I wasn't the only one in the audience who never read "The Count of Monte Cristo," or saw the zillion other versions, so I had no idea what would happen.
Along with everybody else I booed the bad guy, cheered the hero, sympathized with the romance, was warmed by the side kick's loyalty and gasped at the feats and coincidences. Ah, they do make movies like this anymore!
This is my son's favorite book and my family was bound to see the movie so we could discuss it. (He discovered the book through reference to the author "Dumb-Ass" in "The Shawshank Redemption" that he watches every time it's on cable, which is about once a month, and has since been reading all of the Dumas books. I taped all of the French mini-series off cable, but of course didn't watch it, but he went through my piles of video tapes over school vacation and found and watched the whole thing. Then he complained bitterly that the 8 hours, with commercials, didn't begin to do the book justice so sneered at the previews for this new 2 hour version.)
Jim Caviezel is simply marvelous, from naif to hairy prisoner to revengeful knight. But Guy Pearce was simply directed wrong to be supercilious. Usually actors tear up the scenery being a villain, so love doing it, but Pearce takes the foppish route instead of the Alan Rickman model, more's the pity.
Richard Harris puts in another canny mentor role.
The audience immediately recognized Luis Guzman, who usually plays Puerto Rican drug dealers, and got a big kick out of his amusing Sancho Panza, with his and other modern language asides put in for fun.
The stunts and effects were effective and believable, while the music was unexpectedly unobtrusive.
And now I do want to read the book - well, some day.
(originally written 1/20/2002))
Along with everybody else I booed the bad guy, cheered the hero, sympathized with the romance, was warmed by the side kick's loyalty and gasped at the feats and coincidences. Ah, they do make movies like this anymore!
This is my son's favorite book and my family was bound to see the movie so we could discuss it. (He discovered the book through reference to the author "Dumb-Ass" in "The Shawshank Redemption" that he watches every time it's on cable, which is about once a month, and has since been reading all of the Dumas books. I taped all of the French mini-series off cable, but of course didn't watch it, but he went through my piles of video tapes over school vacation and found and watched the whole thing. Then he complained bitterly that the 8 hours, with commercials, didn't begin to do the book justice so sneered at the previews for this new 2 hour version.)
Jim Caviezel is simply marvelous, from naif to hairy prisoner to revengeful knight. But Guy Pearce was simply directed wrong to be supercilious. Usually actors tear up the scenery being a villain, so love doing it, but Pearce takes the foppish route instead of the Alan Rickman model, more's the pity.
Richard Harris puts in another canny mentor role.
The audience immediately recognized Luis Guzman, who usually plays Puerto Rican drug dealers, and got a big kick out of his amusing Sancho Panza, with his and other modern language asides put in for fun.
The stunts and effects were effective and believable, while the music was unexpectedly unobtrusive.
And now I do want to read the book - well, some day.
(originally written 1/20/2002))