Blu-ray Review: Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers (Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

Studio: Summit Entertainment
List Price: $30.49
Street Price: $18.99
Amazon.com: $19.98
Release Date: Mar 13, 2012
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Running Time: 110 minutes

4.8 Stars (out of 5) - Rated

Synopsis

The original three musketeers are past their prime and working menial jobs in Paris when their friend D'Artagnan rallies them to defend the nation. To do so, they must undermine Cardinal Richelieu's plot to have himself crowned France's next king.

Starring:

Juno Temple, Logan Lerman, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Ray Stevenson, Christoph Waltz, Luke Evans, Matthew Macfadyen, Mads Mikkelsen, Til Schweiger

Director:

Paul W.S. Anderson

Blu-ray Release Date:

March 13, 2012

Subtitles:

English SDH, Spanish

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:

Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 5.0 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison

? Subwoofer – 5.0 Stars

? Dialog – 5.0 Stars

? Surround Effects – 5.0 Stars

? Dynamic Range – 5.0 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

I didn’t expect a movie about fancy dressed sword fighters to sound so good. Three Musketeers has an amazing DTS-HD presentation. Surround effects are constantly filling the room with ricocheting bullets, sharp sounding clanging swords, creaking boats, high speed wind, and cannonballs that sound like they fly past your head. Dialog doesn’t lost in the action, the clarity of the mix is outstanding. Low end sounds are never forgotten thanks to a musical score filled with heavy rumbles and sounds of black powder gunshots, crashing boats, thuds of action, and tight sounding explosions. The subwoofer is so active that at times it almost seams like it’s overused, but it’s hard for me to complain about it because it sounds so good.

Video 5.0 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison

? Color Accuracy - 5.0 Stars

? Shadow detail – 5.0 Stars

? Clarity – 5.0 Stars

? Skin tones – 5.0 Stars

? Compression – 5.0 Stars

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Resolution: 1080p, Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1, Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Vibrant colors and a clean presentation give this film a great look and make it one of the best video presentations I’ve seen in a while. All scenes have warm and vivid colors and still remain to look natural. The bright red robes of the cardinal, the green lawn on the palace, and the rich colors of the king’s various outfits keep your eyes busy with lush colors. Skin tones are natural and dark scenes never loose details, or show any signs of compression. Clarity is crisp and clean and bring out the fine points of the intricate stitching on clothing, details of amazing building architecture, cobblestone roads, and even individual strands of hair.

Bonus Features 4.0 Stars (out of 5)

? Audio Commentary: Director/Producer Paul W.S. Anderson and Producers Jeremy Bolt and Robert Kulzer.

? Access: Three Musketeers: This picture-in-picture feature delivers "access to cast and crew stories, insider information about the making of the film, and more."

? Paul W.S. Anderson's Musketeers (1080p, 2:29): Cast and crew discuss updating the story for a new generation.

? Orlando Bloom Takes on the Duke (1080p, 1:59): A look at Bloom's role in the film.

? 17th Century Air Travel (1080p, 2:20): The director discusses creating the scenes featuring aerial warships.

? Uncovering France in Germany (1080p, 2:14): A short feature about shooting in Bavaria.

? Deleted & Extended Scenes (1080p, 14:18): Over 6 deleted scenes are included.

Movie – 2.5 Stars (out of 5)

Review

The Three Musketeers has been adapted into movies over 20 times. This version swings for the fence by making it an action heavy film and by adding elements of flight. Unfortunately the talented cast cannot save this film from its ridiculous script and substandard direction. It seems like the script was written to be funny, but it comes off as silly and rarely earns a giggle. Paul W.S. Anderson does a great job directing action, but seems to have problems with comedy and elements of drama. The action in this film is over the top but fun. It reminded me of watching a Pirates of Caribbean movie. The movie also suffers from lacking emotional appeal, it seemed like they just moved the story along enough to get to the next action set-piece. This made me uninterested in the characters and the story in general. Even though I didn’t enjoy the film as much as I wanted to, I might find myself watching it with the kids or using it to show off my home theater system to friends because the audio and video presentation is top notch.

Posted by The HT Guys, March 23, 2012 9:15 PM

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