This is a damn good one with all sorts of nice touches. The story is enormous spanning like fifteen
years or some shit. Edmond Dantes (Jim
Caviezel (Highwaymen, G.I. Jane)) is
betrayed by his best friend Mondego (Guy Pearce (Ravenous, Prometheus)) who tips off the authorities about some
bullshit crime Dantes committed. He’s
then imprisoned at the Chateau d’If which is located far off on a tiny island
like Alcatraz. There he learns book
smarts and how to fight from a wise old prisoner (Richard Harris (Unforgiven, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone)). The sage also tells Dantes
about a hidden treasure that’s located somewhere on the island of Monte Cristo. Dantes escapes, finds the treasure and enacts
his revenge against Mondego and everyone else who wronged him.
Man, it’s a larger than life tale and so beautifully
constructed. You have a happy man who
gets everything dear to him stripped away which backs him into a corner. He’s down but not out. And holy shit does he come back with a
vengeance. He tears everyone a new
asshole.
There are a bunch of versions out there but it’s hard to
imagine topping this latest one. The
acting is good, the pacing is great, the cinematography is beautiful and the
directing is steady as a rock. So it’s
pretty weird that Kevin Reynolds (Waterworld,
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, One Eight Seven) directed this. This one doesn’t have his usual mark of muddy
storytelling or bad performances out of his actors. It’s like really well made actually. I haven’t seen all of his films but I have
seen half of them and this is by far his best.
Yea I know they changed things around a bit from the book so
it’s not the most faithful adaptation.
But it works regardless. The back
stabbing best friend was a badass twist in particular. It perfectly fits the high drama of the rest
of the plot.
Guys I’m tellin’ you, if you like pictures that are just
oozing with adventure like Raiders
and The Princess Bride (ok, it’s not
as good as either one of those but you get my point) then you can’t go wrong
with this well executed timeless piece.
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