The fatal flaw with this movie is that the leading female character is able to take on several of the musketeers at once with a sword and gets the better of them, and not just once but several times. The musketeers are legendary swords men, for God's sake, it's what they do, so to portray them as inferior to anyone in this department, man or woman, is just not acceptable. Sure, they are older now, but three of them should still be more than a match for a single opponent.
Another problem is that this same female character is supposed to the main villain, and yet is often portrayed in a sympathetic light. We are clearly expected to identify with her character, in which case we are left with no real villain at all. In this genre of movie (i.e. the Swashbuckler) these matters should be simple black and white, as in the original pair of movies, where Rochefort and Lady de Winter are simply bad to the bone.
She is out for revenge and on the other hand, there is the potential of a romance with Athos's son, how can these two plot elements be reconciled? In the end, the director is unable to find a solution to the conundrum, and so her character simply jumps out the window, never to be seen again. (Or perhaps that was supposed to be resolved in the fourth instalment? The Iron Mask, which was never made, due to the poor performance of this one)
Which brings us to Rochefort in this movie, who is reduced to being a stumbling buffoon, bereft of self-confidence. Poor old Christopher Lee certainly drew the short straw (rather than long sword) in this one; - no swordplay, no grand speeches, just grovelling.
Overall, the balance in this film has tipped too far in favour of broad humour and not enough real drama.
Apparently, the director was ill, which didn't help, and Richard Chamberlain had a scheduling conflict, meaning he is missing from much of the action, then to top it all off, dear old Roy Kinnear had an unfortunate accident, which led to his death. Overall, an ill-fated production.
On the plus side, I thought C Thomas Howell was surprisingly good as Athos's son and late substitute for Aramis.
Review of The Return of the Musketeers
