Critical Film Condition

Gotta love those movies based on Alexandre Dumas’ books. "The Three Musketeers", "The Man in the Iron Mask" are awesome adventures. Not always easy to adapt to the screen, not always the result of amazing movies, but always fun to watch. "The Count of Monte Cristo", on the other hand, is one of his few books that leaves French history in the background to focus on one man’s tale of the pursuit of revenge.

James Caviezel is Edmond Dantes, a humble sailor from the Napoleonic era of France who is getting his life together. He just got promoted in his job, he’s getting married to the woman of his dreams (the robotic Dagmara Dominczyk) and life’s good. His best friend, Fernand Mondego, is exactly the opposite: rich, but a screw up, and jealous of Dantes’ achievements. So jealous, in fact, that he betrays him in all his greed, sending him to the Chateau d’ If, an island prison, for life. There, Dantes meets an old soldier from Napoleon’s army, who in exchange for help in digging an escape tunnel, teaches Dantes everything he knows, from reading, writing and math to sword fighting and table manners. After 13 years, Dantes finally manages to escape and, with a map from the old man, he finds the treasure of Spada, giving him the opportunity to name himself a powerful Count and seek revenge on those who wronged him in the past.

While it seems like I revealed too much of the plot, the story of "The Count of Monte Cristo" is set on such a large and complex scale that what I wrote in the last paragraph is not enough to spoil anything. Dumas’ novels span decades of time, building up to a very strong climax and getting the reader really into the story. Therein lies one negative aspect of the movie. Dantes spends 13 years of his life in the Chateau d’If. With all modern techniques of prosthetic make-up it is not apparent enough that this much time has passed by and that all this time Dantes’ mind was getting more and more polluted by thoughts of revenge. And while Caviezel displays great acting skills as the hard, vengeful titular character, Dagmara Dominczyk can’t keep up with him, displaying a total lack of true emotion.

Other than that, this is one great movie. Aside from Dominczyk, all actors are great in their roles as they seem to be the perfect casting choices all around. James Caviezel (man, people like whipping this guy in the back) is very convincing as the humble man who becomes a powerful Count overnight, Guy Pearce is fantastic as the jealous Mondego and Richard Harris is always great to watch (he still is my favorite Dumbledore and I don’t even like Harry Potter that much).

On a side note, Luiz Guzmán, who plays Jacopo, Monte Cristo’s right-hand man and my favorite character in the story, steals the show (as he always does in his supporting roles).

This may be Dumas’ best movie adaptation to date (also because this is one of his best books) and Kevin Reynolds (best remember him from "Robin Hood" rather than "Waterworld") really keeps it all together for one enjoyable experience. Great sword fights, great characters and definitely the ultimate story about revenge. Don’t miss it.

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