The Three Musketeers

Plot synopsis:
In 1625 France, following in his late fathers footsteps, D'Artagnan (Chris O'Donnell) sets off to Paris in hopes of becoming a member of the Musketeers, a band of men sworn to serve and protect the King of France. D'Artagnan is pursued by Gérard and his brothers, who accuse him of blemishing their sister's honor. Gérard had saw his sister kissing D'Artagnan goodbye or as D'Artagnan put it "she wanted to give me something to remember her by!". At Musketeer headquarters, Captain Rochefort (Michael Wincott) and the cardinal's guards have disbanded the musketeers as per the orders of Cardinal Richelieu (Tim Curry), the King's minister, ostensibly to help fight in an impending war with England. Rochefort confides to the Cardinal that there are three musketeers that have refused to relinquish their duties: Athos (Kiefer Sutherland), Porthos (Oliver Platt), and Aramis (Charlie Sheen).Upon reaching Paris, the headstrong D'Artagnan has a series of chance physical encounters with these same three musketeers, resulting in D'Artagnan accepting a sword duel with each one that very day. D'Artagnan arrives at the Ruins for his first duel and, much to his surprise, Athos, Porthos and Aramis reveal themselves as musketeers. But before the duels can commence, the captain of the cardinal's guard appears with orders to arrest the resistant musketeers. Although D'Artagnan himself is not under arrest, he joins the three musketeers in the ensuing skirmish, implicating himself with them. Displeased (but still impressed) by D'Artagnan's involvement, the three musketeers leave d'Artagnan behind. More of the Cardinals guards, led by Rochefort, arrive and D'Artagnan is captured.D'Artagnan refuses to cooperate with the investigator to the three musketeer's whereabouts or about their intentions (which D'Artagnan does know know). During an escape attempt, D'Artagnan is able to eavesdrop on a conversation between Cardinal Richelieu and Countess Milady de Winter (Rebecca De Mornay), as the Cardinal asks that she deliver a signed treaty to the Duke of Buckingham of England. Before he can get a view of the Cardinal's spy, D'Artagnan is caught at the doorway by Rochefort. He is then interrogated by the Cardinal to what he knows, and Richelieu ultimately orders D'Artagnan for execution the next morning. At the execution, d'Artagnan is saved by Porthos and Aramis, who are dressed as the hooded executioners, and the three make a getaway in the Cardinal's personal coach, driven by Athos. While D'Artagnan reveals Richelieu's plans, the three musketeers decide to intercept Richelieu's spy to prove that the Cardinal is guilty of treason.Meanwhile, Cardinal Richelieu tries to convince the young and naive King Louis XIII (Hugh O'Conor), about the three rogue musketeers and of his desire to capture them for treason. Louis knows that that Richelieu might have a hidden agenda for his reason to track down the three renegade musketeers, but allows him to proceed with the search. At the same time, Cardinal Richelieu begins to spend more time around the young king's wife Queen Sophie of Austria (Gabrielle Anwar) who also finds his presence, creepy, but that he is too powerful to confront, keeps her distance to him.That night, D'Artagnan and the three musketeers stop at an inn to rest. Athos tells the story of a count that fell in love with a beautiful woman, but upon discovering that she was branded for execution, betrayed her by giving her up to the authorities. The party decides to split up during a skirmish when the cardinal's guards arrive and open fire on them with muskets. Athos sends D'Artagnan to ride ahead and intercept the Cardinal's spy and the treaty, but D'Artagnan passes out from exhaustion in the middle of the road.The next morning when D'Artagnan wakes up, he finds he is stripped of his weapons and clothes and Milady de Winter is there to rouse and seduce him. Not knowing who she is, D'Artagnan tells her of his plans, whereupon she tries to kill him. Instead, D'Artagnan convinces her to keep him alive. When Milady de Winter's party tries to escape by boat to England, they find that the crew has been killed by Porthos and Aramis, and another sword skirmish ensues. Milady attempts to run away, but is confronted by the newly