Turns out to be a nifty swashbuckler whose plot easily could have been lifted from a number of Douglas Fairbanks silent pictures.
Comment
12/31/02
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
The cast has a high time, but de Broca has little enthusiasm for such antique pulp.
10/15/02
Top CriticAn awkward and indigestible movie.
01/03/03
Top Criticclassic cinema served up with heart and humor
12/14/02
“On Guard!” won’t be placed in the pantheon of the best of the swashbucklers but it is a whole lot of fun and you get to see the one of the world’s best actors, Daniel Auteuil, have a whale of a good time.
12/16/02
Touché!
01/24/03
Too silly to take seriously.
11/07/02
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 big, gorgeous, sprawling swashbuckler that delivers its diversions in grand, uncomplicated fashion.
12/20/02
Top CriticDe Broca (who also co-wrote with Jean Cosmos) gives it a frisky energy.
11/08/02
This is, not to put too fine a point on it, a swashbuckler, a costume drama. If you love that old story form, you will be in old-fogy heaven, as it is nearly a perfect example of a genre that died out years ago.
11/27/02
Top CriticOne of the most splendid entertainments to emerge from the French film industry in years.
10/25/02
For both the artsy foreign-film crowd and the blue-collar action-movie fans
05/18/03
It's a tale well told and nearly irresistible.
12/24/02
Top CriticDespite its postdated irrelevance and its dopey title, this Daniel Auteuil vehicle is ludicrous fun.
01/03/03
Top CriticWonderful fencing scenes and an exciting plot make this an eminently engrossing film.
10/17/02
The 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
It was too silly and formulaic to get my undivided attention.
03/23/04
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