The Three Musketeers: Milady

The first part of The Three Musketeers was released earlier this year, though US audiences are getting it at roughly the same time we're getting this second outing. They're in for a treat though, as Part Two 'Milady' is a continuation of a well constructed and entertaining adaptation.

The eponymous Milady is played by Eva Green, roped into a web of intrigue so complicated that it takes about five screens of text and several scenes from the first movie to establish why she's not around any more. Though, this being an adventure story, even death isn't always permanent. Key words are highlighted but there's no substitute for having seen the earlier part, not least because of how enjoyable it is. Near the beginning of the first film young D'Artagnan (Francois Civil) emerges from a shallow grave like a revenant of myth, but as the flames of conspiracy climb higher he'll find himself in a diabolical inferno.

The King (Louis Garrel) is fond of scale models. He used one to plan his brother's wedding and another for the attack upon a traitorous fortress. He's not the only plotter. Vicky Krieps as the Queen and Eric Ruf as Cardinal Richelieu have but a paper between them as conspirators. "Against" is too strong a word in this chaotic web of opposition but players like Jacob Fortune-Lloyds "Duc de Buckingham" with his castle near the white cliffs of Dover and Le comte de Chalais (Patrick Mille) with interests that are appropriately local to besieged La Rochelle ensure that no matter how the pawns are moved nobody is bored.

There's humour amongst the action, I laughed out loud at the Musketeer Hannibal's statement of origin. Ralph Amoussou part of a capable cast that reflects the multiracial reality of France, both now and especially then. Lyna Khoudri may be best known to audiences outside the hexagon as Juliette from The French Dispatch but as Constance Bonacieux it's easy to see why D'Artagnan will stop at nothing to get her back. She's described at one point as the "only innocent one" and Khoudri finds a line between the ingenue and the beatific for a character made more central in this version.

As I said reviewing part one, Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière have made something more efficient of Dumas' epic. Their work is sometimes undermined by translation in the subtitles, I'd say an "Allez!" at daggerpoint deserved something more imperative than "come on." An "au revoir" becomes "goodbye" but that might be more appropriate if you know what's coming.

The breakneck pace and frequent time pressures are enough to set an inherited watch by, but it's not just fatality but the fate of France at stake. Martin Bourboulon finds ingenious ways to present the action. There's one long tracking shot of a desperate man on horseback that swoops from between the thick hedges of a lane to take in a coastal castle. It's probably done by drone, one of several aerial aspects, and it's as possessed of panache as any of the sword swings.

Vincent Cassel's Athos makes good use of his ability to project regret. The consequences of living by a code would often seem to be remorse. The young actor playing his son (I regret not catching his name in the credits) recovers a falling bunch of flowers in a way that feels incredibly natural. It's a tiny note in a film full of big moments but it's one of the things that struck me most. For sure, a Wilhelm scream in a dawn raid was entertaining, but it's the small things that make traditional filmmaking like this work so well. That's everywhere, from costume to cast. Romain Duris and Pio Marmai return as Aramis and Porthos, I strongly suspect that even some of the characters who died in the first part are still credited here because they appear in flashback. Others have even more compelling ways to return, especially when they're completely unexplained.

There's action and violence aplenty, even injury done to a dog in defiance of Hollywood tradition. An amphibious assault relies upon the skill of 17th Century special-forces, but sentries and subterfuge were ever thus. A duel in the stables uses fast camera movements to give opportunities for cuts, but the thrust is always clear and the roiling chaos of it all is compelling. Other sequences are more drawn out, but their unravelling isn't delay but dread. The brutality does at times follow action movie rules. A shot from one weapon will lift a baddie off their feet but another will leave a goodie needing only an ally's shoulder to keep going.

Movement often gives us glimpses of character. An offered hand, spurned support, the physicality of the fights and the forms our foursome find. There are even more palaces and castles than the last one. The affairs of state are a weight around several necks.

In a moment when an army is on the march there's a bit of lens flare, as if to say "look, natural light." It's more of a flex than it would take to power it, but it feels right. An homage to run and gun film-making, though I don't know the food genre pairing to put this up there with spaghetti westerns. Pain perdu period piece? Indulgent, sweet, satisfying, with plenty of scope for variation in the details would seem right.

Seeing this in the cinema the day after catching part one on DVD was a delight, but I regret not being able to see both on the big screen in close order. I can only hope that releasing means they can be programmed in proximity or that they'll be available to home viewers easily as a pair. They're a great set of action adventure movies. Dumas may have provided the mettle but everyone here has sharpened it. They may even have provided new points, honour and right, and Eva Green is deserving of what amounts to a titular role. Her earrings might at times be anachronistic but the devil is in the detail. The ending may leave you wanting more, it did me, but we can only hope we do not have to wait to 20 years later for it.