Review: The Three Musketeers (12A) ***

British director Paul W S Anderson (Resident Evil, Death Race) turns to the 3D format for his old-fashioned reworking that relies heavily on swordplay to keep our pulses racing.

The cast members look fierce, duelling with their blades in slow-motion, and the body count is impressively high, albeit without a drop of spilt blood to ensure the family-friendly 12A classification.

Screenwriters Alex Litvak and Andrew Davies resort to a glaring anachronism in their pursuit of bigger, bolder thrills.

Dirigibles soar over the skies of Europe more than 100 years before the French invented them, providing Anderson’s film with its set-piece skirmishes in the air rather than on land or water.

James Corden is earthy comic relief as the Musketeers’ long-suffering manservant Planchet.