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The Count of Monte Cristo | Classification: Action/Adventure Directed: - Kevin Reynolds Actors/Actresses: - Michael Wincott - James Caviezel - Guy Pearce Alone, an intriguing film, but short of Dumas' novel Reimagining a classic is always a gamble, and this one may come up short if you're expecting a full-scale revision of the original. Dumas' tale of love, justice, and revenge cannot fit into 2 hours, and this movie attempts to abridge even the most abridged version of the story. Edmund Dantes (Jim Caviezel) is falsely accused of treason, thanks to jealous and conspiring friends (Guy Pearce and James Frain). He finds himself imprisoned at Chateau d'If during his engagement to Mercedes (Dagmara Dominczyk). Upon his escape from the island, he vows revenge, doing so with unlimited funds from a sunken treasure and under a new guise, the Count of Monte Cristo. Dantes' friends, now wealthy and successful, are at first taken by this new count, until he proves to be less of a gentleman than they expected. With all the action and cunning, or because of it, the pacing seemed rather hurried, perhaps because the novel is juicier; for all his 13 years in prison, Dantes exacts his justice rather quickly, leaving little time for emotions on both sides to seethe and boil. The film focuses unnecessary time on Dantes' imprisonment, in spite of Richard Harris' fine performance as a fellow prisoner and a priest who teaches Edmund and later directs him to the treasure; his character is immediately forgotten following Dantes' escape. In condensing the story, however, the script manages to draw out jealousies born of a lifelong friendship between a commoner, Dantes, and a noble, Fernand Mondego. Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce fill out their roles exceptionally well. In less skilled hands, their characters might come dangerously close to self-parody. Still, the script provides only a faint shadow of Dumas' rich novel. The DVD comes stocked with extras, including a biography on Dumas and a study of the novel. There are also deleted scenes, a director commentary, and a segment on the adaptation. I would have liked some interviews with Caviezel and Pearce, however. If you enjoy the story but not the 200 hours of reading you'll need for the book, you should check out the French miniseries filmed a few years back starring Gerard Depardieu. It's much more faithful to the original, and the added time allows Dantes' revenge plots to precipitate at a delicious pace. Superior version of the classic novel "The Count of Monte Cristo" is the best and the brightest of the numerous film versions of the Alexander Dumas novel made over the years. In the future a version may come along that comes closer to capturing the book's essential decadence and bawdiness. Until that time, though, this newest movie will more than suffice. Edmund Dantes [James Caviezel] is an adventurer of low birth. He is a decent, trusting guy who hopes to marry his true love, the beautiful Mercedes [Dagmara Dominczyk]. After he is appointed captain of a merchant ship, Edmund's alleged best friend, Fernand [Guy Pearce] sets out to destroy him. Fernand gains materially and politically from this treachery and is free to pursue Mercedes. Falsely accused of treason, Edmund is sent to a prison on the isolated island of Chateau D'If, where he languishes for years. Just as he is about to go mad, he meets a fellow prisoner, Abbe Faria [Richard Harris], who teaches him many useful things and infuses him with hope. Finally, Edmund manages to escape. After obtain a fortune and a new identity, he sets out to get his revenge. Caviezel usually plays soft characters who need others for emotional support. Here, halfway through the movie, he transforms into a truly independent man, a hero who knows exactly how to get what he wants. Nobody can play a charming but utterly deceitful person better than Pearce, who has an air of an alley cat about him. I mean this as a compliment. Harris is wonderful as always, and Luis Guzman is charming and funny as Edmund's devilish sidekick. Some of the dialog is way too modern for the movie's setting, but, otherwise, it's a fairly authentic period piece. The costumes and the sets, especially in the second half, are extraordinarily colorful. This is a visually sumptuous movie. "The Count of Monte Cristo" is a throwback to the Golden Age of Hollywood, when heroes of mythic proportion, who believed in honor and true love, ruled the screen. But don't mistake it for a relic. Old-fashioned or not, it's smashingly good entertainment. Well Crafted Well crafted story telling and fine performances make this an enjoyable film adaptation of a classic work. An outstanding production and well worth a viewing. 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