Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) - Kevin Reynolds | Houselights #146

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The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) - Kevin Reynolds | Houselights #146 · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

0:03
Welcome to the nerd Party. Welcome back to Houselights, our director discussion show
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here on the Nerd Party Network. Today, we're continuing in the House of
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Reynolds, covering the two thousand and two film The Count of Monte Cristo.
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I'm Count Darren and joined again by my friends from the island of Elba,
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Count Tristan Razsel and back from his new home in Paris, Count John Mills
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counts. Let's count the ways as this movie deals with triumph, loss,
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imprisonment, sanity, and most of all, revenge. Man, if you
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have a list of best revenge movies, it may not be number one,
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but this movie has to be on it. It is the story. Everything
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is built around the rise and fall and rise again of Edmund Dantes. Yeah,
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and we're all count so we can all are on equal footing. We
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can outspend each other to see how popular we are. Yes, yes,
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I can count the ways that we are here on these podcasts. Ah.
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Yeah, then this is my first time coming at it, so that's really
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looks forward to talking about it, so John, So yeah, So we
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often start with the first time we caught it, and it is semi rare
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with the movies we pick that it's the first time, So I'm I wanted
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to start with, what did you know about this going into it? Had
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you seen a poster? Did you know who was that? You know,
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young Superman, young young Superman was in it? Or was this like it
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might as well have just dropped out of thin air for as much as it
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had impacted your cultural knowledge. I knew of its existence. I remember the
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ad campaign for it. I remember not getting to see it, and it
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was one that I'd always heard good things about and had just had never gotten
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around to its sort of thing. I had no idea Henry Cavill was in
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it, Like when he walked on Yes, it's a minor role, but
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still when he walked on screen, I had that moment of is that really
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that Kim? Is that him? Is that wait a minute? And they
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talked, I was like, yeah, that's him and he's nineteen in this,
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so he It's one of those things where like, yeah, you do
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a double take because his facial features are a little softer and like he looks
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like well Cavil, but he hasn't you know, he hasn't gone through Zack
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Snyder's rigorous training program necessary for every superhero where apparently they left wait six times
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a day. I saw this with my I saw a man of Steel.
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I should say not this I saw I saw a man of Steel with my
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sister. And when he comes, when he saves everybody on the oil rig
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and he comes out of the water, and he doesn't have a shirt on.
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I heard a literal from sister. Yeah, I you know, I
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gotta I gotta tell you that probably, just like Chris Evans, there's gotta
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be a minor blessing were these actors when it's like, oh, you don't
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have to play the superhero anymore, It's like, oh, thank god,
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I can have a cheeseburger again. But no, I knew very little except
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that it had a really great rep And as with any movie I know of
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that has Guy Pierce in it, every time I hear his name, I'm
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like, man, that guy should have had a he should have been a
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bigger star. Like he's that guy. He's like all his number two,
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but like, gosh, he would bring it every time every time. He's
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a terrific actor. And I go all the way back to La Confidential.
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It was him and Russell Crowe, and everybody thought Guy Pierce was going to
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be the breakout star from that and then it wound up being Russell Crowe.
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And then Guy Pierce is in Memento and he's in all of these other terrific
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films, and he's just never hit that like stratospheric level of stardom. And
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so you know, and then you know, as the cast goes on and
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I recognize, you know, the the right hand flunkey from Tron Legacy Slash
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spos Dead in the Reboot, Reboot, Reboot Universe. So James Frayne,
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Yeah, James Frayne. So yeah, I'm looking forward to talk about it.
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I don't want to really like tip my hand out, but like that's
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that's basically and this was my first time watching it. Awesome. Well,
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what about you, Tristan? Is this either a never knew or a family
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favorite? Because I feel like there's that's it with you. It's either one
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or the other. I mean, you're your your logic is sound on this
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one. Darren, my fellow count because this is a family favorite. This
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is uh, this is one that I watched all that this came out.
