The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) is based off the novel by Alexandre Dumas, it was written from 1844-1846 and so far has been made into more than 20 movies and TV serials in France, Germany, Britain, the US, Russia and Italy. The first production of the movie was in 1908, it was directed by Francis Boggs and Thomas Persons. The movie was a black and white silent film.
However, the 2002 version was directed by Kevin Reynolds, the same man who brought us such insightful films as Waterworld and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the screen writer was Jay Wolpert.
Edmond Dantes has just been appointed the new captain of a ship and is about to marry his fiancé Mercedes when he is accused by the jealous first mate Danglars and Fernand Mondago who covets Mercedes, of being a spy for Napoleon. The prosecutor De Villefort is ready to allow Dantes to walk free until he realizes that he must cover up for his own Bonapartist father. Dantes finds himself in the Chateau d’If for the next 14 years.
During his time he’s befriended, educated and pointed towards a vast hidden treasure on the isle of Monte Cristo, all by one man: Abbe Faria. Dantes eventually escapes by pretending to be a corpse, beats a pirate in a knife fight and finds the Treasure of Monte Cristo shortly after. He starts to build himself a new life, and returns to Marseilles in search of those he loved, discovering though, that the good have suffered and the evil have risen to power. Seeing this, Dante sets out on a clever, manipulative path to destroy his enemies--even Mercedes, who has wed Fernand in Dantes’ absence.
However, even with such an adventurous story such as this, it has been washed out and the characters demoted to inferior, easy-to-play roles. Mercedes (played by Dagmara Dominczyk) is given the obvious, overdone roles of loving fiancé, grieving fiancé, dominated wife and lastly, lover-faithful. Fernand Mondego (Guy Pearce) is turned into nothing more than a glorified, aristocratic bully who knows how to swing a sword. Danglars (Albie Woodington) actually manages to, for a slight amount of time, instill a sense of dread, but more of a Filch-of-Hogwarts dread…actually, there is a slight resemblance. Speaking of Hogwarts, Richard Harris who played Abbe Faria reminded me so strongly of Dumbledore it had to have been a character crossover; the eccentric was acted with ease. Edmond Dantes (Jim Caviezel) is only interesting in that you’re capable of seeing the marked change in him throughout the story, however he makes a horrible good-guy-turned-bad. In fact, other than a passing interest for Faria I was probably only impressed by the prosecutor De Villefort (James Frain) who sent Dantes to prison. His motivation was weak, but he, unlike Caviezel, was able to act the bad-guy quite well.
All in all, the plot was typical, the characters were in a weakened, ‘glitzed’ state and as Kenneth Turan pointed out in his review: This ‘Monte Cristo’ comes out as Half-Backed Dumas:
“Reynolds has the most minimal sense of what dialogue should sound like or how to illustrate emotion in any but the most obvious turning-over-furniture-means-I’m-angry way.”The 2002 version of the Count of Monte Cristo has obviously been through the Hollywood-wringer. Different ending, poor acting, characters have been either demoted or removed all together oh how the 7-hour French version is looking better and better.Copyright Ayleeandra Rowan, nothing presented here may be used without the author's express permission.
Review: Too lengthy, extra information not necessary, review could be more brief and focused (I totally agree, re-reading it).