I wonder if the Grubers had some French ancestry...
After getting into an illegal duel with another Musketeer, d'Artagnan is arrested by the Red Guards and abandoned by his friends. He's imprisoned in the Chatalet, and forced to share a cell with a sleight of hand expert named Vadim, played by Jason Flemyng. It's then revealed that his arrest was a ploy for him to get close to Vadim in order to investigate the theft of a large quantity of gunpowder. They escape during a visit from the Queen, and Vadim invites d'Artagnan to join his band of radicals. D'Artagnan learns that they intend to assassinate King Louis and Queen Anne, in order to incite a people's revolution. He attempts to warn the Musketeers, who conduct their investigation, but the plot isn't what it seems.
This episode has a lot of tension as d'Artagnan tries to infiltrate Vadim's organisation, especially as he's mistrusted by Vadim's right-hand-man Felix. Vadim's a pretty good villain too, stringing everybody along before he reveals his true intentions. The overall story is very similar to Die Hard: With a Vengeance, as Felix is dedicated to carrying out his revolution while Vadim's true goals are more criminal than political. That doesn't stop him from playing a few comic book villain tropes, including a death trap complete with gloating.
Said death trap involves Vadim leaving d'Artagnan tied up in a room full of powder kegs and a fuse. It's an old cliché, but it's still great. I especially like one moment in which d'Artagnan is able to free himself and extinguish the fuse. But when he leaves, the door to the room turns out to be booby-trapped, triggering several other fuses.
The duel at the beginning is pretty funny too. In an aversion to the "civilised" notion of honour duels, the other Musketeers tell him to do anything it takes to win, with Porthos remarking on how he taught d'Artagnan to kick his opponent in the groin. And when the Red Guards break up the duel, they subvert the typical "All for one and one for all" motto, replacing it with "Every man for himself" when they flee.
One issue I do have is that this episode seems to scale back the Cardinal's ruthlessness. The previous episode had him using Red Guards to murder and impersonate Musketeers to discredit the regiment, and ended with him having his mistress killed for being unfaithful. This time, he's working with the Musketeers to foil Vadim. Nevertheless, it does establish him a little better, and actually closer to the book version. Unlike many adaptations, (such as Tim Curry), this version of Richelieu doesn't wish to seek the throne for himself, but he does wish to control it. He's essentially Malcolm Tucker in 17th Century France.
In some continuity, Aramis saves Queen Anne's life after she's taken hostage by Vadim, and she presents him with a crucifix as a token. Porthos warns Aramis not to fall in love and mentions Adele, whom Aramis believes to have moved to the Cardinal's country estate.
Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow for the next episode.
No comments:
Post a Comment