Those who love dusty, thick books found in second hand shops might enjoy The Count Of Monte Cristo but really it's a bit bland. This is a throwback film, a lunge backwards into those Saturday afternoon Jaffa rollers, designed for teenage swooners and mooners.
Alexandre Dumas's huge novel has been put onto the big and little screen many times. It's an epic which can barely be fitted into a two hour film, but I am very pleased it only went for two hours.
Australian Guy Pierce (Memento, L.A. Confidential, The Time Machine) plays Mondego, one of the baddies. The hero Edmund is played by Jim Caviezel (The Thin Red Line) and his teacher Faria by old timer Richard Harris.
The film does look good. The island fortress Chateau d'If looks formidable, the treasure trove is found in a suitably spectacular location and I did enjoy the hot air balloon entrance of The Count (even if it apparently had no means of heating the air, perhaps it was a cunningly conceived helium balloon).
But Monte Cristo looked miscast. The Count was too wimpy and Pierce, who would have been better as The Count, sneered too much. Still the film had a Technicolor air about it that was reasonably pleasing.
It's a tale about revenge. Two young adventurers, Mondego and Edmund have a falling out when the nasty Mondego frames Edmund as a traitor. Mondego is after Edmund's girlfriend Mercedes (Dagmara Dominczyk).
Edmund spends nearly 20 years in jail, living on nothing much, but emerges fat and feisty with a treasure map. With his riches he sets fiscal traps for his enemies and just might win back the girl. There just has to be a wing ding sword fight or two. There is.
The Count of Monte Cristo is Rob Roy without the drama and Braveheart without marauding knickerless Scots and thankfully The Man In The Iron Mask (another Dumas novel) without Leonardo DiCaprio.
2 Scenic Flys Out Of Five
Alexandre Dumas's huge novel has been put onto the big and little screen many times. It's an epic which can barely be fitted into a two hour film, but I am very pleased it only went for two hours.
Australian Guy Pierce (Memento, L.A. Confidential, The Time Machine) plays Mondego, one of the baddies. The hero Edmund is played by Jim Caviezel (The Thin Red Line) and his teacher Faria by old timer Richard Harris.
The film does look good. The island fortress Chateau d'If looks formidable, the treasure trove is found in a suitably spectacular location and I did enjoy the hot air balloon entrance of The Count (even if it apparently had no means of heating the air, perhaps it was a cunningly conceived helium balloon).
But Monte Cristo looked miscast. The Count was too wimpy and Pierce, who would have been better as The Count, sneered too much. Still the film had a Technicolor air about it that was reasonably pleasing.
It's a tale about revenge. Two young adventurers, Mondego and Edmund have a falling out when the nasty Mondego frames Edmund as a traitor. Mondego is after Edmund's girlfriend Mercedes (Dagmara Dominczyk).
Edmund spends nearly 20 years in jail, living on nothing much, but emerges fat and feisty with a treasure map. With his riches he sets fiscal traps for his enemies and just might win back the girl. There just has to be a wing ding sword fight or two. There is.
The Count of Monte Cristo is Rob Roy without the drama and Braveheart without marauding knickerless Scots and thankfully The Man In The Iron Mask (another Dumas novel) without Leonardo DiCaprio.
2 Scenic Flys Out Of Five