From the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo is an action-filled tale of betrayal, the story of a wrongfully imprisoned man’s revenge on those who betrayed him.
Edmond Dantes (Jim Caviezel) has a promising future. The young sailor plans to marry his breathtaking fiancée Mercedes (Dagmara Dominczyk). But everything is unexpectedly halted by Fernand Mondego (Guy Pearce), his best friend, who sets him up to be illegally sentenced to the notorious island prison Chateau D’If, where he endures a horrible existence for 13 years.
While in prison, Dantes meets Abbé Faria, a priest who was also wrongfully imprisoned. Abbé teaches the naïve and uneducated Edmond literature, arithmetic, the laws of economics and the skill of the sword. Eventually, Edmond escapes. Using the riches from a secret treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo, he transforms himself into a French aristocrat, cunningly and meticulously taking out his revenge on those who confined and betrayed him.
The novel underwent some changes in the transition to film—some less important characters in the novel version weren’t formally introduced or were left out. Another difference is the time period over which Edmond exacts his revenge: in the novel it’s about 10 years, but it seems like a few weeks in the film.
Director Kevin Reynolds put together a good cast, but the lead female role is a little too fragile. She seems to be the all-too-clichéd innocent female character waiting for her prince to come, pining her life away for her lover instead of hunting for information about Edmond’s suspicious conviction.
The film had tons of action and sword fighting scenes plus plenty of comic relief—like Edmond’s right hand man Jacopo, who speaks in a very funny Queens, New York cab driver accent although ostensibly in nineteenth-century France.
By film’s end, the entire event had become predictable, delivering standard-fare love scenes and a clichéd final reunion of Edmond and Mercedes. It seemed like the standard soap opera scenario with the typical “who’s the daddy” confusion towards the end of the movie.
Overall, though, these banal qualities still didn’t ruin the film or turn it into the extreme romantic chick flick I was expecting. Movie buffs that enjoy 19th century savoir-faire will love the luxurious highlights of this film, especially Edmond’s crafty plan of revenge.
