "The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan", a review of which has already been made in the premiere month of the release of this movie on the wide screen in Russia. The second part was also planned to be rented in our great and vast, but did not take place, although the author of this review was extremely interested in watching the second part, where all the goodies were planned. And now, after watching, the author of the review comes to the conclusion - well, it's good that the second part was not released in Russia, because it would be extremely insulting to pay money for such a thing (even two hundred rubles). The second part was even more disappointing than the first. And here's a brief opinion for you - A shoddy conclusion to a Dumas-based dilogy. Despite the negative emotions after watching, the author of this review (in view of fairness) will tell you not only about the disadvantages (which are enough here), but also about the few advantages (which were found). This should conclude such an important introduction, and proceed to the analysis.
So, the pros:
1. The atmosphere - as in the first part, it is good. France is on the verge of a new religious war. The kingdom is bursting at the seams, if the king and all patriotic forces do not restore order in the country and solve the problem with the Huguenots (first of all, by taking their main stronghold - the fortress and port of La Rochelle, and secondly by defeating the Huguenot movement), then France is threatened by the continuation of religious wars. This is being closely watched by England (represented by its first minister, the Duke of Buckingham), which is ready to intervene on the side of the Huguenots at any moment, which threatens a new hundred years' war between England and France. There are conspiracies everywhere, it is unclear who is a friend and who is an enemy, families are divided along religious lines. And four brave Musketeers live and serve in this mess. Guillaume Roussel's music (as in the first part) works great for the atmosphere. Not to mention the excellent scenery (obviously filmed in France). It is impossible to blame the creators for this.
2. Fights and battles - their staging pleases the eye, it is a pity that there is little blood, and they fence according to the rules of the nineteenth century (which of course was not the case in the first half of the seventeenth century). There is also a dynamic here, although no enchanting tricks have been noticed. Some episodes of the siege of La Rochelle pleased (although the arrival of the British squadron right under the walls of La Rochelle is a pure myth, since the British fought on the island of Re, where they were beaten by the French, after which they retreated, they did not reach La Rochelle). There are more similar scenes in this part, so the picture does not look as boring as the first one.
So, the cons:
1. The script - as in the first part, it is bad, only here everything became even worse, since only the names of the characters and a certain line of confrontation between the Musketeers and Richelieu remained from the book source of Alexandre Dumas, but here everything became even worse, because the creators decided to mix the real and extremely interesting history of France, namely the end of the religious warriors (which have plagued France for more than a century, preventing it from living and developing in peace) and the book story of Dumas - the result was deplorable. And the hint of a sequel in the finale is a spit in the soul of fans of the book. In general, the existence of this dilogy is a mockery of them, because so many book characters have been removed, new and alien ones have been introduced. Yes, the creators have done a lot of things.
2. Problems with logic - the scriptwriters have gone so far aside that they have formed a whole bunch of logical holes where the script just sucks in. For example, fatal (especially at that time with that level of medicine) wounds that the characters safely withstand (like the Gascon from the beginning of the first part, who was hit in the heart, and then also in the side), guards and servants do not pay attention to the fact that their commanders or masters want to kill, the strange behavior of Athos when meeting My Lady. Yes, there are a lot of things here. It doesn't make sense to list everything, otherwise you can get stuck for a long time.
3. Costumes - almost everyone here walks like bums. Only Cardinal Richelieu, My Lady, Louis the Thirteenth and Queen Anne are not homeless. Neither the Musketeers nor the Cardinal's guards wear branded cloaks (which at that time were, like the "dapper" outfits that the Musketeers were required to wear, since they are the elite of the royal army), everyone wears a durugue, which was picked up from homeless people on the Paris pavement. Only Musketeers wear hats with huge parrot feathers (which was rare in those days, France was not yet conducting widespread colonization of new lands in the rest of the world). It looks extremely ridiculous.
4. The important Negro - yes, the old song is about the main thing. More negroes, more subpoena. I remember in the previous picture of this director called "Eiffel" there were no Negroes and colored people in general (for this the author of this review praised the director), and so the director decided to "correct himself" by adding a Negro, and not a simple Negro, but the "Prynets" from far Africa. I don't care that this character had a historical prototype (he lived sixty years before the events described), it's just that the fact itself is confusing - well, France did not lead a colonial policy yet, she was still dealing with the Huguenots at home, she was not up to colonization yet. Apparently, the creators of this dilogy decided to play along with the tolerant American public by introducing an important Negro into the script. This was not the case in the first part (because of this Negro, the final score decreased).
5. The Siege of La Rochelle - in the first part, we were teased that the siege would be large-scale and extremely important in the script, many viewers were waiting for it. The author of this review was already anticipating an excellent production, the battle for the island of Re, the battles in the bastions between the Huguenot troops and the army of the King of France, the construction of a dam, the intense attacks of the Huguenots from the fortress, the negotiations of the Huguenots with the Duke of Buckingham, the feat of two Frenchmen from the fort on the island of Re, and so on. And as a result, the siege is the backdrop for the scenario. They will show a couple of forts, the English fleet, the walls of La Rochelle themselves, and a diagram with figures of soldiers and cannons, and a sabotage of a detachment of the royal army. No one remembers about the bastion of Saint-Gervais. It's a shame, comrades, it's a shame to the extreme.
6. Acting - Constance was made a complete fool (although she was not one in the book), Richelieu is unclear what kind, and not a villain, but not a hero (in the book his image tends more to villainy, but in the name of France), My Lady (Eva Green, that says it all, she was my favorite an actress, but the role of Milady is not for her, she does not shine with guile here), Musketeers (faded shadows of book images, and actors play at random, of all only the Gascon tries and Athos, but he generally behaves strangely). The others here don't try at all. It hurts to look at this boredom.
The author of this review, as a person who read the book, was hurt to watch how French filmmakers ruined the great adventure novel by Dumas, his compatriot, by the way. Thank God, both parts of the dilogy failed miserably at the box office, and that's where they go. They perverted Dumas as much as possible. Shame and condemnation of this dilogy and all those who starred in it. The author of this review does not recommend this picture for viewing.
As for the whole dilogy, to watch or not, it is better to refrain, there are many paintings that are worthy of viewing, this dilogy is not one of them. If the first part was a dull gray, then the second was a complete disappointment.
Rating 4 out of 10!
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