Getting the year right is important.

The Count of Monte Cristo released as a serialized novel between 1844 and 1846 and since humans were able to capture things on film this story has been translated to the screen roughly two hundred thousand times. According to geological surveys, there may be an additional three million yet unknown adaptations of Monte Cristo buried in the Earth’s mantle waiting to be discovered. Alongside candy corn, it is one of Earth’s few renewable resources.

What I’m trying to say is if you’re going to adapt The Count of Monte Cristo it better be good. And thankfully directors Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière do a really good job. And they better, the movie is three freaking hours long. It tells the story of who else but Edmond Dantès, a man who spends years of his life in prison only to go on a journey of revenge against those who had wronged him. If you’re a movie buff, you’ve definitely seen at least one of these adaptations. Likely the 2002 Kevin Reynolds version.

This adaptation stars Pierre Niney as Edmond who in addition to being a fantastic actor is also a hunk of man. If you mashed up Adrian Brody and Pedro Pascal you’d get Pierre Niney. Pierre has a big role to play in this film going from relatively naive lover to emaciated prisoner, to the tactful disguise-wearing revenge man that he becomes for the last two hours or so of the movie. There really aren’t any loose threads in the casting, but Pierre runs the show.

For a movie that is three hours long, Monte Cristo never feels like it is particularly wasting time. Every moment, every conversation, every step, feels like it is contributing to the plot and moving things forward. And make no mistake this is a slow burn of a movie. There are a handful of energetic moments and one or two fight scenes but for the most part it is a story of revenge, plotting, and scheming.

The Count of Monte Cristo is a film best viewed, not explained, so I’ll keep this review short for the sake of posterity. If you like French cinema, you’re going to love this movie. If you’re a fan Monte Cristo adaptations, this is a must see. If you have never seen Monte Cristo adapted for film, this is a great place to start before you fall down the rabbit hole of the ten billion other versions.

Rating: A