NOW ON VOD! What was already good gets even better in the stunning sequel The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady, directed by Martin Bourboulon. Written by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patelliere, we are immediately dropped into the cliffhanger where dear Constance (Lyna Khoudri) is kidnapped as she accidentally discovers the identity of the traitor conspiring against King Louis XIII (Louis Garrel). Her ever-loving musketeer D’Artagnan (Francois Civil) is off to her rescue, breaking into the castle where his information says the prisoner is being held.
However, instead of Constance, the captive he finds turns out to be Milady de Winter (Eva Green), the murderous spy of the Cardinal (Eric Ruf). D’Artagnan makes a deal with the devil to help Milady escape in exchange for her help finding Constance. Meanwhile, facing the upcoming war, Athos (Vincent Cassel) heads home to say farewell to his little son Joseph (Ruben da Silva) before marching off. And where are the other two musketeers, Aramis (Romain Duris) and Porthos (Pio Marmai)? Dealing with a pregnant nun (Vicky Kreips)! I kid you not. And that’s just the kick-off to a fantastic big-screen pulse pounder that other tent poles only wish they could emulate.
The first movie established Green’s Milady de Winter as the Darth Maul we were promised but never really got before this. The sequel doubles down as Green now delivers the perfect incarnation of Elektra, the Assassin we have been waiting for decades. Yes, she is a ruthless villain but sometimes fights on the right side, a diabolical combination that draws the audience’s attention with the pull of a collapsed sun.
“…the captive he finds, turns out to be Milady de Winter, the murderous spy of the Cardinal…”
For thrills, this is the best seat in the house. Between the good guys and the bad guys is the sweet anti-hero spot that has never been sweeter as it is in The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady. That such a ferocious female force of annihilation was conjured from a dusty-a*s book two centuries back is mind-splitting. Delaporte and de La Patelliere’s genius arrangement of the material has allowed one of the deadliest women in pop culture to become a fully developed three-dimensional person. Green gives us a real woman with raw emotions whose situation has molded her into a killer. Or is she just pretending to have feelings to trick us? Only Green knows, and she isn’t telling. Once again, when it comes to tent pole cinema, Green is the perfect drug to pour all over your large popcorn. It is her foot on the throttle of this stupendous franchise.
If your kids are ten or over, watch this movie with them. Yes, the whole thing is in French, but it is a really easy read. It is also gritty with lots of death, just like the tales of great adventure from previous generations’ childhoods before they sank into the sea of Saturday morning cartoon culture. This is the kind of movie roller coaster your children will remember riding with you for years afterward. Especially when you remind them how they balked so hard over watching a movie set in 1692. The action set-pieces are unbelievably effective. Bourboulon has this technique on sword fighting where the scene remains uncut until everyone fighting back is dead. The camera runs around within the battle in an uninterrupted tracking shot with no track, putting the audience right in harm’s way. This method delivers one of the best final sword duels ever seen on the screen. It is the kind of intense climax that outdoes all the saber fights in the Star Wars pictures.
The twists in the third act will rip your little head clean off and leave you begging for more. The film is so good that even those floppy hats with the feathers are starting to look hip. The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady is a sky-high bonfire for the planet to gather around and witness legend in motion.
"…will rip your little head clean off and leave you begging for more."
Three Musketeers was set 1625-28, not 1692. Richelieu died in 1642, and the French King from 1642 to the end of the century, was Louis XIV, a different era. As for being a dusty volume, it keeps getting dusted off every few years–generally with undistinguished screen writers “improving” on the original classic.