The Count of Monte Cristo-A Wet Blanket of a Film

Advantages: A few well-played parts, visually impressive.
Disadvantages: Script and plot are weak, characters too stereotypical.

...I saw The Count of Monte Cristo on the first day it came out here in the UK, but I wasn't overly impressed. Here's why... = The Man in the Iron Mask, Anybody? = Dashing young men dash across the screen quite dashingly in this distinctly average tale of trust, bravery and - well - dashing, really. Admittedly there are some impressive scenes and the landscape is breathtaking, but the story-line leaves a little to be desired... The Plot of The Count of Monte Cristo We're in France after the fall of Napoleon. The dashing (I warned you!) Edmond Dantes (played by Jim Caviezel) is a clerk's son who has enjoyed some success in life. His...

freelancer1 14.10.2002 · Read review
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Review of The Count Of Monte Cristo (DVD)

Monte, You Terrible Count

Advantages: Good old fashioned romp
Disadvantages: Not enough romping

...for the incarcerated Edmond until a chance encounter with fellow prisoner Abbe (Richard Harris) leads him to formulate an elaborate plan to get his own back on those who betrayed him. His revenge keeps him sane, and many years after his capture, he is finally ready to re-emerge in his new guise as The Count of Monte Cristo, and exact his revenge? * * * * * Remade 10 times (3 times for TV), you have to start wondering whether or not Hollywood have any original ideas left. Fortunately, this is not an ill-fated attempt at polishing a turd ? it?s a surprisingly engaging old-fashioned yarn. I can?t say I?ve seen any of the other attempts to bring Alexandre Dumas? classic novel to the screen, but this suitably impressed me. ***ACTING UP*** Jim Caviezel is one of those actors whose face you?ll know, but probably won?t remember for doing a superb acting...

peppersinclaire 10.11.2002 · Read review
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Review of The Count Of Monte Cristo (DVD)

Don't count on this version...

Advantages: Good action, looks great, fantastic story
Disadvantages: Average script and acting, misses lots out from the book

...is now married to his enemy and they are living in Paris. So he goes off and tracks them down, and with his new-found wealth, he can finally get his vengeance on all those that betrayed him, under the pretence of the Count of Monte Cristo? As I said, I do like this genre of film anyway, so I was always going to enjoy this. It has everything an adventure film should have: a gripping storyline, a dastardly villain (but not over the top), some great swashbuckling action, stunning locations and costumes, and even buried treasure. The acting from the two leads is fine, if not ground-breaking, with Guy Pearce being cast perfectly as the baddie due to his evil grin. There are also appearances from the late Richard Harris as Faria, and possibly someone off Taggart playing Napoleon Bonaparte; see if you recognise him! The woman who plays...

l-m-n-o-p 26.08.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Count Of Monte Cristo (DVD)

PREPARE FOR ADVENTURE - COUNT ON REVENGE

Advantages: Good swashbuckling fun, classic story
Disadvantages: Not quite enough action

...When a story has been dramatised into film nine times already, it does rather beg the question, “What’s the point of doing yet another version?” It was nearly twenty years since the last film version of Alexandre Dumas’s was released in cinemas, so with an entirely new generation of filmgoers to be enthralled, perhaps the time was right to re-make this classic story. The Count of Monte Cristo is the story of two young men. Edmond Dantes and Fernand Mondego both work for a shipping business, but come from completely different backgrounds. Edmond is the son of a common man, and lacks education and common sense. Mondego, on the other hand, is the son of a wealthy count and is well educated in all matters. Nonetheless, despite the pair’s wildly varying family backgrounds, it is Edmond who is the most...

LostWitness 03.10.2002 · Read review
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Review of The Count Of Monte Cristo (DVD)

Stand up and be Counted

Advantages: Great solid old-fashioned story telling
Disadvantages: performaces on the hammy side, not enough fighting

...“What?” I said “I said, d’ya fancy going to see the remake of “The Count of Monte Cristo”?”, she replied. “ A remake of “The Count of Monte Cristo” how redundant is that? A story which, according to IMDB.com, has been made into a cinematic movie 13 times, 3 TV movies and 4 series. I’d say the last thing the world needs is yet another version. What on earth makes you think I’d ever go and see this movie?” A winning argument I thought. “Well, I have two free tickets courtesy of our friends at thefilmfactory.co.uk.” And so it was that I found myself making the trek to the Edinburgh UCI and I have to say I’m very glad I did, because it turns out the movie is not half bad at all, in fact I have to admit to rather enjoying it. Based...

daveking 21.04.2002 (22.04.2002) · Read review
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Review of The Count Of Monte Cristo (DVD)

