40/27

With a budget estimated in EUR429 million, The Count of Monte Cristo is the most expensive French film of 2024

After escaping from an island prison where he spent 14 years for being wrongly accused of state treason, Edmond Dantès returns as the Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on the men who betrayed him..

Featured in La grande semaine: Episode #113 (2024)

When Albert watches Hydee sing and play the guitar, it is very obvious that she is not even touching the strings half of the time..

It is always tricky to approach something as complex as this novel and try to get a coherent movie that features all the plots, and sub-plots, and sub-sub-plots, let alone book accurate charactersI enjoyed the Richard Chamberlain TV movie, and the 2002 film despite some wholesale plot chopping in both

Even the 1998 6 hour 23 minute miniseries couldn't do the complete story and that's been my definite adaptation for the last 25 years.The point being that to fit into 3 hours it was clear that some plot-lines were going to axed, characters changed and a streamlining of the narrative.It then becomes a case of whether it was done in a way that allows those who don't already know the story, those who may have read the book three or four times, and all those in between to enjoy it.Clearly the producers understood the underlying themes and (apart from one quibble I had which I'm not going to post as a spoiler) did great service to the original and still managed to include some sub-plots I thought they were going to cut out.Of course, if you're a purist who hated Lord of the Rings because Peter Jackson changed characters and aspects from a 100% faithful adaptation of the book then you aren't going to like this either.Totally entertained and it never once felt like a 3 hour film.It also has a great soundtrack, the reprise of which had me stay for the whole credits.