Review of Captain Alatriste: The Spanish Musketeer (2006) by Ben G — 26 Dec 2008

I was expecting the worst movie ever, but it turns out to be much better than expected ? although still bad.

Actually, Viggo is quit good, the aesthetic aspects of the film are decent, they lack the experience of Holywood technicians for big productions but they compensate with a reasonable amount of originality and ambition. The film almost never looks cheap (except the last sequence which is a total screw up).

Much of the problems come directly from the novels of Arturo Perez-Reverte. They are not very good in themselves but make for a pretty enjoyable read during a long train journey. Actually, they'd make for a perfect material for an adaptation on the silver screen. Unfortunately, for some reason the producers decided to adapt not one of the novels but five of the six episods of the series in one go. Useless to say that as a result it is simply impossible to understand the plot. Another huge problem is the fact that the film tried to translate directly what makes the interest of the novels (the danger and suspense resulting from the intrigues of the court) but really rarely makes for interesting film material. On the other hand, stuff that would really make for gripping screen action (duels, battles, gunfights) but are not so fun to read about are not very much developed.

Basically instead of slavishly adapting the novels they should have simply used the inspiration for some good Errol Flynnesque 21st century action movie, it might have been a European answer to Pirates of the Caribbeans, instead it turned out to be some half-baked mess, if it wasn't for Viggo it would have no interest at all.