The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Kevin Reynolds

Writers (WGA):

Alexandre Dumas père (novel)
Jay Wolpert (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 January 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Prepare for adventure. Count on revenge.

Plot:

A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous "friends," escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Escape | Treason | Treasure | Island Prison

Cast

James Caviezel	...	Edmond Dantes (as Jim Caviezel)
Guy Pearce	...	Fernand Mondego
Richard Harris	...	Abbé Faria
James Frain	...	J.F. Villefort
Dagmara Dominczyk	...	Mercedès Iguanada
Michael Wincott	...	Armand Dorleac
Luis Guzmán	...	Jacopo
Christopher Adamson	...	Maurice
JB Blanc	...	Luigi Vampa
Guy Carleton	...	Mansion Owner
Alex Norton	...	Napoleon
Barry Cassin	...	Old Man Dantes
Henry Cavill	...	Albert Mondego
Aliaz Moufid	...	Holga (credit only) (as Zhara)
Brendan Costello	...	Viscount

Also Known As:

Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo (USA) (complete title)
El conde de Monte Cristo (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]
Monte Cristo (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Montecristo (Argentina) (Peru) [es]
O Conde de Monte Cristo (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Contele de Monte Cristo (Romania) [ro]
Greven av Monte Cristo (Sweden) [sv]
Greven av Monte Cristo (Norway) [no]
Grof Monte Cristo (Croatia) [hr]
Hrabe Monte Cristo (Czech Republic) [cs]
La venganza del conde de Montecristo (Spain) [es]
La vengeance de Monte Cristo (France) [fr]
Le comte de Monte Cristo (Canada: French title) [fr]
Monte Christo grófja (Hungary) [hu]
Monte Cristo (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Montecristo (Italy) [it]
O komis Monte Cristo (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for adventure violence/swordplay and some sensuality.

Runtime:

131 min | Spain:134 min

Country:

UK | USA | Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #38851) | Iceland:12 | Malaysia:U | South Korea:12 | Australia:G (TV rating) | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Canada:PG | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:11 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/6 | Singapore:PG | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:PG (cut) | Canada:A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Studios - Herbert Road, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

The white polka dot dress with ornate floral pattern on the bodice that Dagmara Dominczyk (Mercedès Iguanada) wears at the office of Monsieur Villefort is the same costume Julia Sawalha (Lydia Bennet) wears while observing Wickham horse riding in "Pride and Prejudice" (1995), and Ruby Bentall (Mary Bennet) wears to the Meryton Assembly Ball in "Lost in Austen" (2008).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Dantes runs along the shoreline, a blue object can be seen in the background - this must be a crew member because none of the smugglers are wearing blue.

Quotes:

Mercedes: I don't know what dark plan lies within you. Nor do I know by what design we were asked to live without each other these 16 years. But God has offered us a new beginning...
Edmond: God?
Mercedes: Don't slap His hand away.
Edmond: Can I never escape Him?
Mercedes: No, He is in everything. Even in a kiss.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "MythBusters: Mega Movie Myths (#4.19)" (2006)

Satisfying revenge story from a famous book.

One of the most famous revenge stories, The Count of Monte Cristo is here turned into a dashing, old-fashioned swashbuckler. The plot is riddled with unconvincing coincidences and occurences (as indeed was the book), but other than that this is a well-made, enjoyable film, with some literate dialogue and believable action sequences. It is the fact that the action is believable that makes the film memorable, because in too many 2002 releases the action was so overblown and unrealistic (not to mention physically impossible) that the credibility of such films was destroyed.

Edmond Dantes (Caviezel) is a honest young sailor working out of 19th Century Marseilles. His best friend Fernan (Pearce) secretly craves the hand of Dantes's gorgeous fiancee Mercedes (Dominczyk), so he informs to the authorities that Dantes is a conspirator plotting to aid in Napoleon's escape from Elba. Dantes is sent to a terrible, inescapable island prison, while Fernan takes Mercedes to be his wife. After many years of hardship, Dantes makes an audacious escape and, having acquired a fortune by solving a cryptic treasure map, slowly plots his revenge under the new identity of the "Count of Monte Cristo".

Caviezel was a relative newcomer when he did this film, but he really catches the eye as the innocent man driven to despair by his terrible and unjustified punishment. Pearce is good too, perfecting his arrogant sneer as the deplorable Fernan. The prison scenes are well shot, with the hopelessness and horror of the place captured in considerably believable detail. It's quite surprising that The Count of Monte Cristo was a relative disappointment at the box office, since its dramatic storyline, and the themes of revenge, betrayal and loss, are usually guaranteed crowd-pullers. This film deserves to be seen by more people, and the more people that see it the more its reputation will surely grow.