.

.

The Count of Monte Cristo_360P

add

Jesus Christ- I mean, Jim Caviezel plays an affable, naive young sailor whose luck always seems to put him on top and makes him an object of almost insane jealousy of his friend, Count Guy Pearce, especially when Guy lusts for Jim's girlfriend. When Jim becomes an unwitting pawn in a plot of Napoleon's to escape prison, Guy frames him and Jim gets sent to prison, where he meets and is mentored by an ex-soldier/priest (the late Richard Harris), who tells him of a great treasure. Years later, upon Harris's death, Jim escapes, falls in with some pirates, finds the treasure and decides that the time has come for him to take revenge on the ones who did him wrong. To do this he reinvents himself as the suave, mysterious, enigmatic Count of Monte Cristo, and he won't stop until he's made Guy Pearce sorry he ever double crossed him. Well made swashbuckler with fine acting by Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce (doing all he can in a one dimensional role) and Richard Harris in a brief role. The last duel is well done and the film boasts some beautiful scenery. "I'm a priest... not a saint." - Richard Harris character

This movie has one thing going to it. Many people have never actually read the book. The only person who could possibly enjoy it is one who knows absolutely nothing about what really happens in the novel. In fact there is only one part in the entire movie that is fairly accurate and that is the part in which our hero is in prison, although much of that is distorted beyond belief too. It is a shame that someone could come forth and so butcher a wonderful novel like The Count of Monte Cristo, but this movie makes it seem like a bad daytime soap opera. On a personal note to the director, please in the future, write your own story to destroy, don't kill a masterpiece.

The Count of Monte Cristo. It is a famous story written by Alexandre Dumas, even better known from The Three Musketeers. This 2002 adaptation of Le Comte de Monte Cristo is a good one. The story is about two friends. One of the friends betrays the other and that one is send to a prison on Chateau D'If. He escapes after 13 years, with the help of an older man. I will not tell you the details but this part in prison is a great part. The man tells him where he can find a lot of gold. After he has escaped he wants revenge on all of them who betrayed him. With the gold he finds he becomes the Count of Monte Cristo and his plan can begin. Basically this is the story, with some sub-plots involving Napoleon, some kind of pirates, a magistrate and his father, a new friend and a girl who once was the fiancé of the count, and now is the wife of his former best friend. Everything looked pretty good. The costumes, the setting, everything. Th actors were all terrific. Jim Caviezel as the count, Guy Pearce as his betrayer and especially Richard Harris as the older man in prison. We see the sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in a same kind of role he has there, perfect for him, and Luis Guzmán as the new friend. They all do a great job together with director Kevin Reynolds (also Robin Hood) and the rest of the crew. 9/10.

One of the most famous revenge stories, The Count of Monte Cristo is here turned into a dashing, old-fashioned swashbuckler. The plot is riddled with unconvincing coincidences and occurences (as indeed was the book), but other than that this is a well-made, enjoyable film, with some literate dialogue and believable action sequences. It is the fact that the action is believable that makes the film memorable, because in too many 2002 releases the action was so overblown and unrealistic (not to mention physically impossible) that the credibility of such films was destroyed. Edmond Dantes (Caviezel) is a honest young sailor working out of 19th Century Marseilles. His best friend Fernan (Pearce) secretly craves the hand of Dantes's fiancee Mercedes (Dominczyk), so he informs to the authorities that Dantes is a conspirator plotting to aid in Napoleon's escape from Elba. Dantes is sent to a terrible, inescapable island prison, while Fernan takes Mercedes to be his wife. After many years of hardship, Dantes makes an audacious escape and, having acquired a fortune by solving a cryptic treasure map, slowly plots his revenge under the new identity of the "Count of Monte Cristo". Caviezel was a relative newcomer when he did this film, but he really catches the eye as the innocent man driven to despair by his terrible and unjustified punishment. Pearce is good too, perfecting his arrogant sneer as the deplorable Fernan. The prison scenes are well shot, with the hopelessness and horror of the place captured in considerably believable detail. It's quite surprising that The Count of Monte Cristo was a relative disappointment at the box office, since its dramatic storyline, and the themes of revenge, betrayal and loss, are usually guaranteed crowd-pullers. This film deserves to be seen by more people, and the more people that see it the more its reputation will surely grow.

"The Count of Monte Cristo" is exactly what I expected it to be - entertaining. A classic? No. However it's far from a dud, and you could do a lot worse if you want to whittle away a bit of time watching a movie. The movie version of the book leaves a bare bones plot, which is quite simple. Edmond Dantes (James Caviezel) is falsely imprisoned for treason, having been blackmailed by his friend Fernand Mondego (Guy Pearce) who covets Dantes' wife-to-be. Queue languishment in prison where he plots his escape and his ultimate revenge on Dantes in a highly fashionable style. This movie is a neat little adaptation of the novel, seeing as it manages to retain some great pacing on screen. At times, admittedly, you feel there's certain pieces rushed (particularly towards the end as Dantes' plan unveils), but since it suffices to keep the story moving along swiftly that's OK. The script is nice and witty - there's a real sense of fun permeating the movie. While Caviezel is a serious actor, Guy Pearce is obviously loving his role as the dastardly Mondego, hamming and camping it up with a glee that's delightful to behold - he steals the screen every time he's on it. Other members of the cast similarily light up the movie, particularly Luis Guzmán as Dantes' side-kick Jacopo, and a wonderful turn by Richard Harris as the high-camp -prison-warder Abbé Faria (I found him hilariously nasty). The direction on the movie is nice and smooth - there's no need for any fancy trickery here on the part of Kevin Reynolds. Indeed the smooth almost gentle nature of it all, including well paced sword fights, is a nice change from some of the more overly-excessive energetic work of today's movies. Is the movie perfect? No. It's not smart enough, or quite well made enough for that. But it is a hell of a lot of fun, and most certainly enjoyable - and that's often all you want. With it's great sense of fun, and some lovely performances throughout, it's a worthwhile diversion for a while. I'll give it a 7.8.

"The Count of Monte Cristo" (2002), a contempo back-to-basics treatment of the famous Dumas novel for new generations, spins its tale of passion and revenge with all the glory and melodrama of Hollywood's golden years. Full of lavish costuming, sumptuous sets, beautiful locations, dashing men, a gorgeous damsel, dank dungeons, the ever popular swashbuckling (whatever that is) etc., all supported with a classic story makes for 2+ hours of solid entertainment. Who could ask for more? Kick back and enjoy this fun adventure flick worth a trip to the video store. (A-)