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I was sixteen when this came out, and I watched this all the time
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with my parents because we were big Jim Cabezel fans from frequency and some other
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things, but mainly mainly frequency, Like oh my gosh, like I loved
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watching we we we need to figure out a way to do frequency on the
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show because I loved I loved him in that and that whole story and everything
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like that with Dennis Quaid and so we we had to see this. And
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of course I was a Guy Pierce fan for you know what John was just
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talking about with my minto and uh and l A Confidential and everything like that,
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and I I freaking love Guy Pierce's voice and this where it's foppish but
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intimidating at the same time, it's like Count Mondegger, just that little,
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that little bit like I have more money than you, like I'm gonna find
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a way to talk, but not actually fully open my mouth, like I'm
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gonna talk through openness, and I don't go to a better things to do,
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you know, you know, you know what it kind of reminded me
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of. And I haven't watched a movie in years, so maybe I'm misremembering,
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but it kind of reminded me. His demeanor kind of reminded me of
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tim Roth in Rob Roy similar like quiet menace sort of thing. Maybe I'm
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maybe I'm not one to wanting it because I haven't seen Rob Roy in a
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long time. It's not a one to one, but that I totally get
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that connection. That is, that is a very respectable and solid connection.
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Cool. Uh yeah, I just know. This was We got this on
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via chess, Like, we did not see this in the theater. We
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remind it, rewind it, we need to watch it again. We got
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this on VHS and as I was saying off Mike when it was announced that
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Henry Cavill was gonna be we love this movie so much that when this when
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Henry Cavill was announced to be in Man of Steel, We're like, wait,
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wait, do your worst kid like he's gonna be He's gonna be Superman.
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That's cool. But no, this was we we watched this all the
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time and I was, oh my god, oh my god. As a
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sixteen year old kid, I was frigging enamored by Mercedes. Like that actress
6:30
deg Mara Demicik, she whole she was as a young man, she was
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intoxicating, like you you were talking about Guy Pierce, I thought she was
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gonna be huge, Like after this movie, I thought deg Mara Domini Dominicik,
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I'm gonna screw it up all night, Deminichik. I thought she was
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going to be huge. I was just like I told my family, I
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was like, you watch her, she's you were going to see her in
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bigger and bigger roles as we go, and we didn't. And it makes
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me a little sad. But she's consistently gotten worse, and she was apparently
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was in like thirty four Piece of Succession most recently. So uh, yeah,
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I loved her performance. I love her, loved her voice in this.
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Yeah, it's just family favorite. Seen it a bunch of times,
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Super excited to talk about it tonight. Yeah, she fits the period.
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It feels like she's could just pop over into another period piece like you know,
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I don't know, like persuasion or sentences ability like right in that totally
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Sierra. Yeah. But yeah, no, this one is funny again because
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we all have to talk about, you know, Henry Calvill in our intro.
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But I looked it up because I'm like, okay, he's really young.
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How old was he? And then I realized that Henry Calvill is the
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same age as on as I am. He was born in in eighty three,
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so he was nineteen in the when this came out, so I would
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have been nineteen as well. Yes, I know, John, I know,
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but yeah, this one, I yeah, I mean a good revenge
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flick where like you feel totally justified and you've got to go through your trial
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by fire. I mean, we'll get to Richard Harris, who was just
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amazing in this. But yeah, this one was a lot of fun.
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It was interesting to look back, and I guess it came out in January
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of that year, which is kind of feels like an odd time, like
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it's not a Christmas release or I mean sort of is like Tan generally,
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but it's not a summer release either. It's it's just kind of in between.
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But it did well. It was made for thirty five mill and made
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seventy five, which is a decent turnaround for a moment respectable number in the
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early ons. But yeah, this one I remember we picked up for I
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think I do have a DVD of it somewhere. But my friends in college,
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because this was right leading into my college days, some of them were
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really into soundtracks, so they had the soundtrack for the kind of amount of
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Christian and we would play it all the time because there were so many great
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I love, and I love the soundtrack cuts in this. There's like the
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moment he throws like the Monte cut where he throws the map on the fire
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and it just cuts. It's like I shall become a count and then it
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it's all like the mattage of him becoming account and all of that. So
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the music and this is spot on for the love theme between the two of
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them is absolutely lovely and it makes you this this is I know. I
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don't often like to talk about scores on this podcast because sometimes they feel like,
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oh yeah, they're serviceable. I don't really think about it. This
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is definitely one that I feel is worth talking about like this, this,
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this has, this has a phenomenal score. It does, I agree.
