Movie/Martial Arts Monday: Remake, Redone, Redeux

I was recently perusing the movie news and it looks like there's a couple of notable remakes of classic combat-themed dramas coming our way.

First off is the latest version of Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers. This time, director Paul W.S. Anderson (helmer of the Resident Evil film series) is calling the shots for Musketeers Athos (Matthew Macfadyen), Porthos (Ray Stevenson) and Aramis (Luke Evans), along with Musketter wannabe D'Artagnan (Logan Lerman). The film isn't due until October, but a trailer recently was released online and before certain films.

Trailer for The Three Musketeers (2011): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvHqXkUZaS4

I didn't read the actual novel until about six years ago, and was quite surprised by the complexity of the plot with its multiple characters, backstories, intrigue and conspiracies. I was also quite surprised how bawdy it all was. Like many, I had always assumed that the tale of the Musketeers was a simple tale of escapism.

There have been, of course, many, many, many film versions of The Three Musketeers. Almost too many to count. However, my personal recommendation is definitely the critics' favorite, director Richard Lester's two-film opus The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974). Lester and his producers the Salkind Brothers (who later made the Christopher Reeve Superman films) essentially split Dumas' massive novel into two feature-length films, which allowed for a greater degree of the voluminous plot to be included.

Trailer for The Three Musketeers (1973): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thJiAITu1-4

Somewhat like the recent Lord of the Rings films, Lester's films were sumptuous productions with great costume design, a massive cast (which included Michael York as D'Artagnan, as well as Charlton Heston and Christopher Lee as the Musketeers' enemies Cardinal Richieieu and Rochefort), and sword fights by the great William Hobbs. The films also indulged in the novel's ribald, bawdy comedy, featuring equal parts sex and slapstick.

Also coming soon is the samurai adventure 13 Assassins, directed by Takashi Miike. The film is a remake of a 1963 film by director Eiichi Kudo, about a band of samurai who decide to take on a corrupt lord to prevent his ascent up the ranks of power.

Trailer for 13 Assassins (2011): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeEq1qR8qiw

Miike is mostly known for his disturbing and ultra-violent films that cross the line between drama and sheer horror (such as 1999's Audition and 2001's Ichi the Killer). However, he is also acclaimed for his precise control and attention to detail. 13 Assassins is a bit of a change of pace for him, paying tribute to large body of work that is the samurai film genre, as well as famous directors such as Akira Kurosawa.

I know I'll definitely be there in the theater for this one.