Musketeers TV Series Review

Musketeers is yet another adaption of the famous yet overly told tale featuring the famed protectors of France. The original tale tells of how three musketeers fight against evil forces to protect their royalty. Later on in the tale, a young edition steps in to become the fourth Musketeers, giving the title name 'The Three Musketeers' some question.

BBC's adaption is no different to all of the other thousand Hollywood remakes of the story. Three musketeers fight against an oppressive insider from the government and the blank space being the fourth musketeer is quickly filled during the very first episode. It is all very much the same but in a more abbreviated manner. However, something that does differentiate this series from Hollywood machine is a cast of British actors. Yes, the setting for the series is Paris but British accents in this setting appear to blend better than the sounds of American actors mostly trying to sound British or sometimes not even bothering at all.

But is the series any good? Surprisingly, yes.

When someone thinks of the BBC, images of people complaining about levels of violence or suitability for British television may come into that person's mind. This, however, is not the case. While some shows like Doctor Who have metaphorically died from a poor screenwriter who doesn't understand the simple concept of what the show is supposed to be about, slowly changing the show into an overly politically correct mess suitable now only for small children, Musketeers delivers what people actually want.

The stories are deep. The characters are very well developed without any sense of over-baring, not making any one character more important than the other. The merry band of musketeers all have their own time in the spotlight, each having moments of pure character building, highlighting potential flaws and character development continues as the series goes on. And where would great protagonists be without an array of despicable antagonists. The main villain changes in each season. The first is the Cardinal, played beautifully by Peter Capaldi before Moffatt could ruin him, a scheming criminal who wishes to gain power by getting rid of his king. The second is a Spaniard spy, plotting from inside the French government and the third is an Assassin who will stop at nothing until all of his foes are dead. Great actors performing for great characters.

The themes carried throughout the series convey a sense of justice, not only for the purposes of the characters but also justice in the fact that proper storytelling is being made here. Also the themes are very reminiscent of current social affairs, such as examples of a positive outlook towards female empowerment and having freedom beyond the rule of tyrants.

The visual style helps in keeping with the time setting and some great cinematography, although admittedly somber in comparison to a big Hollywood blockbuster, keep the pace running at break-neck speed to allow for an hour of excitement.

And then we come to the music. Throughout, the score is in keeping with the time setting: using wood instruments, string instruments and heavy war drums. The real highlight in music, however, is the main theme for the show itself. It truly allows for audience to become settled into the excitement.

Overall, the show might be very 'tongue-and-cheek' in the way it is presented to audiences but with enough great character development, deep stories, relevant modern themes and intriguing and exciting cinematography and sound, BBC's Musketeers is some fantastic evening drama.