Rated PG, directed by Kevin Reynolds, with Jim Caviezel (Edmond), Guy Pearce (Fernand), Richard Harris (Abbe Faria), Dagmara Dominczyk, running time: 110 minutes.
Edmond Dantes is blessed with good looks and good fortune -- a fact which infuriates his friend Fernand de Mondego. Mondego uses his intricate knowledge of post-Napoleonic politics to have Dantes incarcerated on the notorious Chateau d'If prison island, where he wallows away until he meets Abbe Faria, who schools him in philosophy and fighting. When Dante later escapes, he joins up with pirates and carefully plots his revenge against his old friend Mondego, only after finding a fortune in treasure and posing as the title character. Director Reynolds, who helmed such dismal and expensive failures as Waterworld and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, has come into his own here in a piece that, while often anachronistic, contains lavish costuming and an inspired score by Edward Shearmur.
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