[Variety]

Constantin’s 3D production of “The Three Musketeers” is the biggest and most expensive project for both the company and director Paul W.S. Anderson, and its $100 million budget makes it the biggest European movie of the year.  …

Instead of magic, Anderson added a retro sci-fi component, utilizing a sort of steampunk aesthetic in gadgets, weaponry and attitude that references James Bond or “Mission: Impossible,” while still grounded in the period and faithful to the original story.  …

Anderson maintains that the secret of good 3D is “to approach it in a really holistic way. You think about 3D in every aspect of the movie. You design it with 3D in mind right from the script process. The more you think about it, the better the end result.”

Anderson’s producer and partner Jeremy Bolt agrees. “Paul was already quite suited to 3D because so much of his style is about composing sequences, the choreography of scenes. … And 3D is almost a throwback to old-school filmmaking; you can’t cut as quickly so the mise en scene becomes even more important.”

Production designer Paul Austerberry, who has also worked with Anderson previously, but never in 3D, says it wasn’t as big of a jump as he had anticipated. “The way I work, I’m anyway very aware of foreground, middle ground and background,” he says, adding that he was already designing with 3D software, so it was easy to apply that to the film’s needs. What was new was having to consider the relation of the 3D camera to the set to avoid overpowering the foreground. It often meant stretching out the configuration of the set, causing camera and crew to be crammed into a tight corner of the studio to get the shot.  …

The sword fights benefitted especially from the 3D. While the added dimension doesn’t support traditional stunt fights where blows don’t actually connect, sword fighting can look great because it depends on the real impact of the blades.  …