TV Series Review: The Musketeers
There have been many adaptations of Alexandre Dumas's classic tale. IMDb claims two hundred, including this most recent addition, created by Adrian Hodges.
The production design is beautifully realistic in all its drab and dirty reality of Paris in 1630.
The Musketeer regiment were soldiers, an elite force of men. The action scenes are there to tell the story, nothing more. They have their fights, with various weaponry and its always clear and understandable to the viewer.
Mr Hodges wrote the screenplays for My week with Marilyn and Labrinyth, both book adaptations, but for this series, has said in an interview that he would only adapt the characters from the novel, not the book:
"I decided, very early on, that although we’d be influenced by the book and aware of the book, and the characters are based on the characters in the book, we wouldn’t adapt the book. It’s all new stories. That’s really the way we looked at it, and that’s the challenge and fun of it. We wanted to take what people love about The Musketeers, but make it fresh and new."
"Fresh and new" has most definitely been achieved here, you find yourself making the usual assumptions on how the story will go, but at every twist and turn, you are surprised and thrilled by the outcomes. The writing not only gives you a great story in every episode, it is entertaining and very funny. As well as that, with each and every episode, more of the characters' back stories are revealed and the characters themselves are built on.
Not only that, the way the characters are written, all three dimensional and and its not just the men that engage in a bit of fighting. The hugely talented cast are all superb at portraying their roles and something that I found quite useful, that they hired actors, not stars.
Peter Capaldi (one of the main 'established' actors) gives it his considerable all as Cardinal Richelieu, the first minister of France and the Cardinal takes his work very seriously. He's ruthless but he's not your typical villain, and neither is his right hand - Milady de Winter, portrayed by Maimie McCoy, another excellent casting choice.
The musketeers, Athos, Aramis, Porthos are portrayed by Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera and Howard Charles respectively, who are joined by D'Artagnan, portrayed by Luke Pasqualino. It is clear from the get go that they relish their roles and lines and every scene is top notch.
Rounding out the supporting cast;
Tamla Kari is Constance, a friend to the musketeers, Hugo Speer is Captain Treville, the leader of the Musketeer regiment, Ryan Gage is King Louis, Alexandra Dowling is Queen Anne.
All in all, a fun and entertaining ride that I hope to see more of in the future. And will as the BBC has confirmed that there will indeed be a second season, with the original cast, and writers - always a necessity.
Also, I have never before been tempted by previous adaptations to read the source material, but now I will probably have to change my mind with that.
The production design is beautifully realistic in all its drab and dirty reality of Paris in 1630.
The Musketeer regiment were soldiers, an elite force of men. The action scenes are there to tell the story, nothing more. They have their fights, with various weaponry and its always clear and understandable to the viewer.
Mr Hodges wrote the screenplays for My week with Marilyn and Labrinyth, both book adaptations, but for this series, has said in an interview that he would only adapt the characters from the novel, not the book:
"I decided, very early on, that although we’d be influenced by the book and aware of the book, and the characters are based on the characters in the book, we wouldn’t adapt the book. It’s all new stories. That’s really the way we looked at it, and that’s the challenge and fun of it. We wanted to take what people love about The Musketeers, but make it fresh and new."
"Fresh and new" has most definitely been achieved here, you find yourself making the usual assumptions on how the story will go, but at every twist and turn, you are surprised and thrilled by the outcomes. The writing not only gives you a great story in every episode, it is entertaining and very funny. As well as that, with each and every episode, more of the characters' back stories are revealed and the characters themselves are built on.
Not only that, the way the characters are written, all three dimensional and and its not just the men that engage in a bit of fighting. The hugely talented cast are all superb at portraying their roles and something that I found quite useful, that they hired actors, not stars.
Peter Capaldi (one of the main 'established' actors) gives it his considerable all as Cardinal Richelieu, the first minister of France and the Cardinal takes his work very seriously. He's ruthless but he's not your typical villain, and neither is his right hand - Milady de Winter, portrayed by Maimie McCoy, another excellent casting choice.
The musketeers, Athos, Aramis, Porthos are portrayed by Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera and Howard Charles respectively, who are joined by D'Artagnan, portrayed by Luke Pasqualino. It is clear from the get go that they relish their roles and lines and every scene is top notch.
Rounding out the supporting cast;
Tamla Kari is Constance, a friend to the musketeers, Hugo Speer is Captain Treville, the leader of the Musketeer regiment, Ryan Gage is King Louis, Alexandra Dowling is Queen Anne.
All in all, a fun and entertaining ride that I hope to see more of in the future. And will as the BBC has confirmed that there will indeed be a second season, with the original cast, and writers - always a necessity.
Also, I have never before been tempted by previous adaptations to read the source material, but now I will probably have to change my mind with that.
This quote comes from another adaptation where the characters are well written and there are comedic moments:
ReplyDelete“Jasper: Now there are two things you must not do to the skinner. One: do not look at the horrendous scar on his neck. Two: don't talk to him, understand? Not a word.
Horace: Right. [Skinner answers the door and looks at Horace]OH! Look at the SIZE of that SCAR! No BLOODY wonder you can't talk, mate!”