THE RETURN OF THE MUSKETEERS is the third and final part of the THREE MUSKETEERS trilogy directed by Richard Lester. The first two films were made around 15 years before this one, and there's a noticeable dip in quality which means that this is an easy film to leave out if you're planning to enjoy the movies. It's not really a good film at all, blighted by the death of Roy Kinnear after an accident during film. Me, I only watched it because I'm a Christopher Lee completist.
The story sees the musketeers scattered to the wind and aged in the intervening years. Eventually they do get back together to take a trip to England to rescue the king, but time has not been kind to some of the stars. I'm thinking particularly of Oliver Reed, who is literally larger than life now and doubled in the fight scenes as much as Seagal in one of his straight-to-DVD thrillers. The best part of the film is the hilarious opening scene in which Kinnear tries to get his lunch, but it's all downhill from there.
Kim Cattrall is a poor shoe-in for villainess although Christopher Lee is a reliable villain as always. Richard Chamberlain quit the production after Kinnear's death and thus is oddly absent for large parts of the running time. Only Michael York seems to be making the effort and his charisma comes through. Otherwise THE RETURN OF THE MUSKETEERS is an insipid film that relies too much on broad laughs and the ham-fisted scripting means that it's merely a weak imitation of what has come before.
The story sees the musketeers scattered to the wind and aged in the intervening years. Eventually they do get back together to take a trip to England to rescue the king, but time has not been kind to some of the stars. I'm thinking particularly of Oliver Reed, who is literally larger than life now and doubled in the fight scenes as much as Seagal in one of his straight-to-DVD thrillers. The best part of the film is the hilarious opening scene in which Kinnear tries to get his lunch, but it's all downhill from there.
Kim Cattrall is a poor shoe-in for villainess although Christopher Lee is a reliable villain as always. Richard Chamberlain quit the production after Kinnear's death and thus is oddly absent for large parts of the running time. Only Michael York seems to be making the effort and his charisma comes through. Otherwise THE RETURN OF THE MUSKETEERS is an insipid film that relies too much on broad laughs and the ham-fisted scripting means that it's merely a weak imitation of what has come before.