The Counts A Classic

Advantages: Excellent film
Disadvantages: Very very long

...The count of Monte Cristo is a french film with subtitles. Now I don`t usually go in for subtitled films, but this one with Gerard Depardieu playing the lead role of Edmond Dantes, had me completely hooked. I watched this film last christmas, and it was shown in about 7 parts running consecutively. Each part was about 90 minutes long, so it must have been good to keep me interested for that long. The story begins on the wedding day of Edmond Dantes. He is all set to marry the love of his life, the beautiful Mercedes, when he is unexpectedly arrested for treason. Unable to prove his innocence, he is sentenced to life imprisonment on the well known Chateau D`if, which is on an island surrounded by raging seas. Once inside he meets a priest by the name of Abbe Faria, who tells him of a treasure which he inherited and buried...

sue26 15.04.2001 (05.02.2002) · Read review
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Review of Count of Monte Cristo, The (Le Comte de Monte Cristo) (1998)

Jacobo! Bertuccio! The world is mine!

Advantages: Great performences, Superb story
Disadvantages: Mix of accents, some of original story lost

...The Count of Monte-Cristo I first saw this film on Film4, where I have since seen it showing on quite a few occasions. I absolutely loved it and now own the DVD. My copy cost £7 from HMV; it is also available from Play and Amazon for around £6. The front of the DVD case looks like the photograph shown. The back has a short description of the plot and some credits. This film was produced in 1975, and this DVD version released in 2007. Plot The film is a made-for-TV movie adaption of the novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas and is set in the Napoleonic era and stars Richard Chamberlain as Edward Dantes; a man with the world at his feet. Dantes is about to become a Captain in the Navy and is set to marry his true love, Mercedes (played by Kate Nelligan). Dantes plans are scuppered by three men who falsely...

Chuckles1987 03.07.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Count Of Monte Cristo (DVD)

Wreak My Rewengay

Advantages: Exciting, sword fighting, not too much bodice ripping
Disadvantages: None

..., so as not to narrow the audience and so any scenes where sex is involved are very underplayed and those involved are still fully clad and merely kiss and perhaps, rather daringly, hug! I found this a great relief as there is nothing I hate more when watching a drama or action film than to be assailed at every turn by heaving bosoms and overlibidious men. I have gone to watch the film for the sword fighting, the duels, the evil villains and exciting stunts and not to see some woman in the nude. If I wanted that there are plenty of pornos down at my local video shop. The Count of Monte Cristo had a romantic interest but that was not what dominated our hero?s actions, as he obviously thought with his brain and not what was in his trousers. No nudity here (sorry if that disappoints you blokies)! ENJOYMENT FACTOR The film will...

Ophelia 12.06.2003 · Read review
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Review of The Count Of Monte Cristo (DVD)

On what slender threads do life and fortune hang

Advantages: A gripping, moving, very worthwhile read
Disadvantages: Discourages with its length, which is unfortunate

...Such is the quote chosen for the back of the new, stylishly attired Penguin edition of Alexandre Dumas? The Count of Monte Cristo, and it does sum it up quite perfectly. This edition is a thoroughly complete and unabridged version, in a new translation by Robin Buss, who also penned the introduction (worth a look) and notes. This weighs in at decent doorstop size, £8.99 (RRP) buying you entertainment for quite some time? three weeks, for myself entertaining myself on a daily commute. So why read all 1245 pages of tiny, crowded print? Let?s start with a synopsis of one of the most popular and enduring stories ever told? Edmond Dantes is a young and promising French sailor, about to be promoted by his boss, ready to lift himself and his father out of a life of genteel poverty and preparing to marry his sweetheart, local...

ruth_cole 02.09.2003 · Read review
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Review of The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

Chilly revenge

Advantages: good, old-fashioned swash-buckling adventure yarn
Disadvantages: drippy heroine, and a first half that might drag on repeated viewings

...In a time when ‘adventure’ in the cinema tends to either be your big special effects-laden fantasy epic (Lord of the Rings) or your big special effects-laden action adventure (The Mummy, for instance), The Count of Monte Cristo sees cinema harking back to an era where ‘adventure’ was more adventurous all by itself and not because some horrible computer generated baddie was chasing the hero(es). No, this is all about buckling your swash, duelling with your enemy, and perhaps eying up the heaving bosom of the heroine in a conveniently low cut dress. •¤• THE PLOT •¤• Based as it is on a classic piece of literature – the book of the same name by Alexandre (The Three Musketeers) Dumas – the plot of The Count of Monte Cristo is too well known for the trailers to the film to...

Calypte 29.04.2002 · Read review
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Review of The Count Of Monte Cristo (DVD)