The Musketeer

After all its TV commercial posturing about "re-envisioning" a classic as a post-Hong Kong actioner, this bit of Alexandre Dumas redux betrays its utter lack of ambition in the casting of wooden, charmlessly handsome, totally generic Justin Chambers (The Wedding Planner) in the title role as D'Artagnan, who's out to avenge the murder of his father. "All for one" without the "one for all," he battles power-mad Cardinal Richelieu (Stephen Rea) through the latter's black knight enforcer Febre (played with delicious aplomb by baddie extraordinare Tim Roth). Kinetic but dull dodge-and-parry ensues, choreographed by the legendary Xin Xin Xiong (Once Upon a Time in China). But the mixture of predictable genre standards (a fight atop a horse-drawn coach) and recycled wire-work stunts from Xiong's superior Chinese flicks is hardly enough to carry this otherwise unmotivated and underwhelming remake that virtually ignores the source material, not to mention the other three Musketeers. Not recommended. (R. Blackwelder)