Count of Monte Cristo, The (2002)

Starring: James Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Richard Harris
Director: Kevin Reynolds

Rating: PG-13

Studio: Touchstone Pictures

Review Posted: 1.26.02

Spoilers: Minor

Rating: 2.5/4

By Craig Younkin.

It seems like not a year goes by without Hollywood adapting another Alexandre Dumas story into a big screen adventure. And not a year goes by when most people wish they would just stop trying. Movies based on his books have ranged back from the Charlie Sheen version of "The Three Musketeers" to the pretty bad Leonardo DiCaprio "Man in the Iron Mask", and the shoot-yourself-in-the-head-bad martial arts spawn of last year "The Musketeer". 

Hollywood never manages to capture the heart of the narrative, and even though the new Guy Pearce-Jim Caviezel version of "Count of Monte Cristo" may be the most accomplished adaptation in a long time, it sadly still squanders the goods later on.

The film begins with life-long friends Edmond Dantes (Jim Caviezel) and Fernand Mondego (Guy Pearce). Dantes is the second mate aboard a French ship whose captain has taken ill. Looking for support that night, the only island even close is Elba, where Napoleon is in exile.

Napoleon helps them that night, and in return, Dantes, who cannot read and knows that any contact with Napoleon is illegal, agrees to give a confidential letter to an associate of Napoleons back in France.

When the ship gets back to port, Dantes is promoted to Captain of his very own ship, thus giving him enough money to marry the love of his life, Mercedes (Dagmara Dominiczyk). Only before he can do anything, the letter comes back to haunt him.

Dantes is arrested for treason when the authorities find out that the letter actually contains the coordinates of Napoleon's holding facility. Who gave them the tip-off? Three people to be exact, most shocking of all is Mondego is one of the three.

Mondego is the son of a rich count, yet can't stand that Dantes has been showered with a higher ranking job and a lovely fiancée. Another man involved with the conspiracy is Villefort (James Frain), a man, who himself, has a personal attachment to the letter and so must make sure Dantes doesn't blurt out its contents.

To do this, he sends Dantes to a prison far away, where the only human contact he receives is once a year, to receive a whipping from the prisons Jailer (Michael Wincott).

It is during this time that Dantes loses all faith in god and in himself, until he is greeted by an imprisoned priest named Faria (Richard Harris), who has been spending five of his eleven years locked up digging a tunnel in the wrong direction. Dantes agrees to help him go back the other way, on one condition, that the priest help him become a better swordsman as well as a literate and more educated man.

Dantes eventually does manage to escape his cruel prison, and from this point, he begins plotting his slow revenge, which includes finding the treasure of Sparta and becoming a Count with it.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that we're going to eventually feel for the guy and want to root him on, and with that ideology, "The Count of Monte Cristo" becomes a very compelling film. The script also takes on an adventurous side, crafting deeper plot twists as well as creative methods for revenge.

Something "Count" also does is rely on elegance and extravagance for its support. It is a stylish film with a beautiful set and costume design, and critics note, Dante's Count makes one hell of an entrance later on in the film.

All this helps the film sneak past its weakest area, action. "Count" barely contains any, and when it does, it is usually a short set piece that doesn't last nearly long enough to become involved with.

But as soon as the film gets closer to the end, the story sloppily drifts into needless TV Soap opera territory, the most needless of which is the subplot of Mercedes' son Albert. All you can do is just look in shocked disbelief as the intense final showdown between Dantes and Mondego is drowned in the most clichéd of melodramatic garb.

After that, even the good efforts by Jim Caviezel and the nasty and high-strung Guy Pearce are no match for the letdown ending. "Count" had as good a chance as any of being the first good adventure film of 2002, but now, don't count on it.

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