The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous "friends," escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge

Director:

Kevin Reynolds

Writers:

Alexandre Dumas père (novel), Jay Wolpert (screenplay)

Stars:

Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Richard Harris

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jim Caviezel	...	Edmond Dantes
Guy Pearce	...	Fernand Mondego
Richard Harris	...	Abbé Faria
James Frain	...	J.F. Villefort
Dagmara Dominczyk	...	Mercedès Iguanada
Michael Wincott	...	Armand Dorleac
Luis Guzmán	...	Jacopo
Christopher Adamson	...	Maurice
JB Blanc	...	Luigi Vampa
Guy Carleton	...	Mansion Owner
Alex Norton	...	Napoleon
Barry Cassin	...	Old Man Dantes
Henry Cavill	...	Albert Mondego
Aliaz Moufid	...	Holga (credit only) (as Zhara)
Brendan Costello	...	Viscount

Storyline

'The Count of Monte Cristo' is a remake of the Alexander Dumas tale by the same name. Dantes, a sailor who is falsely accused of treason by his best friend Fernand, who wants Dantes' girlfriend Mercedes for himself. Dantes is imprisoned on the island prison of Chateau d'If for 13 years, where he plots revenge against those who betrayed him. With the help of another prisoner, he escapes the island and proceeds to transform himself into the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo as part of his plan to exact revenge.

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Plot Keywords:

revenge | island | count | escape | best friend | 

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Taglines:

Prepare for adventure. Count on revenge.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for adventure violence/swordplay and some sensuality

Details

Country:

UK USA Ireland

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 January 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Studios, Herbert Road, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$396,282 (Germany) (10 May 2002)

Gross:

$54,228,104 (USA) (14 June 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, World 2000 Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the book, the Spada treasure dates from the 15th century, and had been hidden from Pope Alexander VI.

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Goofs

A storage area of stacked bales of hay can be seen in the background during the final fight. Hay wire was not invented until 1905. Prior to that, hay was piled into stacks and stored in barns.

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Quotes

Abbe Faria: 2,500 cubic centimeters of rock and dust a day for 365 days.
Edmond: Equals three-and-a-half meters a year, 12 feet, a foot a month.
[grunts]
Edmond: Three inches a week.
Abbe Faria: In Italian.
[whip cracking]
Edmond: Ancora tre metri e un mezzo.

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Connections

Version of Novela: El conde de Montecristo (1969)

User Reviews

nothing in common with the book

What kind of joke is this? They completely butchered the book, Dumas must be spinning in his grave.

There's nothing left from the story; they retained very few elements from the beginning but nothing at all remained from the rest of the book. The common trend: adding more action at the expense of everything else. This film dumbed the book down; full of cheap effects, situations absolutely impossible for the French society of that time, and just piling up cheap effects for a "drama".

The book is much deeper and more moving that this assortment of effects and horrors. I didn't expect a word-perfect version but I couldn't even imagine this absurdity.