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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=98289" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003399" TEXT="#080000" background="001c8c00erkjxk.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="id10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles"><U><B>back to Articles</b></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#0066CC" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#99CCFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>"Caviezel Country"</b></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFF99" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>  |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Caviezel Country"><U>home</U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> CoMC</div> <bR> <div> And Swashes Buckled All Around</div> <div> January 25, 2002</div> <div> By A. O. SCOTT</div> <bR> <div> The arrival in theaters of the latest film adaptation of  Alexandre Dumas père's durable tale of treachery and vengeance is a puzzling, somewhat anachronistic  event.  The natural home for such a project would seem to be on the small screen - in the footsteps of the French mini-series starring Gérard Depardieu that turned up not long ago on  Bravo and the 1975 television movie with Richard Chamberlain and Tony Curtis - or in the crudely inked pages</div> <div> of a classic comic book. Movies, especially those that appeal to the early-adolescent sensibility that used to be  nourished by Dumas and his ilk, tend to be driven more and more by special effects, canny product placements, bouncy</div> <div> soundtracks and allusive pop-cultural smirks. An old-fashioned saga of grand emotions and sweeping scenery, complete with the clatter of swords, the keening  of  orchestral strings and the glitter of buried treasure, risks looking, in a world dominated by computer-generated  wizardry and boisterous kiddie- postmodernism, like a horse-drawn buggy on the Interstate.</div> <bR> <div>  Which may, in the end, be why "The Count of Monte Cristo,"  directed by Kevin Reynolds, is so much fun. The reasonably  faithful script by Jay Wolpert is only occasionally anachronistic. (Life in early-19th-century Marseilles was</div> <div> certainly dangerous, but would anyone at the time have  described it as stressful?) The film's resolute  indifference to fashion makes it, perhaps paradoxically, a  refreshing piece of old-style entertainment, accompanied by</div> <div> a whooshing, trembling score by Edward Shearmur. In its  forthright, sincere attempt to harness the narrative drive and emotional sweep of the Dumas novel,  the film is close  in spirit (though not in style) to the 1934 version, which  featured Robert Donat in the title role. And just as  Dumas's works have served to introduce generations of  readers to the pleasures of literature, whetting appetites  for swift narration and vivid characters that will eventually be satisfied by greater authors, so will this  stolid, unpretentious, thoroughly competent film  remind  jaded viewers of the sumptuous delight the movies can offer.</div> <bR> <div> The story is as simple in its basic motives as it is  elaborate in incident. Edmond Dantès (Jim Caviezel) is an honest fellow of humble birth blessed with good looks, good  fortune and the love of the beautiful Mercédès (Dagmara   Dominczyk). Edmond's happiness infuriates his dissolute, aristocratic pal Fernand de Mondego (Guy Pearce), who engineers a series of betrayals - involving the intricate  politics of post-Napoleonic France - that land poor Edmond  in a hellish island dungeon, the notorious Château d'If.  The high point of his life there is an annual flogging by  the floridly sadistic warden (Michael Wincott), who seems  to come out of "Quills" by way of "The Rocky Horror Picture</div> <div> Show." But then one day, who should burst in through the  floor of Edmond's cell but - Gandalf!</div> <bR> <div> Oops. I meant to say Albus Dumbledore, the other notable  wizard recently conjured by magicians in the employ of AOL  Time Warner. Looking as if he had just tunneled in from Hogwarts (and misplaced his conical wizard cap in the</div> <div> process), Richard Harris shows up in the role of the Abbé Faria, a soldier-priest who is the prototype of every wise movie tutor from Obi-Wan Kenobi to Pat Morita in "The  Karate Kid." The abbé schools Edmond in everything from  philosophy to fighting, and eventually the poor wretch escapes, only to fall in with a gang of pirates, one of  whom, Jacopo (Luis Guzman), becomes his loyal second -  Sancho to his Quixote, Hutch to his Starsky. It is a pity  that the story never permits Mr. Harris and Mr. Guzman to  share the screen, and a marvel that the picture can contain  their divergent styles (to say nothing of their wildly</div> <div> different accents), but together they give "The Count of Monte Cristo" a spark of mischievous humor.</div> <bR> <div> A movie of this type is only as good as its villains, and  this one is blessed - or do I mean cursed? - by the  exuberant hamming of Mr. Pearce. His Mondego is a classic  Regency- era cad, fighting duels, swigging wine from squat  bottles and relishing his own infinite capacity for evil.  (He is assisted by Albie Woodington and James Frain as  ancillary baddies of different social classes.) Mr. Pearce,</div> <div> handsome and quick, spoils his own looks with an expression  that looks as if he had just eaten a bad oyster. As the  movie goes on - covering nearly two decades of Edmond's  imprisonment, liberation and carefully plotted revenge -</div> <div> Mr. Pearce's teeth change from gray to yellow to brown, as  though he were  rotting from within. (This is in notable contrast to Mr. Caviezel: while there were evidently no  barbers at Château d'If, the dental care seems to have been</div> <div> excellent.) </div> <bR> <div> The period details are meticulous without being overdone,  and once Edmond transforms himself (thanks to all that  hidden treasure) into the bogus Count of Monte Cristo, Mr.  Reynolds indulges in some welcome extravagances. (The</div> <div> reborn Dantès enters society in a hot-air balloon on which  costumed acrobats caper and twirl.)  