Issue date: 2/1/02 Section: Features

In high school many of us learned that reading really long novels was more endurable when they were written with the swift narrative style of authors like Alexandre Dumas. Recently, a new adaptation of Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo was released in theaters. The film succeeds in drawing the viewers into the fun of the story in much the same manner that the novel keeps your attention from the first to the last page. Set in the turmoil of France after Napoleon's reign, the movie opens with the poor and humble Edmund Dantes (Jim Caviezel, Frequency) and his good friend, the cocky and aristocratic Fernand de Mondego (Guy Pearce, LA Confidential and Memento), returning to Marsailles. Upon arrival, Dantes learns that he has been awarded the title of captain of the ship upon which he and Mondego are employed. Couple this with the fact that Dantes and the beautiful Mercedes (Dagmara Dominczyk) are happily in love, it is not too difficult to see that Mondego would be incredibly jealous of Dantes. Friends since childhood, Mondego has gotten everything he wants in life and has many more material possessions than Dantes. Yet, he does not understand Dantes's great happiness in life and is therefore jealous of him. Mondego sabotages Dantes's life by working with the French prosecutor Villefort in order to get Dantes accused of treason against France. While Dantes is sent to life imprisonment at the Chateau d'If, an island prison off the coast of France, Mondego moves in on Mercedes and convinces her to marry him. The young and naïve Dantes is hardened by his years in prison and comes to believe that no one, not even God, will save him. But on one bleak day another fellow prisoner, Abbe Faria (Richard Harris, Gladiator), burrows through the ground of Dantes's cell looking to escape. Having failed, Abbe makes an offer to Dantes – he will educate Dantes in exchange for the latter's helping him dig in the opposite direction from his room to reach freedom. With revenge against Mondego as his incentive, Dantes agrees to this, and the two form a friendship as they attempt to dig out of the prison. Eventually Dantes is able to make his escape from the prison, and the real story begins as Dantes tries to exact revenge on the men who wrongly put him in prison. The fact that I have told you as much as I have about the plot and yet there is so much else that I have not revealed proves that the narrative of this movie moves extremely quickly. Although it is only a total of 1 hour and 50 minutes, the movie does not seem to move by too fast, and the plot flows nicely throughout. A refreshing characteristic of this movie is that it does not rely on special effects in any of its numerous action scenes, particularly in the very realistic sword fighting scenes; the same cannot be said for many recent fantasies such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. The landscape scenes of the coast of France and the islands surrounding France are also magnificent. But most importantly, the movie is very fun to watch. While we are supposed to be sympathetic towards Dantes and what will happen to him, in reality we are simply along for the ride and must enjoy it for what its worth. For example, when Dantes transforms himself into a rich aristocrat after escaping from prison, he arrives at a dinner party by landing outside of his home in a hot air balloon, as all of his guests watch amazed from his back yard. No deep philosophical statements to be gained there, just showmanship. None of the major players in the movie give fantastic performances, but a few in particular do stand out. The two men who help Dantes, Abbe, who helps him get out of prison, and Jacopo, (Luis Guzman, Traffic) who helps Dantes after he escapes from prison, are both strong in their roles and complement Dantes nicely by subtly helping him overcome his thirst for revenge. Mr. Pearce hams it up as the "bad guy" fairly successfully, and Mr. Caviezel transforms from a dim-witted young man to an intellectual gentleman nicely as well. While The Count of Monte Cristo is hardly a fantastic movie of epic proportions, it provides a great two hours of entertainment on a Friday night. It is worth seeing on the big screen; I recommend this movie to anyone looking for a nice fantasy movie diversion that does not rely on the use of typical sci-fi action techniques.

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