MOVIE REVIEW FOR THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

A literary classic- this is what other authors and filmmakers classified Alexandre Dumas’
The Count of Monte Cristo which was completed in 1844. The novel was loved in the past
decades because of its historical setting which also tackles themes of hope, justice, vengeance,
mercy and forgiveness. Upon being so in demand way back then, Kevin Reynolds, an American
film director, had made a film which has adapted such novel.
The film revolves on Edmond Dantes, who took over the ship after the captain died on
the journey. This young sailor was wrongly and intentionally imprisoned for more than a decade
because of false accusations of treason. His life with his fiancé was destroyed after being sent
to an island prison where he met Abba Fria, who let him realized that his friends, Danglars and
Mondego, framed him up. Dantes was able to free himself and started seeking for vengeance.
Despite the general plots of the novel – imprisonment and revenge, were maintained,
many aspects including the relationships between major characters and the ending have been
changed or removed and some action scenes which were not originally in the novel had been
added. But those scenes are well choreographed. The screenplay is pure connect-the-dots, but
the sheer narrative drive of the Dumas tale is undeniable. However, with these appraisals,
there are some aspects that are quite bothersome such as the amount of time spent in prison
and the difference of some parts in the movie and in the novel itself. It also had a boring start.
Upon the good acting of Jim Caviezel, Edmond Dantes in the story, the film was able to catch
up the audience eyes and was considered as guilty pleasure two-hour movie because of his
good acting skills.
As what some authors said, if the novels will be adapted in a film, it should somehow
portray the same story outline. However as what I saw in the film and in the summary of the
original novel of Dumas, it follows the general rule. Despite the changes, the two-hour film has
managed to deliver a good story and to give justice in Dumas’ best-selling novel.