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I think it starts off in terms of matching the music with the action a
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little bit oddly in the beginning when they're having that first confrontation. It's a
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little it's a little too much for the very open but then it's then it
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settles down. But I was thinking about what you said before, Darren,
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where it's like you don't really remember scores unless there's something to latch onto.
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And even though it didn't quite match up, I was sitting there saying,
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this doesn't quite mat match up, but I would listen to this. I
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would have this playing in the background. Like it was a weird sort of
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like dissociative reaction where I was like, normally i'd be very critical, but
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I like the music, so I won't be. And I just you mentioned
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Richard Harris. It blows my mind. I had to look this up that
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this comes out the year that he died, and it blows my mind because
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when he was Harry Potter, well, no, this this one, this
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one came up before here, but this was the last movie that was released
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when he was alive, and the second Harry Potter came out, he was
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actually passed by them. Yes, and the but the thing that bends my
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mind is I always associate how he was as Dumbledore as so frail, and
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then in this movie it was very jarring because that's what set me off is
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they do such a good job of making him look a lot more vivacious in
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his scenes, you know, with the cutting and the placement and obvious body
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doubles here and there. That he doesn't come across as like a frail old
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man the way he does as Dumbledore, Like in that in that last performance
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as Dumbledore, like he really you look at him, looks like a stiff
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wind is going to knock him over. So it's you know, it's uh,
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but but I also he's strong. There's the one shot where he's kind
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of like trying to sleep and he doesn't have a shirt on, and you're
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like, okay, yeah, this is an old man, like he's right,
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not got money, lives years left in the shadow deef. But yeah,
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but just it made me think back to Harry Potter and kind of miss
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again, missing that that Dumbledore because I think we all fell in love with
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that portrayal and not to diminish you know, the later portrayals, but there's
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just something about his soft spokenness but backed by conviction and integrity and and all
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of that, Like that is at a fun character to be with. Like
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he's like and we get these great one liners like I'm I'm a priest,
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not a saint. You know, there's so many singers in this movie.
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Yeah, with with with Richard Harris in this movie. I know this was
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this was only like two or three years after a gladiator. But with this
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character, I felt very it felt to me, felt very similar to Marcus
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Arellius because of the whole philosophical nature of him. Were like he said,
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He's like, I'm gonna give you because you know, like he would,
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you know, Marc Arealis Aurelius was was known as the philosopher the poet,
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and his character Pharia in Count of Monte Cristo is a learned man like he's
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like, I'm gonna give you the greatest gift of all, I'm gonna give
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you knowledge. And it just felt very similar in those kind of two tones.
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I know it's the same person, it's the same voice, but it
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felt tonally very similar to those two roles, and those two roles are my
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favorite of his. I know, granted, I'm a I was a young
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man when when when he passed, and he has a great body of work,
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and this was at the tail end of it. But yeah, that's
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that's when I think Richard Harris, I think Marcus Aurelius, and I think
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Faria. Yeah, I this would be a new favorite performance of Harris is
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here and I as so long as we're still talking about the actors and everything,
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and we've been doing nothing but heaping praise on the actors. I think
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this is a phenomenal cast well well, and I know when we talk about
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where do you see Reynolds in this? And it's like the guy has a
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knack forgetting good performances. I mean he he casts well and then he gets
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the best from who he casts. And somebody who's an absolute joy every time
13:28
he's on screen is Luis Skuzman. I love that guy so much. Like
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I see his name in the credits and I'm like, awesome, awesome,
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And as soon as I see him on screen, I'm like, I know,
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my buddy, My buddy's gonna come through. And he plays that role
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so well, like it's exactly the way he should play it, Like this
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movie plays to his strength. Yeah. Yeah, he is Jacopoe. Like
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when he said, like when they find the treasure, that's my favorite scene
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of Jacopoe because the entire audience is thinking like Jacopoe. It's like it's like
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you were the richest person I've ever heard of. It's like you want,
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you want to you want to take revenge, like I will go to Paris
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myself. Bang bang, yeah, we're done but weeks. But that's a
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small mind thinking, which is it shows against Yeah, but it wasn't out
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of character, Like, it wasn't an out of the world. It wasn't
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out of the story. It was Louise Guzman playing Louise Guzman, the story
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absolutely absolutely just just what a cast though, I mean seriously, just absolutely
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marvelous top to bottom and such a treat to actually see everybody get every character
14:39
gets the necessary amount of screen time. And what I mean by that is,
14:45
and I was really thinking about this is in other hands, this easily
14:48
becomes a three to four hour epic oscar bait movie. And I think this
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is another mark of Reynolds where he comes in and he says, I got
14:58
about two hours to tell this. I'm gonna keep it very close to that.
