Following a few minutes of Assassin's Creed footage, this presents a plan intended to start a war between England and France, and only the titular heroes can stop it.
Let's start with what you're probably most interested in learning; yes, this is very much a Paul W.S. Anderson film(albeit it may be his best... though he still makes mistakes, such as setting things up that he does not follow through on, pay-off to things he only introduced seconds before it, etc.), for better or for worse, and yes, it is a fun ride if you are prepared for what it is, and you can live with it playing fast and loose with historical accuracy, and how close it is to the source material(it does include one or two notable things that I'm told are in the novel, and that we're familiar with). The action is stronger than any of his others, if he still does overuse slow-mo slightly(he goes downright 300 in one sequence, and it isn't anywhere near as good), and the scenes tend to either end too soon or go on for overly long. There are a few standout situations that I won't soon forget. This uses 3D extremely well, second only to Avatar, usually adding to the atmosphere and only a few times jabbing the audience in the face with something(one or two of those occurrences could be more effective). In general, the FX are amazing. The sets, costumes and props are gorgeous, as opulent as they ought to be. Dialog is usually bad or mediocre, with one or two clever lines. The comic relief is not funny, although this can make you chuckle(not exclusively intentionally). Vital to almost any version of The Three Musketeers is D'Artagnan, and this one is reasonable. He's not obnoxious, and he can be charming. Oh, he's flat as a board... all the characters are(another mainstay of this director). Athos, Porthos and Aramis are among the numerous well-cast actors. Milla is delicious as the deceiving double-agent Lady Winter, Waltz is spot-on as Richelieu, Mikkelsen is a despicable villain, and Fox as the king does well. In fact, the latter has to both be a laughing stock(a pathetic, childish ruler devoid of perspective) and sympathetic(he's an awkward young man in love). He pulls them off, but this really could have done better if it didn't try for so much at a time. The plot is excessively convoluted, full of holes, and in the end does not hold up to any kind of scrutiny. I recommend this to fans of Jovovich and her husband.