The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
I haven't read the novel, so I cannot speak to how closely the movie adheres to its source. I imagine that many complexities are lost, and that the movie's characters speak with far more contemporary language than those in the novel.
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From the Archives: This post was originally published on the film’s opening weekend in 2002. At this time, the site was an experimental, amateur-hour endeavor. I was just learning to write film reviews. I read them now, and I see that I was an impatient writer, uninterested in revision, and hasty in my editing, but eager to find my own voice in the practice of criticism.
Director Kevin Reynolds, responsible for the bloated Waterworld and the misguided Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, has chosen a strong cast and a solid script for his adaptation of Alexander Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. The result is not a great film, by any means, but it reveals that Jim Caviezel (The Thin Red Line, Frequency) can be a compelling big screen hero and Guy Pearce (Memento, L.A. Confidential) can play an effective villain.
And as action movies go, it's surprisingly thought-provoking.
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