The director, who has previously indulged Kevin Costner in</div> <div> Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" and the disastrous  "Waterworld," is well served by his hardworking cast, none  of whom are, as yet, big stars, and by his production and  costume designers and location scouts. "The Count of Monte</div> <div> Cristo" is far from a great movie, but its honest, corny  sentiment and abundant good humor make it hard to resist.</div> <bR> <div> "The Count of Monte Cristo" is rated PG-13 (Parents  strongly cautioned). It has several violent scenes and one  moment of implied sexuality. </div> <bR> <div>  THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO</div> <div>  Directed by Kevin Reynolds; written by Jay Wolpert, based  on the novel by Alexandre Dumas; director of photography,  Andrew Dunn; edited by Stephen Semel and Chris Womack;  music by Edward Shearmur; production designer, Mark  Geraghty; produced by Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and  Jonathan Glickman; released by Touchstone Pictures and  Spyglass Entertainment. Running time: 110 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Top-notch escapism</div> <div> Review: 'Monte Cristo' knows what counts</div> <div> January 25, 2002 Posted: 1:23 p.m. EST (1823 GMT)</div> <div> By Paul Tatara</div> <div> CNN Reviewer </div> <bR> <div> (CNN) -- Kevin Reynolds' film adaptation of Alexander Dumas' classic novel, "The Count of Monte Cristo" is an unexpectedly entertaining slice of old-fashioned swashbuckle, the kind of sweeping, periodically absurd picture that was cranked out on an assembly line in the 1940s. </div> <bR> <div> Oddly, the absurdities have nothing to do with Reynolds, who has brought us Kevin Costner as a blow-dried Robin Hood in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" (1991) and cigar-chomping, post-apocalyptic Jet Skiers (and Costner again) in "Waterworld" (1995). </div> <bR> <div> This "Monte Cristo" screenplay -- by Jay Wolpert, a former producer of "The Price is Right" -- proves yet again that what plays brilliantly when you're turning the pages of a good book can look especially silly on a big screen. </div> <bR> <div> Don't be surprised if you're chuckling at this one, even as you're getting lost in Dumas' intricate story line. </div> <bR> <div> Jim Caviezel plays Edmond Dantes, an uneducated sailor who for reasons that are hardly evident has been the lifelong friend of a conniving elitist named Fernand (Guy Pearce). When their ship's captain falls ill from "brain fever," Edmond and Fernand row him ashore at the secluded island on which British soldiers are holding Napoleon Bonaparte (Alex Norton) captive. </div> <bR> <div> Once there, Napoleon hands Edmond a letter that he wants secretly delivered to a friend on the mainland. Edmond, who can't read, accepts the letter, thinking it's an innocent correspondence. </div> <bR> <div> Whoops!</div> <bR> <div> Some call it treason.</div> <div>  </div> <div>  With the help of Villefort (James Frain), a devious magistrate who's trying to save his own reputation, Fernand has Edmond locked away for handling a treasonous dispatch. Let that be a lesson to you kids out there -- never trust Napoleon. </div> <bR> <div> Fernand, you see, is a major cad who has long been jealous of Edmond's laid-back bearing, and he has his sights set on Edmond's beautiful fiancee, Mercedes (Dagmara Dominczyk). Edmond's brutal internment in the infamous Chateau d'If prison is the most enjoyable portion of the story, even if it stretches credibility. </div> <bR> <div> Between yearly "anniversary whippings" from a slimy warden (Michael Wincott), Edmond starts looking like Charlie Manson and losing his mind. After four or five years -- and this can officially be considered a surprise -- the slabs on the floor lift up, and out climbs Abbe Faria (Richard Harris), an equally tattered priest who's been tunneling out of d'If for eight years, but took a wrong turn and wound up in Edmond's cell. </div> <bR> <div> Faria nurses Edmond back to sanity, and teaches him how to read, write and fence like a pro. He also teaches him the basics of economics, although it's unclear exactly how Faria managed to get his hand on a leather-bound economics book. This guy gets more mileage out of rock and dirt than the Flintstones. </div> <bR> <div> Edmond, of course, eventually escapes from the prison, and sets out to exact elaborate revenge on Fernand, who has now married Mercedes. After securing a loyal right-hand man (Luis Guzman), in a stroke of luck, Edmond finds a shipload of sunken treasure that Faria told him about, and reinvents himself as the fictional -- and very rich -- Count of Monte Cristo. </div> <bR> <div> Edmond insinuates himself into society life and soon is rubbing shoulders with his archenemy. But he doesn't just kill Fernand; he makes him suffer from every conceivable psychological angle. </div> <bR> <div> Zingy and humorous</div> <div> Although Pearce, thanks to his remarkable work in "L.A. Confidential" (1997) and last year's "Memento," is the bigger name at this point, this is Caviezel's movie all the way. </div> <bR> <div> A warm, stunningly handsome actor who seems headed for major stardom, Caviezel's unguarded expressions are tailor-made for such a thoughtful character. Edmond's industrial strength naivete is a bit much to handle in the early going, but his transformation into the count has real zing. It's like one of those makeover segments on a talk show, in which an audience member walks off the set homely and comes back a homecoming queen. </div> <bR> <div> His humorously casual hot-air balloon descent during the count's coming-out party is particularly memorable, looking, as it does, like a renegade Cirque du Soleil act. </div> <bR> <div> Given the extremes of the modern box office, "The Count of Monte Cristo" may die on the vine. But this is a top-notch piece of silly escapism. Although it takes forever to finish -- and Andrew Dunn's cinematography is so dark that it's hard to tell the difference between a dungeon and multimillion-dollar French chateau -- it's an enjoyable film. Just don't go in expecting a documentary on prison reform. </div> <bR> <div> There's violence in "The Count of Monte Cristo," including a couple of whippings and some sword fights. Note that Caviezel's teeth are dazzling after 13 years in the can, but Pearce's nobleman choppers look like the "before" picture in a Polident ad. Apparently, good guys floss. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>