The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
Director: Richard Lester
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Those boisterous idealists are back behind the reins, and despite the prolonged rest since the last in Lester's series of Dumas adaptations, they're looking pretty saddle-sore. Twenty years on, after a parting of ways, the musketeers are reunited - following initial skirmishes which divide loyalties - by France's Queen Anne (Chaplin) in a bid to save King Charles (Paterson) from the chop. Laying siege to their plan is the avenging Justine (Cattrall), daughter of their old enemy Milady. Howell acquits himself well enough as the bookish adopted son of Athos (Reed), while old troopers York, Finlay, Chamberlain and Kinnear (his last performance) coast lazily through their roles. The most glaring weakness lies in the needless complexity of the action, which at times threatens to overwhelm what little coherence exists as subplots tumble into each other until a speedy resolution in the final frames. Only undemanding fans of preceding instalments will find something to enjoy.Author: CM
Cast & crew
Director: Richard Lester
Producer: Pierre Spengler
Cast: Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, C Thomas Howell, Kim Cattrall, Geraldine Chaplin, Roy Kinnear, Christopher Lee, Philippe Noiret, Richard Chamberlain, Eusebio Lazaro, Alan Howard, Bill Paterson, Jean-Pierre Cassel full cast
Genre(s): Period/Swashbucklers
Duration: 101 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.



What do you think?
Post your review now