Captain Alatriste: The Spanish Musketeer
Captain Alatriste: The Spanish Musketeer
Spain 17th century. Diego Alatriste, brave and heroic soldier, is fighting under his King's army in the Flandes region. His best mate, Balboa, falls in a trap and near to die ask to Diego, as his last desire, to looking after his son Íñigo and grow him as a soldier. Alatriste has to come back to Madrid.
piss garfield reviewedJune 28, 2025
While missing more and more connective tissue as the film progresses, this is a pretty wonderful and tragic tale of the life of a professional soldier, the blood they shed and the little value ultimately placed on them - no matter how favoured by the court.
Shot like a golden age painting come to life, the performances are very effective, the dialogue reasonably strong, though the pacing patchy at times. Best treated as world cinema, with scenes popping up that require the audience to infer a lot as to their context as little screen time is wasted. Set's and costumes are gorgeous, though let down occasionally by the odd editing choice and poor blocking - though that's not to say in general the photography and direction is lacking, far from it. Violence and death is swift, and lacking theatrics and drama, despite the efforts of it's combatants; and the ends for most are grim, a bitter release from the regrets of a life and love they could have held onto instead.
Most importantly the Viggo muskeeter swag is undeniable.