Musketeers
Feb. 10th, 2014 12:28 pmI saw the first episode of Three Musketeers. I liked it quite a bit. I was a bit bored by the plot, and thought Athos should have more gravitas than the other musketeers. But I very much liked the way it showed the setting, it seemed very much in keeping with the book, and I liked they made up an appropriate plausible story rather than trying to stick too closely to the original plot.
I actually find it more interesting when film adaptations add something interesting, rather than just reflecting the original. It's just that USUALLY the changes take away whatever was more unique or interesting about the original and make it more like a standard good-guy-bad-guy-gets-the-girl hollywood plot I've seen before. I liked that they kept d'Artangan's duel with the musketeers, and that he flirted with CB despite her being married, and that the Cardinal is trying to do the right thing by France even if he's manipulative and ruthless, which are often left out of adaptations. In fact, the duel almost makes MORE sense -- his dad's death gives d'Artangan a reason to immediately commit to fighting the musketeers other than bravado, which makes more sense to a modern audience. (I'm just annoyed the first episode had three people pretending to be the musketeers before you know what they really look like, it's too confusing).
And I like that it keeps the feel of real life-or-death stakes, but also the devil-may-care humour, of the duels, and of Aramis and Porthos bullying the cardinal's guard. And I quite liked Porthos. There was a minor fuss whether casting a mixed-race actor was inappropriate, and I may have felt unsure if it was a character who was more explicitly expected to be European, but it seems entirely in keeping with Porthos' character and Dumas' ancestry.
I actually find it more interesting when film adaptations add something interesting, rather than just reflecting the original. It's just that USUALLY the changes take away whatever was more unique or interesting about the original and make it more like a standard good-guy-bad-guy-gets-the-girl hollywood plot I've seen before. I liked that they kept d'Artangan's duel with the musketeers, and that he flirted with CB despite her being married, and that the Cardinal is trying to do the right thing by France even if he's manipulative and ruthless, which are often left out of adaptations. In fact, the duel almost makes MORE sense -- his dad's death gives d'Artangan a reason to immediately commit to fighting the musketeers other than bravado, which makes more sense to a modern audience. (I'm just annoyed the first episode had three people pretending to be the musketeers before you know what they really look like, it's too confusing).
And I like that it keeps the feel of real life-or-death stakes, but also the devil-may-care humour, of the duels, and of Aramis and Porthos bullying the cardinal's guard. And I quite liked Porthos. There was a minor fuss whether casting a mixed-race actor was inappropriate, and I may have felt unsure if it was a character who was more explicitly expected to be European, but it seems entirely in keeping with Porthos' character and Dumas' ancestry.