The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady, for those who didn’t get enough musketeering with director Martin Bourboulon’s first trip out in a plumed hat, Part I: D’Artagnan.
Shot back to back with the first movie, the sequel has all the strengths of the original, and all the flaws, but more so. It is static and lacking in drama but it does look fantastic, and the cast – who struggle to deliver because there is not a lot to work with – are exactly as you would want them to be.
We pick up the story exactly where we left off, with D’Artagnan knocked unconscious while trying to prevent the abduction of his sweetheart, Constance, who discovered who was behind the recent attempt on the life of the king and so had to be neutralised.
While trying to track down and free Constance, D’Artagnan instead finds himself in an unexpected one-on-one with Milady. She, without wasting too much time, tries to seduce the handsome swain but he declines the offer, his Constance-fixated mind not ready to cash the cheque his body has already signed.
It’s a frisson – this will they/won’t they – in a movie not bursting with them.
For the rest of it, the action pings between preparation for a battle against a Protestant stronghold in La Rochelle, where the musketeers are part of the Catholic king’s army, politicking back at court where the good and wise king (Louis Garrel) attempts to outflank courtiers including Cardinal Richelieu (boo hiss), and Milady dashing about conspiratorially in a bustier and sailing so close to virtue at times that she almost enters the territory of the good guys.
So, yes, the cast. François Civil, on any shortlist of dudishly handsome actors, surely, as D’Artagnan, and getting a lot of attention from the camera. Musketeers Vincent Cassel, Romain Duris and Pio Marmaï are again on rollicking form but whereas in the first film Marmaï was slightly underused, this time around they are all on the back burner. But then so is Milady. For all the plot machinery that Milady is operating, Eva Green is not in it half as much as you might expect.
That said, isn’t Eva Green exactly who you’d want to play Milady? Even playing goodies there’s something of the wicked about her.
Everyone seems tired, as if shooting the first film has evaporated all their charisma. Or maybe their flat performances are just in tune with the one-thing-after-another plot.
In a very small role as the captain of the musketeers, Marc Barbé bucks the trend, cutting through impressively and delivering the sort of swaggering charismatic performance you might once have seen from Lino Ventura.
It is a relentlessly good-looking film. How many smoke machines must Bourboulon’s crew have fired up? Wafts of mist roll about every gorgeous exterior, while interiors are also lavish and lushly photographed (DP Nicolas Bolduc deserves a bonus), and its set pieces are technically superb and well choreographed.
Towards the end there is a great example of what’s great about the film and what’s less praiseworthy – a showdown between D’Artagnan and Milady in a burning barn. It looks great, all that flame and impending destruction, but why are the two of them in there in the first place and why don’t they just get out and continue their squabble outside? Who knows?
It’s the carriage clock in movie form – pretty and elaborately wrought but not doing all that much. And as it bows out, doffing its hat with a flourish, the door is left open to a third instalment. Given that the film got reasonably good reviews – D’Artagnan fared a bit better – it could happen.
The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2025
