What do you mean I need a shave?

The ultimate tale of betrayal and revenge gets a makeover for the 21st century.

Neil Heath

Alex Dumas' original novel is a fantastic and absorbing story of Edmond Dante's life.
It's spawned many adaptations, and the latest stars an accomplished cast in a slick production.

The Plot
Edmond Dante (Caviezel) has everything; a beautiful fiancee, Mercedes (Dominczyk) his own ship and crew, and an apparent loyal friend, Fernand (Pearce).

However Edmond is betrayed thanks largely to Fernand's jealousy, and is also scapegoated for a conspiracy involving the exiled Napoleon.

Edmond is sentenced to life imprisonment at the Chateau d'If on a deserted island.

Life imprisonment? You're joking! What exactly have I done?

There he meets Faria (Harris), who teaches him to read and write, and how to tunnel out of the torturous hell hole.

After 13 years Edmond escapes from the island, and becomes unimaginably wealthy after finding hidden treasure.

With his escape and acquired wealth, and a regal name change, revenge is set.

The Review
The Count of Monte Cristo is as you would expect, beautifully shot and really well made.

Which is surprising when you consider what's on Kevin Reynold's CV - the awful 'Waterworld'. But credit goes to his direction of T.C.O.M.C, it's actually very good.

My name is Fernand, and I'm considerably richer than you.

For those who love non-stop action, the slow pace of Edmond's time in prison would be considered a little dull.

I actually thought it was absorbing, in fact I was absorbed all the way through.

Caviezel is excellent in this picture. He's a very good actor full stop.

Effectively he's playing two roles as the same character. One is the naive and illiterate Edmond, the other is the wise and vengeful Count.

Pearce is also excellent, we have to hate his character to make Edmond's revenge justifiable, and we do.

He's incredibly odious on screen, to put it bluntly he's an absolute scum-bag, which is great, because if the film is to work, Pearce's role has to do that.

But Predictably, to appeal to a modern audience, a few sword fights have been thrown in, which I'm told never appeared in the original text.

However, it's an enjoyable couple of hours and worth a look, but if you're more satisfied by car chases and explosions, you'll nod off after half an hour.