The Musketeer

The Musketeer is a 2001 action-adventure film shot in English by American director Peter Hyams, who also served as its cinematographer. Gene Quintano's screenplay loosely reworks Alexandre Dumas's celebrated 1844 novel The Three Musketeers, following the young swordsman d'Artagnan as he battles court intrigue in seventeenth-century France.

The international production, backed by American, German and British partners, brought together an ensemble that included Catherine Deneuve, Mena Suvari, Stephen Rea, Tim Roth and Justin Chambers. A distinctive touch came from stunt choreographer Xiong Xin-xin, a longtime collaborator of Hong Kong director Tsui Hark, whose martial-arts-influenced sword fights set this adaptation apart from earlier versions of the story.

The picture reached American theaters just days before the September 11 attacks in 2001, a timing that overshadowed its release. Domestic ticket sales were respectable, yet audiences abroad responded far more coolly, and reviewers were largely unimpressed with the finished film. Despite the poor reception, the production later spawned a sequel that continued the character's adventures in the mid-2000s.