|
 Oh,
how excited I was!!! A swashbuckling adventure with two of my favourites!!!
Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, and one of the most exciting books ever written,
how could it possibly miss?!!! I walked into the theatre, bought
my ticket, and took my place in the audience chock full of anticipation
for the thrills that were surely awaiting me over the next two and a quarter
hours. As the movie went on, I’m frankly surprised that more notice wasn’t
taken of what I am sure was an audible hissing sound coming from my corner
of the theatre as all the wind went out of my sails.
The Count of Monte Cristo is the story of Edmond Dontes, who is, at the most promising point in his life, falsely accused of treason and imprisoned. What follows, (in Alexander Dumas’ book at least) is an incredible tale of escape, treasure hunts, duels to the death, even a little romance. Sounds good right? Wrong. Maybe screenwriter Jay Wolpert should make a New Year’s resolution to at least flip through the material he’s adapting before putting his pen to paper. His script (or lack thereof) is one of the two reasons why The Count of Monte Cristo comes up short of it’s Errol Flynn adaptations. If you thought the other was the acting, you’re completely wrong. The two leads in this film are beyond reproach.
The truly depressing thing about this film was watching a great actor like Jim Caviezel (The Thin Red Line, Angel Eyes) struggle to pull the script up to his level. As Edmond Dontes he’s given nothing to do but be a wide eyed innocent, but Wolpert’s script makes him so to the point of stupidity. As the Count he’s malicious and evil, with absolutely no transformation time between characters. This makes both incarnations seem awkward, Dontes seem moronic, and the Count evil to the level of a Saturday morning cartoon show. Still wondering what that other factor is? That honour gets bestowed squarely on the shoulders of director Kevin Reynolds. After watching his first film (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) and now this opus I have reached an inescapable conclusion; it’s not all Kevin Costner’s fault that his first bash in the directorial arena made a HUGE crash landing. He’s got about as much chance of ever winning any recognition for his directing as an ant does for survival at an aardvark convention. The Count of Monte Cristo falls flat in every department which is so surprising considering the amazing source material, and the incredible acting talent involved. It’s easily the most disappointing film so far this year.
|
Guy
Pearce (L.A. Confidential, and Memento) stars as Ferdinand
Mondago, Edmond Dontes’ best friend and arch rival. Dumas’ Mondago is cold,
calculating and manipulative. Wolpert’s creation has him as a lucky whiner,
who has achieved his station in life merely by bothering the right people
until they gave him what he wanted just to make him go away. This part
under uses Pearce’s talents to woeful proportions. In the hands of a lesser
actor Mondago’s time on screen would have been unwatchable. All Pearce’s
talents can do is bring him up to the level of irritating.