arrived Athos, who recognizes her and calls her 'Sabine'. He is astonished to see her, as he thought she was dead. It is revealed that HE was the count of his story and that Sabine was the wife he betrayed. Milady de Winter is then apprehended by her former brother-in-law, as Sabine is responsible for killing her husband, Lord de Winter she is sentenced to death by execution.The three musketeers retrieve the treaty and learn that the Cardinal is planning something on King Louis's birthday, though it does not specify what in the treaty. Athos attempts to learn what it is by visiting Sabine in her cell. She asks if he can stop her execution tomorrow. Athos cannot and Sabine does not reveal what the Cardinal's plan is.During the execution, just as Sabine is lowering her head for the executioner to be beheaded, Athos stops him and begs forgiveness from Sabine for his betrayal. She accepts and whispers to Athos that Richelieu plans to assassinate King Louis. She then jumps off a cliff to her death. The three musketeers set out to re-band the rest of the musketeers, in secret, for the king's birthday celebration. Richelieu and Rochefort hire a sharpshooter to assassinate the king. During the assembly, D'Artagnan is able to stop the sniper from killing the king, but the shot narrowly misses its target and the Cardinal blames the musketeers in the crowd for the attempted assassination.Athos, Porthos and Aramis drop their cloaks to show their musketeer tunics and face the Cardinal's guards. Meanwhile, several men from the crowd rush to their sides and reveal that they are musketeers. A climatic sword battle between the musketeers and the Cardinal's guards engulfs the palace. Richelieu takes the King and Queen as hostages and tries to take them to the dungeon below. Aramis confronts the Cardinal to stop him, but Richelieu shoots him in the chest with a pistol and makes his way into the passageway to the dungeon.Athos duels Rochefort and D'Artagnan interrupts the battle to fight Rochefort himself. During D'Artagnan's duel, Rochefort reveals that he was the one that murdered D'Artagnan's father. D'Artagnan, from anger, renews his efforts to kill him. Rochefort fights back and is able to disarm D'Artagnan. Just as Rochefort is about to deal D'Artagnan the final blow, someone off-camera (later revealed to be Constance) slides D'Artagnan's sword back to him and Rochefort is killed before he can strike. D'Artagnan has finally avenged his father's death. Constance, on the stairs, moves the sword away and puts her hands in his, smiling.Athos joins Porthos, who is at the unconscious Aramis side, and as they search for his wound, Aramis suddenly wakes, and it is revealed that the bullet was stopped by the huge brass cross that Aramis wears. They follow Richelieu into the dungeons and split up to stop him from killing the King and Queen. In the dungeon, Athos and Porthos just miss the Cardinal as his boat casts off on the underground river. Athos says that they have proof of Richelieu's treason, but Richelieu does not seem to care. The boatman then casts off his cloak and the Cardinal is astonished to see that it is Aramis. Aramis attempts to apprehend the Cardinal, but King Louis XIII stops him and punches Richelieu, knocking him in to the river. (It is the last time Richelieu appears in the film, so his fate is left unknown.)A few days later, the musketeers are reinstated by the King. Accompanied by Athos, Aramis and Porthos, D'Artagnan is honored in a ceremony. King Louis makes him a musketeer. Constance, who has remained by the Queen's side, runs to him and gives him a big embrace, impressing both Aramis and Porthos.Outside Musketeer headquarters, Gérard and his brothers suddenly appear and challenge D'Artagnan to an immediate duel. D'Artagnan tells his new friends that he will take care of this problem and Porthos stops him from continuing, stating that since now he is a musketeer, musketeers protect each other. D'Artagnan calls out, "All for one"... and the rest of the musketeers shout out, "One for all!" The film ends with Gérard and his brothers being chased by the entire division of musketeers.

Tags: comedy, murder, violence, historical fiction, good versus evil, action, romantic

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