|
 Movie A+ |
Video A | Audio A
| Extras B+ | Recommended!
Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Richard Harris, and
Dagmara Dominczyk
director Kevin Reynolds | Touchstone Home Entertainment
2001 | Action - Adventure - Period Film | PG-13 | 131 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
anamorphic
widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio
THX-certified |
Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: Loosely based on Alexandre Dumas' novel by the same name, The Count of Monte Cristo is in my
opinion one of the year's best films. It stars Jim Caviezel as
Edmond Dantes,
the first mate on a cargo ship based in Marseilles, France in the years
following Napoleon's fall from power. Because of a series of hapless
circumstances, Dantes is wrongfully imprisoned for treason. In prison,
he befriends a fellow inmate who literally teaches him everything and
gives him hope of a new life. Then as God's plan would have it,
Dantes would escape from prison. But bitter from his years of wrongful
imprisonment, Dantes would only think about
taking revenge on those that wronged him. The Count of Monte Cristo
also stars Guy Pearce as Dantes' best friend, Richard Harris as the fellow
inmate, and Dagmara Dominczyk as Dantes' fiancée.
This is a period film with just the right
combination of action, drama, romance, politics, and revenge to keep most movie
goers intrigued. This epic story portrays the betrayal of best
friends, the loyalty between men, and the meaning of true love. What
more could you ask for from a blockbuster film? I don't want to give
away too many details, but there are enough twists in this rich plot to
keep you glued. Character studies are well developed and very
satisfying. This is my idea of a blockbuster film. If you like
story of The Three Musketeers, you will probably love The Count
of Monte Cristo.
Special Features: audio commentary by
director Kevin Reynolds; "An Epic Reborn" featurette; four deleted scenes with
introduction (I particularly liked the deleted scene entitled "Mercedes
and Fernand"); "En Garde: Multi-Angle Dailies"
featurette (a two-frame display of the multi camera angles used to shoot
the film; this is not a multi-angle DVD feature); "Layer By
Layer: Sound Design" featurette (a demo of the composite soundtrack,
dialog-only soundtrack, music-only soundtrack, and sound effects-only
soundtrack of the scene "Edmond's Escape" using the DVD
audio change feature)
DVD released on 9/10/2002 | Reviewed 9/6/2002
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Editor@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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