e mean no harm!” After the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled in 1814 (to the island of Elba), British guards would shoot at anyone who approached the isolated location off Italy, fearful that he would somehow escape. So when second mate Edmond Dantes (Jim Caviezel) and the captain’s son, Fernand Mondego (Guy Pearce), working for Morell & Co. Shipping, set ashore, they’re greeted by gunfire. Though they only want a surgeon for their ailing leader, Napoleon himself manages to convince Dantes to take a harmless letter (from one old soldier to another) back to Marseilles – a highly risky, treasonous endeavor, should it not remain a secret.

After Edmond returns to France, he’s reunited with his bride-to-be, Mercedes (Dagmara Dominczyk), but only momentarily. That very evening, he’s arrested and brought before the authorities, represented by Chief Magistrate Villefort (James Frain), for having Napoleon’s correspondence on his person. Instead of being released for his naive yet innocent act, he’s carted off to Chateau d’If, run by the sadistic Dorleac (Michael Wincott, always perfectly cast in villainous parts), a notorious prison from which no one ever leaves alive.

Since this latest adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel is intended for American audiences, the story has changed a touch to make it more easily digestible, especially when it comes to the various relationships between personas. Rather than stewing in mysteries, such as who betrayed the titular role and why, and exactly who conspired with whom, the deceivers and their motives are spelled out rather bluntly. There really is no mystery; instead, the only notion to follow is a long-brewing revenge. “Death is too good for them.”

Of course, that’s what this tale is best known for. After unthinkable suffering and a lengthy imprisonment, during which Edmond meets benevolent, worldly, intellectual fellow inmate the Abbe Faria (Richard Harris), who teaches him a wealth of information – alongside how to fight and the location of immense treasures – the wrongfully incarcerated man has that infinitesimally rare opportunity for a second chance. His greatest challenge, however, will be to avoid becoming a monster in his all-consuming quest for vengeance. “Do not commit the crime for which you now serve the sentence.”

Despite the various changes for the sake of quicker clarity and easier satisfaction, it’s difficult to ignore just how incredibly powerful this story is. Adapting such a peerless masterpiece certainly gives this production a leg up; it would be virtually impossible to mess up this ultimate epic of revenge. Adding a bit of swashbuckling action, memorable character actors (including Luis Guzman as faithful smuggler pal Jacopo, JB Blanc as charming rogue Luigi Vampa, and a young Henry Cavill as Mercedes’ son), and spectacle (for when the newly baptized Count of Monte Cristo unveils his riches), this flashier, Hollywoodized iteration touches upon all of the major elements of the source material.

Expectedly, it leaves out details and allows for overwrought yet suspenseful confrontations in order to generate the happy (or happier) ending that many might hope for over what was originally written (although it’s overly complicated, and then neater and tidier during the final moments, just to drum up tension and to deliver symbolic imagery and lines of dialogue – a decision that threatens to ruin the artistry of what came before it). Curiously, the film is predominantly a costume drama (with historical intrigue), with many of the characters struggling not to recognize the Count for who he really is (like a period piece Superman), but the ways in which it plays out its basic concepts of personal reinvention and much-anticipated comeuppances are largely effective. “Don’t rob me of my hate. It’s all I have!”

– Mike Massie