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It's it's a very sort of like, uh, you know, very
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old school mentality of like, okay, my running time I got getting butts
15:07
in the seats. I don't see a director that's like, no, my
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grand epic got cut down from four hours because I think the running time of
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this, you know, im, I'll throw it out to you guys.
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I think the running time is pretty much right for this. It's not indulgent.
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I think it's like an hour forty five, is that right? It's
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one thirty one ten. Yeah, it's two very brisk two ten. I
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was way off, man, it felt like one yeah, yes, yeah,
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that's yeah. I think I think that's part of the just the structure,
15:33
because it's like you have a little bit of the setup where you have
15:37
like the rise of Edmund, you know, and you you know, it's
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the best day of his life. He's he just became captain, he's going
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to be able to uh, you know, marry his girl real soon,
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and then boom. It made me think like if you edited a trailer in
15:52
that early two thousands, like college film vibe of like it was Edmund Dante's
15:58
best day ever. But then you know the school bully threw them in the
16:03
shadow deep and it's like, you know, do do do do do do
16:07
DoD? Like oh man, I watched the trailer that came out in two
16:11
thousand and one. To watch the trailer get Out is a god awful early
16:17
two thousands trailer and it shows you the entire movie and as horrible voice it's
16:23
it's it's terribly huh. That might explain maybe why I didn't catch it back
16:29
then. It's quite possible because seriously, the only reason why we watched this
16:32
because I love sword fighting films, even though this really wasn't a sword fighting
16:36
film. H and Jim Caviezel. If it wasn't for that, I probably
16:40
wouldn't have given a shot. I mean, seventy five million box office that
16:42
feels like a bad trailer movie like this is worth being one hundred million dollar
16:48
movie, but it probably didn't have quite the marketing steam it needed to be
16:52
that well. I think also it's very tricky to try to get people into
16:56
a movie like this that is not a we our oscar bait movie or have
17:02
you read the book, like there's gonna get the book cut a little bit,
17:04
but yeah, I mean I've never read the book. But it's one
17:08
of those things where this this has been adapted so many times seventeen Yeah,
17:15
and it's it's it's it's been made a lot. And I think that it's
17:19
just very difficult to appeal to a very wide audience with a movie like this
17:25
unless you're doing something that's that's like a Pirate of the Caribbean that is a
17:30
little bit more modern This has a very old school since you're going to see
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it because you love revenge movies, or you're going to see it because you
17:37
love Guy Pierce, so you're gonna see it like like, what is the
17:40
hook? Because it's yeah, yeah, I could see that being difficult to
17:45
do well. We've been heaping a ton of praise on a lot of the
17:48
actors. I don't we haven't talked a lot about Jim Caviezel though, let's
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let's talk about it. We haven't, yes, and we were we were
17:56
joking off Mike a little bit that there's definitely a moment after, at least
18:00
for me, when he gets off the boat for the first time, after
18:03
coming back to Marseille, walking along with a shawl over his head, and
18:07
we're like, boy, he looks like Jesus. And I bet someone else
18:12
thought that too, and two years later cast him in a Passion of the
18:15
Christ. But he already has the whipping scenes down like he is. This
18:19
is his Jesus. Addition, watching watching this again, that that exact moment
18:25
when he gets back to Marseille, he has the beard, the hair,
18:30
and the he has the hood on and I'm just like Jesus just came to
18:33
France probably, you know, it would be so funny to find out that
18:37
in the production, like those were the last scenes filmed because he had had
18:41
to go into shop for Passion. Yeah, something like that. I know,
18:47
I know this totally isn't what we're talking about, but like, what's
18:48
crazy is that Jim Caviezel was an extra on Braveheart and I did not know
18:56
that. Yeah, he was an extra on Braveheart, no speaking lines,
18:59
just an extra and Mel Gibson met him like they formed a friendship, and
19:03
that is when they decided to do Passion of the Christ. No job.
