THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO: This Is How You Write Revenge | MRLBOYD REACTS
The Film Perspective
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The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) reaction and first-time watching commentary from The Film Perspective. MRLBOYD watches Edmond Dantès transform from an innocent prisoner into the architect of one of cinema’s most satisfying revenge stories.
Directed by Kevin Reynolds and adapted from Alexandre Dumas’s classic novel, The Count of Monte Cristo stars Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Richard Harris, Dagmara Domińczyk, Luis Guzmán, James Frain and Henry Cavill.
Edmond Dantès appears destined for a happy life with Mercédès until his jealous friend Fernand Mondego joins a conspiracy to have him falsely imprisoned. After thirteen years inside the Château d’If, Edmond escapes with the education and treasure necessary to reinvent himself as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo. He then returns to destroy the men who stole his freedom, his identity and the woman he loved.
This movie reaction covers Edmond receiving Napoleon’s letter, Fernand’s betrayal, Villefort secretly sending Edmond to the Château d’If, Mercédès being told that Edmond is dead, Abbé Faria unexpectedly tunneling into Edmond’s cell, Faria educating him, the discovery of the Monte Cristo treasure, Edmond escaping inside the burial sack, his alliance with Jacopo, the transformation into the Count, Albert’s staged kidnapping and rescue, Edmond manipulating Danglars, Villefort and Fernand, Mercédès recognizing him, the truth about Albert’s father, Fernand’s final act of cruelty, Edmond’s duel with his former friend and the conclusion of his carefully constructed revenge.
Did Edmond obtain justice—or did his revenge nearly transform him into another version of the men who betrayed him? Who was more responsible for his suffering: Fernand or Villefort? Let me know in the comments.
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20 Comments
The Count of Monte Cristo.
What a great revenge story!
After a series of rebellions, the brutal September Laws of 1835 were passed. These laws handcuffed writers like Dumas who published in daily French newspapers. By the 1840's, France was under an oppressive regime controlled by François Guizot, a stout conservative who explicitly believed that only bankers and industrialists should have power.
Meanwhile, Dumas was a left-wing radical. His own father was a brilliant mixed-race revolutionary hero who was betrayed by corrupt politicians, thrown into a dungeon, and left to die. The Count of Monte Cristo was meant to be his father's ultimate, triumphant justice.
[The following is my theory, built on top of a popular theory that's been around since 1846: that Dumas intended Edmond to win.]
- 19th Century John Wick: For 90% of the novel is Edmond doing a John Wick gone full Baba Yaga. He is an unstoppable, cold-blooded machine of destruction. Then, entirely out of nowhere, he suddenly experiences deep remorse because a child dies and he completely repents his actions.
- The Censorship Trap: Dumas knew full well that Guizot's conservative, traditional Christian censors would never let an unrepentant, anti-establishment vigilante win a clean victory against the ruling class.
So, I suspect Dumas chose malicious compliance. Right at the finish line, he violently slammed on the brakes to add a total whiplash ending (Edmond's repentance). It satisfied the censors on paper, but the execution was so jarringly awkward that it was incredibly obvious to his audience that the original ending of the story had been tampered with.
Dumas already had a documented history of using structural choices to signal to readers that he was fighting his publishers.
When serialized newspapers paid him by the line, he started writing rapid-fire, one word dialogue. When the publishers caught on and changed the contract to require a minimum word count per sentence, Dumas didn't quietly comply. He created the character Grimaud in The Three Musketeers, a servant who took a vow of silence and literally only spoke in one-word fragments, leaving giant visible narrative scars on the page to mock the rules.
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO: This Is How You Write Revenge | MRLBOYD REACTS
The Film Perspective
10,113 views
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) reaction and first-time watching commentary from The Film Perspective. MRLBOYD watches Edmond Dantès transform from an innocent prisoner into the architect of one of cinema’s most satisfying revenge stories.
Directed by Kevin Reynolds and adapted from Alexandre Dumas’s classic novel, The Count of Monte Cristo stars Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Richard Harris, Dagmara Domińczyk, Luis Guzmán, James Frain and Henry Cavill.
Edmond Dantès appears destined for a happy life with Mercédès until his jealous friend Fernand Mondego joins a conspiracy to have him falsely imprisoned. After thirteen years inside the Château d’If, Edmond escapes with the education and treasure necessary to reinvent himself as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo. He then returns to destroy the men who stole his freedom, his identity and the woman he loved.
This movie reaction covers Edmond receiving Napoleon’s letter, Fernand’s betrayal, Villefort secretly sending Edmond to the Château d’If, Mercédès being told that Edmond is dead, Abbé Faria unexpectedly tunneling into Edmond’s cell, Faria educating him, the discovery of the Monte Cristo treasure, Edmond escaping inside the burial sack, his alliance with Jacopo, the transformation into the Count, Albert’s staged kidnapping and rescue, Edmond manipulating Danglars, Villefort and Fernand, Mercédès recognizing him, the truth about Albert’s father, Fernand’s final act of cruelty, Edmond’s duel with his former friend and the conclusion of his carefully constructed revenge.
Did Edmond obtain justice—or did his revenge nearly transform him into another version of the men who betrayed him? Who was more responsible for his suffering: Fernand or Villefort? Let me know in the comments.
Cashapp: $mrlboyd
Patreon - Patreon: MRLBOYD
DISCORD - Discord: discord
CLICK THE BELL! 🔔
CONTACT ME
➡️ Twitter: MrLboyd
➡️ Instagram: mrlboyd
➡️ Instagram: malagaphotography
➡️ Snapchat: MrLboyd
MAIN CHANNEL:
@mrlboydreacts
MUSIC REACTIONS:
@mrlboydmusic