2002 Directed by Kevin Reynolds
Edmond Dantés's life and plans to marry the beautiful Mercedes are shattered when his best friend, Fernand, deceives him. After spending 13 miserable years in prison, Dantés escapes with the help of a fellow inmate and plots his revenge, cleverly insinuating himself into the French nobility.
As a swiftly paced, populist adaptation that never pretends to convey the depth of the classic novel, it nevertheless entertains and engrosses through its sweeping character arc. It's a little too simplified and comical to take all that seriously (to my never-ending annoyance, my brothers would often comically quote this entire film), with an edit job that keeps characters and plot developments at arm's length, but it does capture the appeal of the novel whilst effectively drawing in a new generation of fans. It might be one of the more effective examples of the recent wave of Dumas flicks. For those with a soft spot for Reynolds problematic but functionally compelling, family-friendly films, this will hit the spot with some…
Having watched this adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo half a dozen times, I clearly enjoy it, quite a lot actually. Not that I’m oblivious to its faults, mainly some dodgy character acting and wig work, the actual revenge scenes lacking punch and the finale looking like they misjudged the budget and knocked it together in a weekend.
The central story is just so damn fascinating, I love everything in the Chateau d'if, the escape, beach scene and the creation of the count, with the opening and ending just pasting muster. Its also well performed by Caviezel, Pierce and Harris and the inclusion of Wincott, Guzman and superboy add to the interest. A guilty pleasure one might surmise.
Due…
“The Count of Monte Cristo” is a classic revenge tale that feels as if it was ripped from the Golden Age of Hollywood that stars Jim Caviezel as the Batman-esque Count.
PLOT
A simple merchant sailor named Edmond Dantes is wrongfully convicted of being a spy by corrupt officials (one of whom was his best friend) because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and is imprisoned in the hellish prison Château d'If for the remainder of his life. Just when Dantes is about to give in to despair another inmate named Abbé Faria tunnels into his room and the two form a friendship. Over the next eight years Abbé Faria schools Dantes extensively in science, language,…
Picked this one up at a yard sale today and can happily say it was well worth the dollar I paid for it. Very intelligent directorial and writing choices makes this a truly satisfying epic at a just slightly over 2 hour run time. I understand a great deal of changes were made to the source material (haven't read it) but I can say I really enjoyed this story told this way and would be interested to read the book. Director Kevin Reynold's who was behind the famously over budget "Waterworld" shows he can create a very sprawling authentic historical feel making a 35 million dollar budget look and feel 50+.
Acting wise Pearce is strong as the despicable villain…
It runs a little long and definitely doesn't have the most original story, but "The Count of Monte Cristo" makes for a fun and entertaining watch thanks to strong performances and solid direction from Kevin Reynolds.
No es Robin Hood, porque eso no se puede igualar, pero qué divertida venganza perra, qué Guy Pearce disfrutando como homo-villano receloso del éxito ajeno y qué dislate de presentación a la altura de un Gatsby sediento de venganza.
Ideal para el fin de semana.
There was that meme recently about how you can’t cast Ben Affleck in period pieces because his face “looks like he knows what phones are”. The cast of this movie is nothing but people like that.
My 15 year old brother really likes this movie which is strange.
But it overall is a decent period piece. Aged like a mixture of wine and milk. Half elegance and half rot. A very dull tempered film with super strong moments of excellent acting and genuine excitement.
These high brow films from this era that tended to sweep the socialite scene and likewise the awards scene had such a plain style. I consistently stress a highly functional but nevertheless boring level of filmmaking. It’s like a puzzle that makes a picture but the picture is uninteresting.
I always subject myself to movies like this and I have no idea why.
The anachronistic Art Nouveau invitations to the party made me want to write an angry letter to the art director and have them retroactively fire the prop designer who made that piece of garbage and disrespected the audiences intelligence so.
Other than that I love this movie.
It kicks The Man in the Iron Masks ass.
This is my favorite. My absolute favorite. Also one of the very very few movies I like more than the book. And I love the book too. But I’m so on board with what they did differently here. I think the changes make for a more compelling and engaging story.
The movie that kickstarted my lifelong Guy Pearce Situation, at the ripe old age of 12.
mattyfastwheelz 1,032 films
Shawn Stubbs 918 films
This is a list of movies based on books, short stories, novels, novellas, poems, etc.
Darren Carver-Balsiger 331 films
A community vote to find the best films from 2000 to 2009 (using Letterboxd dates)
In the comments below, vote…
