It has a dashing and resourceful hero; a lisping, reptilian villain; big fights; big hair; lavish period scenery; and a story just complicated enough to let you bask in your own cleverness as you figure it out.
Comment
10/17/02
On Guard (1997)
87
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:30
Fresh:26
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: A spirited, old-fashioned swashbuckler.
Theatrical Release:Oct 18, 2002 Limited
Synopsis: This superb swashbuckler stars Daniel Auteuil as Legardere, a swordsman in 18th-century France who befriends his fellow fencing student, the dashing Duke de Nevers (Vincent Perez), only to wind up... [More]
Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Fabrice Luchini, Vincent Perez, Marie Gillain
Director: Phillippe De Broca
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Reviews for On Guard
Top CriticThe film's frenetic action takes place across beautifully rendered landscapes, and the ever-lunging ambitiousness and ingenuity in its wordplay justifies the fencing term employed for the film's release in America.
11/06/02
Top CriticIn the spirit of Voltaire and Molière, On Guard volleys great wit and deadly gestures in a milieu of lush apparel, landscapes, captivating music and 18th-century lacy sleeves.
12/27/02
Though it lacks the utter authority of a genre gem, there’s a certain robustness to this engaging mix of love and bloodletting.
11/11/02
This far-fetched adventure tale might be old-fashioned, but it's also one of the best swashbucklers in movie history.
10/18/02
Touché!
01/24/03
The sword fighting is well done and Auteuil is a goofy pleasure.
11/27/02
Top CriticSometimes, nothing satisfies like old-fashioned swashbuckling. And in this regard, On Guard delivers.
01/24/03
Old-fashioned but thoroughly satisfying entertainment.
10/15/02
A big, gorgeous, sprawling swashbuckler that delivers its diversions in grand, uncomplicated fashion.
12/20/02
Top CriticNo review available.
07/21/05
De Broca (who also co-wrote with Jean Cosmos) gives it a frisky energy.
11/08/02
Vastly enjoyable--a stylish, affectionate, old-fashioned swashbuckler...staged with such elan that the result is completely winning.
01/21/03
Turns out to be a nifty swashbuckler whose plot easily could have been lifted from a number of Douglas Fairbanks silent pictures.
12/31/02
It's a tale well told and nearly irresistible.
12/24/02
Boasting the best sword-fighting sequences to hit the screen in many years, it is so enjoyably old-fashioned it even looks as if it were made in the '70s.
10/18/02
Top CriticThis rip-snorting period yarn from France wisely follows two important rules of swashbuckling adventures: It never lets the action overwhelm the plot, and it never, ever takes itself too seriously.
10/17/02
A splendid entertainment, young in spirit but accomplished in all aspects with the fullness of spirit and sense of ease that comes only with experience.
11/07/02
Top Criticclassic cinema served up with heart and humor
12/14/02
For both the artsy foreign-film crowd and the blue-collar action-movie fans
05/18/03
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