19:07
Wow, I had no idea about that part of it, And that absolutely
19:11
blows my mind and just underlines that whole thing of like it's meeting the right
19:15
person at the right time is so key. And what I think is a
19:22
little bit wild, is it. Obviously his portrayal of Christ in Passion of
19:27
the Christ is I mean, that's a career defining role. We all know
19:30
that, but people, I think, as a result, sleep on other
19:36
roles that he's had, like this one where it's like this guy's just a
19:41
good actor, he has talent, and his name of the shows interest I
19:48
actually really liked it. I got through part of it, like eventually,
19:52
I just there's other things that we're drawing me in more. But the episodes
19:56
I watched like he was very charismatic in it. It worked really well.
20:00
I think that Person of Interest is the type of show that does better if
20:03
it came out a little bit closer to streaming because being on the Old People
20:10
network, be able to sit down to a season of Person of Interest,
20:14
but I think is the way to consume it. Yeah, I've let you
20:17
have that whole arc, you have that shadowy uh you know, the mythology
20:22
plot going on in the background. I definitely think that that show was maybe
20:26
a little bit ahead of its time. I want to ask you guys,
20:30
as I was watching this, I never really thought this before, or maybe
20:33
I thought this before and I forgot. But as I was watching this movie
20:36
in preparation for the podcast, as I was watching Jim Caviezel his performance and
20:41
everything about like once he became the Count and specifically when he when he when
20:48
he got Villefort and he was in the carriage and the pistol was in there,
20:55
and he put the pistol his mouth, pulled the trigger and nothing happened.
20:57
And then all of a sudden he comes up. He's like, you
21:00
think I was gonna make it that easy for you? Did you? And
21:02
then he pops out them music races. That's the moment was just like Jim
21:06
Caviezel would have made an awesome Batman. Yes he would. You're absolutely You're
21:10
absolutely right, and I can I will admit to this that my first time
21:14
watching it, that moment he pops in the window saying, you wouldn't You
21:17
didn't think I'd make it that heat. Like I actually jumped a little bit
21:19
in my seat, like it caught me completely because I expected it to go
21:23
a certain way and then it didn't go and I was like, oh,
21:26
you slick, And then all of a sudden he's there. I was like,
21:29
yeah, oh cool, Yeah, well it's the same carriage. It's
21:33
like, yeah, he knows, like he knows where he's going. He's
21:36
going to the shadow deep, you know, under new management. And what's
21:41
interesting about that scene is in the original cut of the film when they did
21:45
it for the test audiences, Kevin Reynolds had him blow his brains out like
21:49
that was in the movie, Like he shot it that way, he shot
21:52
he shot. He shot it both ways. He shot it where he blows
21:56
his brains out, and he shot it where Cavizel comes up and says,
21:59
you didn't think I was gonna make that easy for And so the test audience
22:02
they showed the shooting first. Yeah, exactly, they showed the test audience
22:04
the shooting, and some of the people in the tests ondence just said,
22:07
you know what, it probably would have been cooler if it wasn't loaded,
22:11
And Kevin Royolds is like, oh my god, I totally have that button,
22:15
you know, And yeah, it's like, thank god past self for
22:18
shooting that. And we don't have to go to reshoots. We just slide
22:22
that footage in, just slide it in. And that's exactly because that's what's
22:25
most satisfying about a revenge movie is them getting their combumpants as close to the
22:30
pain they inflicted. Not they all die. That doesn't satisfying. Yeah,
22:37
yeah, and I think that it's also I mean that might speak to Reynolds
22:41
as well, when he's not working with somebody else who is a little big
22:45
for their britches because of their own directorial successes. Here. I'm not saying
22:51
anybody in specific, I'm just saying, you know, might be, might
22:53
be a thing, but we you know, to that end, you have
22:56
a director that on set is like he's not being told you got to do
23:00
this thing. He's saying, you know, let's shoot it both ways and
23:02
let's see how this goes. That's a smart director. That's somebody who is
23:06
hedging his bet and knowing that there are certain moments where it could go either
23:10
way. And it's also a really smart director. Let's let's put it this
23:14
way. It's a very smart audience focus director who knows that he is making
23:18
a movie that he wants people to enjoy and consume. He's not planting a
23:22
flag in the ground and saying this is my epic master Yeah, behold and
23:30
despair. You know. But that's the pattern i'd say is showing up with
23:34
Reynolds in these movies that we're watching, is that this is a guy who's
23:37
who comes to the job saying, I want to make something people enjoy like
23:41
there. You know, it's the different approaches you can have as a director,
23:45
whether it's live theater or film or something like that. He very much
23:49
comes off to me as the type of guy who wants people to have a
23:52
good time. He's there to entertain you and not do anything beyond that,
24:00
and I think that's noble in its own way. Honestly, I think of
24:03
the of the movies we've watched in his filmography up to this point, this
24:07
is the first time I see it really paying off for him because the previous
24:11
two or Costner's boot heavily on his neck, and now we have him a
24:15
little freer. I think that comes across and everything. I mean not to
24:21
diminish the actors, but they do feel kind of like putty in his hands,
24:25
like they're actually like they're just going along with his vision and his story.
