Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Rascar-Capac There have been numerous attempts to bring Dumas classic novel of romance, betrayal and revenge to the screen. This big budgeted french TV Mini Series rises high hopes but fails miserably. The producers relied heavily on the stardom of their principal actor Gerard Depardieu (1900, Greencard) and on what they thought was a script, true to the book (that is to the second half of the novel only). Sadly, neither the casting nor the script works for the film. At first, Depardieu, who was a perfect choice for the highly entertaining "Cyrano de Bergerac" years before, is a complete miscast here. His impersonation of Edmond Dantes never comes to life, his overweight is showing to bad effect, especially in the brief Château d'If scenes and whenever Dantes/Depardieu, in the wake of his revenge plan, tries to slip into the role of a priest or an English Lord, the result is ridiculous. Even worse, instead of creating an adequate film adaption of Dumas novel, the scriptwriters either omitted the best parts of the book or they followed the weaker chapters of the tale too closely, simply transferring it's sometimes overhanging twists and plots to the screen. Within six and a half hours of film, there is no introduction to the fate of Edmond Dantes, we never see his enemies build up the conspiracy against him, nor do we get more than a glimpse of his suffering in Château d'If and of his ever growing hatred. It is all left to a few laughable short flashbacks and memorizing dialog! As a result there is no real character build-up and no such thing as drama and suspense to unfold. Besides all, the filmmakers clumsy attempts of staying close to Dumas are finally put to shambles, since they opted for a completely different ending. To be fair, there are some visual delights: the period costumes look beautiful (so does Ornella Muti as Mercedes), several locations and sets, like those depicting the quays of Marseille or the narrow alleys of Rome, are exquisite – as if a painting of Delacroix had come to life. But those moments don't compensate for an otherwise boring and dull movie. Hollywoods 1934 version, featuring Robert Donat or the 2002 version with James Claviezel went for a much looser adaption of Dumas but nonetheless they gave the audience all that is missing here: emotions, drama, action and a hero, we are worried about.

bbosman I'm a big fan of the Alexandre Dumas story' Count of Monte Christo. The atmosphere in as well the book as the 2002 movie directed by Kevin Reynolds is fabulous!! Although in the 2002 movie I would have liked to see more detailed revenge plans, I really liked the part in which Edmond Dantes is educated by his visitor in jail Abbe Faria... In this miniseries the opposite is true.. it's absolutely fabulous in working out the part of revenge (so especially after you've watched the first 1/2 episodes, it gets great). Dantes teached by Faria is less more interesting in this miniseries.. which I think is logical since the French have a totally opposite view on what's interesting in comparison to the Americans. Gerard Depardieu acts great as le Comte le Monte Christo.. and this miniseries sticks better to the original story which I also like... One 2 Watch.. more than 1 time.. :-)

timothy-s "Le Comte de Monte Cristo" is a mini TV-series but contains nevertheless 8 hours of very carefully describing of the journey of nemesis that is made by Edmond Dantes. This character, played by Gerard Depardieu has experienced the worst that can happen to a human being. Imprisonment in solitude for a crime he didn't commit. After he is back he works his way up in society playing various characters, manipulating everyone. The actors are great, very beautiful women with passionate eyes and nice accents (especially Ornella Muti, who plays grown up Mercedes Igualada, the great love of Dantes' life). Depardieu is sometimes ridiculous, especially when he plays Lord Wilmore, wearing an even bigger nose than he already possesses himself. But the picturing of the story is so intense, that such little mistakes can be easily neglected. One sees the inner fight that takes place in the huge body of the Comte. Must he go on with his exercise of nemesis, while he knows that he only becomes unhappier by carrying it out. Le Comte de Monte Cristo is never sentimental, though sometimes a little frivolous, but that connects perfectly with the novel of Alexandre Dumas, who's story is almost perfectly followed. And completion is guaranteed by a mighty music score and enough hilarious moments with Dantes' servant Bertuccio.

dj_bassett Eight hours allows for a greater presentation of the many subplots and complexities of the storyline. Depardieu (once you get past his size) is excellent as the Count, a man who, as the reviewer from Amazon says, exchanges one prison for another, a prison of his own hatred. The cast is general is very good and convincing, with Ornella Muti certainly the definitive Mercedes. Set design and production values are excellent. I have only two criticisms. The first and more minor one is that even this long adaptation doesn't have everything. They couldn't, of course, portray everything -- the book itself is well over 1,000 pages and in truth has padded sections -- but some worthwhile aspects of the story were cut, most notably early sequences with the Abbe Faria (who teaches Dante how to read and write) a very famous part that's usually included in dramatizations of the story. The ending, too, is happier than Dumas's. (I should add that some sequences were very sensibly cut).A more serious criticism is that Dantes's character is too soft. Depardieu is a fine actor but his portrayal allows Dantes to come off far more sympathetic than I think Dumas intended. The coldness and bloodthirstiness of the Count is not emphasized as much as it might (one sequence at an execution has a very different spin from the way it's presented in the book, for example), nor is the extent of his hatred. This is a real flaw, partly because it makes light of the theme of the story, the effect of revenge on the revenger, and partly because the climax is not as effective if we're already on Dantes side. The flaw here is not with Depardieu, who does his job admirably, but rather with the screenwriter and director. As such, I can't call this the definitive version -- a little more courage on the screenwriter and director's part would've done wonders. Still, it's probably the best we're going to get. It's hard to imagine anybody else lavishing this kind of care and attention on the story.