I bought The Musketeer, should I open it? (2 Viewers)

[Ron-P]

How's the dvd?
How's the movie?
There are almost no threads on this movie, is it that bad? I know someone around here bought the dvd and watched it, fess up.
Peace Out~

 

[Ryan L B]

If you are a die hard martial arts fan and try to see all of the chinese imports, in The Musketere, it has all been done before. Also, this disc in bare bones. Maybe they should show how they did the stunts, a commentary and more.

 

[Yumbo]

it's a fun movie with good picture and LOUD, big sound.

opening credits are cheap.

score was bombastic.

 

[Peter Overduin]

The bare-bones nature of the release is not by accident; the film bombed at the box-office. However, if you can resist the urge to compare it to the many previous films of the Muskateer (jeez...didn't they get the hint when the last Camelot movies bombed? Enough already of the muskateer!) and just accept it on its own, you'll enjoy it okay; but not enough to want to watch it more than once.

 

[Ron-P]

What the hell, I'm gonna crack the seal tonight.
I just watched the on-line trailer and read some reviews over at the Spot and dvdfile. Looks like my kind of fun movie. Plus, I love time-period movies like this. Hey, I'm one of the few who enjoyed Battlefield Earth.
Peace Out~

 

[Ryan L B]

Hey if this movie is bare bones, why did a bigger bomb like Battlefield Earth get special edition treatment. I'll just either rent it, or just wait untill it comes on cable.

 

[Mark Evans]

Well, I didn't watch the DVD, but I did watch the movie. It just happened to be the only new film opening last September when I still had a regular reviews column, which I mention because I would never want anybody to think I willingly saw this movie
Utter trash. Poorly acted, poorly filmed, pointless swordfighting sequences. Swordfighting is one of the most amazing things if it's done right, but done right this is not.
The opening sequence alone literally made me want to stand up and walk out of the theater in disgust, which has only happened in ONE other movie in my entire life. And that's just the beginning!
This sort of ridiculously sloppy filmmaking comes out in spades for the entire movie. D’Artagnan is riding through the countryside at one point, and when he leaves it’s the height of summer, but when he arrives it’s the beginning of fall. The trip itself only takes a day; apparently France has very fickle weather.
The fight at the very very end is completely impossible, but interesting enough to see once, and I literally mean you should skip to the ending, watch that, then never think of the DVD again. I would return it, rent it, watch, discard. It's not worth the rental price.
The other fights are garbage, they look completely choreographed, which all fights are, but this one doesn't even have the expertise to disguise the fact.
To summate: Don't watch this, it's wretched garbage. This is the kind of movie that makes Ebert go 'I want me two hours of life back'.

 

[Richard Travale]

Mark, stop beating around the bush, how did you REALLY feel about this movie?

 

[Mark Evans]

Mark, stop beating around the bush, how did you REALLY feel about this movie?

LOL I was waiting for somebody to make that comment. I have rarely reviled a movie less though, except Double Jeopardy

 

[cafink]

Huh? Why the heck did you buy it if you don't want to watch it?

 

[Daniel Mai]

This movie is only worth a rental at the most.

 

[Blu]

It's a fun movie. Compare it to the likes of The Mummy. I enjoyed it, so sue me.

 

[John_McKittrick]

Ron,

I too liked Battlefield Earth. It stayed true to the first half of the book. I didn't buy the Musketeer, yet. I expect your review soon.

John

 

[Dan M]

I was mostly dissappointed with Musketeer as well.

I thought with Tim Roth playing another sword wielding villian (Rob Roy)it would rock but not even he could save it.

And indeed, those opening credits were the worst I've seen lately. It reminded me of a chessy TV show from the 70's.

It just didn't grab me. I love period pieces and wanted to like this. Even the swordfight scenes were bland. They weren't bad per se just not as exciting as I would expect coming from a martial arts choreographer.

I'm still going to give this a re-try with a rental. Maybe I'll like it better on my rig. It's a Peter Hyams film. Probably look pretty dark.

 

[Dan M]

This is the kind of movie that makes Ebert go 'I want me two hours of life back'.

Actually, Ebert gave it a marginal thumbs up I believe.

He liked the fight scenes.

 

[Larry Gardner]

I picked this up at Best Buy today for 16.99 )mainly because it was an Universal title with DTS).

As mentioned earlier, it is very dark (brightness related) and the action is not as what I expected from the blur on the back of the DVD case.

For a movie quoted as being a cross between Matrix and Crouching Tiger ..., it really didn't have as much as I expected.

Overall, the picture is decent. But for 16.99 I feel I got my money's worth.

It seems Mirimax has now aligned themselves with Universal versus their previous deal with Buena Vista distribution.

Universal still hasn't gotten their crap together on how to author a DVD. Still cannot switch DTS on-the-fly as well as starting the entire film over after going back to the Main Menu, changing audio option. You have to watch the DTS logo and the film does not resume - it starts back at the beginning of the film versus resuming from where you are.

That's plain ridiculous. DVD players have an option to turnoff the DTS processing option so that you don't inadvertantly select it and blow out your speakers (or as everyone says). With the option turned off in the player setup (which is the default), this will not happen.

Regardless, if you use the audio option while watching the film, you are purposely requesting the DTS option, so the audio on-the-fly option should not be turned off.

This is the identical problem with their commentaries - same philosophy - which makes no sense since commentaries will not 'blow out' your speakers.

I wish Universal would wake up and provide this option since it is totally bogus reasoning.

 

[Michael D. Bunting]

I have this DVD for trade if anyone is interested. I'm not looking for much in return...probably because I hated it. And I only watched about the first 45 minutes of it
I really need to rent more DVD's these days, rather than just purchasing them... oh well, someday I'll learn my lesson. Or so my wife says...

 

[JasonK]

I watched this flick last night. Ugh. As Mark mentioned, the acting was wooden, most of the fight scenes were boring, and the 'jokes' were awful.

The only scene I enjoyed was at the end of the flick where D'Artagnan and Tim Roth's character are fighting on the ladders. That was cool.

-Jason

 

[Ron-P]

Well, I gave it a spin last night and rather enjoyed it. I guess I am not as critical of movies as most. First and formost, I look for entertainment and this one delivers that. The movie is fun, has a few good laughs and the action is decent. As JasonK's spoiler states, a very cool fight scene. I also enjoyed the cast, their not Oscar material by any means, but not terrible either.
The DVD is ok. The transfer is soft and grainy/noisey during most daylight scenes. The night shots (most of the movie) are excellent, very clean with deep dark blacks, yet retaining great detail. The dts track is very nice, might give the dd track a run tonight.
All-n-all, I would not label it garbage. I found it fun and enjoyable. Worth the purchase, for me. But, then again, I'm a sucker for movies like this.
Glad I opened it.
Peace Out~

 

[Paul E. Fox II]

Ron..
Glad to hear you liked it, especially since I picked this DVD up yesterday.