8- The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 16,1993
'Musketeers' succeed on film again
By ALEXANDRA TWIN
Chivalry! Knights! Armor! Weapons! War! A
damsel in distress, aforeign land and what's more,
an evil, seething traitor. Will you fight to save the
King? Death be not proud, Oh hero in waiting! All
for one and one for all, boys and men, together we
fall! On your honor, if you dare, Charlie and
Kiefer with facial hair.
The Three Musketeers
Directed by Stephen Herek; written by David
Loughery; with Chris O'Donnell, Charlie Sheen
and Kiefer Sutherland.
That "The Three Musketeers" is an exciting,
modern, comedy/adventure is no small feat con-
sidering that it is the fifth American film adapta-
tion of Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel. It begins
with a daring young boy, D'Artagnan (Chris
O'Donnell), whose delusions of grandeur take
him on the road to Paris with the hopes of finding
and joining The Musketeers -the king's special
guards. However, along the way, he discovers that
they have somewhat mysteriously and abruptly
disbanded and only three men, now considered
outlaws, remain loyal to the king.
They are the lusty Porthos (the robust Oliver
Platt), the smooth Aramis (the now bulky Charlie
Sheen) and the brooding Athos (the mighty foxy
Kiefer Sutherland). D'Artagnan, quite by acci-
dent, encounters and offends each one of these
men, nearly setting himself up to be thrice slaugh-
tered, but thanks to his skills with a sword, he is
soon welcomed into the group as one of the gang.
Their supposed mission to defend the young
King Louis (Hugh O'Connor) at first seems to be
a bit of a vague and token noble gesture. Yet, it's
soon put to the test when the reign of the King is
shaken by a plot to overthrow the throne -
possibly by forces from within--and itis up to the
Musketeers and D'Artagnan to protect him.
They are faced with the perils of their own
small number, their outlaw status and the powerof
a court of royal villains including the baneful, yet
misunderstood Milady De Winter (Rebecca De
Mornay), the nefarious henchman Count De
Rochefort (Michael Wincott) and the menacing,
lecherous Cardinal Richelieu (a wonderfully evil
Tim Curry).
Chris O'Donnell, the film's hero, is almost a
little too fresh-faced to be endearing; he comes off
more as annoying, but I guess that's just his role.
Although his abundant, shaggy locks inspired
more than one patron of the theater to comment
objectively, "needs a haircut," it would seem that
the most distracting thing about him is that you
keep expecting someone to jump out of the bushes
and yell "Hoo-Ha!" But this is not to say that the
"Scent of a Woman" co-star is doomed to only
playing ultra-modem roles.
In fact, all four lead actors are very much
"modern"actors and do quite well with the slightly
more complicated material, particularly Kiefer
Sutherland.
As good and funny as they all are, you never
forget that they're contemporary actors, used to
contemporary roles, who are now attempting to
show range. Maybe this is due to the fact that
they've been in so many silly comedies or maybe
it's because everybody in the whole country speaks
with a French accent except for the four leads, a la
"Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." Whatever the
reason, their recognizability has an effect on the
film, although not necessarily a bad one. If any-
thing, it helps to keep the film more fun, silly and
loose.
All in all, this version of "The Three Muske-
teers" is a success. The fact that the film as a whole
doesn't attempt to accomplish that much does not
undermine its success. It's not trying to be
"Spartacus," and it wouldn't work if it did.
THE THREE MUSKETEERS is playing at
Showcase.
Chris O'Donnel and Keifer Sutherland whoop it up in "The 3 Musketeers."
Ultramarine
United Kingdoms
Sire/ Giant
On Ultramarine's second release,a
the follow-up to the critically ac-
claimed "Every Man And Woman Is
A Star," they manage to fuse dub,
mellow '70's acid jazz and progres-
sive music styles into their musical
mix while staying true to '90's tech-
nology. Indeed, Ultramarine have
clearly used all of the technology at
their disposal in updating all of these
styles into a moderntheme that sounds
remarkably fresh and original.
"United Kingdoms" opens with
oneof the album's nine instrumentals,
"Source," which combines a mid-
tempo, '70's style bossanovabeat with
melancholy minorchords and a simple
but jazzy flute motive. The sound is
augmented, however, by amore mod-
ern-sounding electronic bass line and
sequenced keyboard textures. As a
result, the technology works to bring
the more archaic sounds up to date,
giving the track a hypnotically unique
style.
This technique also works with
outstanding results on tracks such as
the funkier, more danceable "Queen
Of TheMoon," the album's aural epic
"English Heritage," and with the sub-
tly cynical "Kingdom," which is one
of only two songs to feature the
thoughtful lyrics of vocalist Robert
Wyatt. Unfortunately, the bitterness
of lyrics such as "Happy Land / where
it is a crime /they tell us / to be poor"
is lost on the album's other vocal
composition, "Happy Land," where
the music just seems too upbeat to
bring out the right sense of irony.
However, "Happy Land" is just
one small drawback in an album full
of refreshing, pleasant surprises. In
"United Kingdoms," Ultramarine has
created a beautifully complex album
that highlights the most vividly ambi-
ent styles of the past and present, and
combines them in a way that brings
out a wonderful new style all its own.
- Andy Dolan
AMM
AMMUSIC 1966
Recommended Records
Reissuing AMM's early Match-
less recordings, Recommended
Records has revivified some of the
most unquantifiable music ever pro-
duced. While many critics and audi-
ences dismissed AMM as self-aggran-
dized, theoretically imbued noisy
pranksters, AMM's integral position
in the development of new music and
of an experimental aesthetic cannot
be shrugged off today.
The audience could
share AMM's
experimental approach
to music, but
AMMUSIC could never
be a popular music.
AMM of the late 1960's repre-
sents a sedimentation of revolution-
ary approaches to defining and creat-
ing music. Their theoretical musings
developed separately from, but along
parallel paths as, south-side Chicago's
talented and playful Association for
the Advancement of Creative Musi-
cians (AACM), and John Cage's
sound/noise/chance compositions.
Yet, AMM is unique within its
historical context. Emphasizing the
collectivism of their music, AMM
created music without sonic refer-
ence points or leading personalities.
The group's influences stem from
all variety ofsound. Abandoning tech-
nical ability to explore new modes of
music, AMM redefined the param-
eters of music.
They squeezed new sounds out of
their array ofinstruments and layered
new dimensions upon music by in-
jecting random broadcasts and iecord-
ings into their performances. Their
theoretical musings solidified their
expansive improvisations, ordering
an assemblage of sound into music.
Denying conventional meanings
and rules attached to music opened up
unlimited possibilities for reinvest-
ing meaning in sound; but, AMM's
freedom also erected barriers between
the performers' re-systematized pri-
vate music and the audience, disasso-
ciated from common conceptions of
musical order.
The audience could share AMM's
experimental approach to music, but
AMMUSIC could never be a popular
music. Its creation stems exclusively
from the dynamics of small group
production and not mass consump-
tion. AMM's sonic array can only be
approached and appreciated by indi-
vidual listeners.
Each of us can explore the intri-
cate dynamic of AMM's interaction
or let the pieces flow over us into our
sub-conscious and absorb into emo'
tion; but AMMUSIC is nota common
conduit. Maybe we can redefine com-
munication through these reinvented
tunes.
- Chris Wyrod
m i
YO LA
TENGO
ON TOUR
Ultramarine explore new sounds and ideas on their latest album, "United Kingdoms."
PAINFUL, the Matador debut that SPIN
magazine hails as a "casually majestic masterpiece."
"...a savvy sense of how to meld pop song structures
with galvanic noise."
NEW YORK NEWSDAY
fill.