24:30
But he, like we've said, knows how to get that performance out
24:33
of them. And it's a really good and I mean it's not only a
24:37
good cast, but it's a good cast off of each other. Like,
24:40
yeah, Jim Govizel could be amazing, But if Mondego is not charismatic and
24:45
dynamic, it does not work. If he is not a good just as
24:48
good of a villain that you hate, like you need to hate this guy,
24:52
Like he is a terrible father, he's a terrible friend. He's like
24:56
the snobby rich Like like the beginning when He's like, why you're the son
25:02
of a like a clerk, Like, why should I want to be you?
25:04
You're just like, ah, I now hate you so much. That
25:11
was an interesting invention of the movie was that Edmund and Fernand uh oh different
25:18
classes. What, No, we're friends in the movie. They're not in
25:22
the book. They're not best friends in the boh and also better, way
25:27
better what it is one better because it makes the fall that much harder,
25:32
it makes the betrayal that much harder. And uh it's it really works because
25:37
I'm guessing then The Kings to You is not in the book as well,
25:41
because if they weren't friends, then why would they have right The Kings to
25:44
You isn't in there. And also the book starts with Edmund coming ashore and
25:52
talking to the shipping owner and everything like that, saying like, hey,
25:55
I totally got a letter from from Napoleon. That's weird, right, Yeah,
26:02
But in the in the movie, they're pacing different choices. Let's show
26:04
this, you know, like Kevin, it was Kevin Reynald's idea to say,
26:07
like, let's make this a much more cinematic storytelling. Let's show him
26:11
me. So that whole opening scene wasn't even in the book. It's just
26:15
implied that it happened. Oh yeah, you gotta show that, you because
26:18
you're already showing I think that's the smartest thing because but up until the fall,
26:23
like the moment where everything goes wrong for him, every moment is precious
26:29
where you have to establish these characters. So all those minutes we're spending with
26:33
Edmund that we're spending with Mondaego, we're learning about like every look that guy
26:38
Pierces giving where you're like, is this guy your friend? He's kind of
26:42
an asshole, Like I don't I don't really know, like like if you
26:48
don't have that, and all of a sudden like oh he betrayed me.
26:49
It's like, yeah, I've spent two minutes with the guy, but I've
26:52
spent now ten minutes with the guy, and it's a totally different thing.
26:56
But what I think is really great that also that Bill does, is it
27:00
really establishes Edmund as a very Flanders esque sort of like two trusting kind of
27:07
you know, he is very nice, super naive about the about the world.
27:11
Because Mandego was there trying to make time with his girl, and it's
27:15
hey, guys, what's going on? And I'm like, oh, come
27:18
on, bro, I'm like, hey, little little separation here, folks.
27:23
Jesus me nice. I loved it though, how it was crazy how
27:36
direct for nand was like right when the scene opens, he's like, make
27:40
it up to me, I know, but she totally, She's like,
27:45
you've been on You can tell he's been going up for years that he's been
27:47
in on her exactly. It works because you know, Mercedes was just like,
27:52
oh, that's just for Nand you know he's so he's a horn dog.
27:53
He doesn't really mean it. It's fine, like you can rationalize it
27:56
and everything like that, like they're friends. He's weird as whatever. And
28:00
even the body language of Cavizel is just like, you know, he's just
28:06
trouncing around like he's his first day on. I'm a I'm on a ship
28:11
and I and I'm doing what's right by my captain. It's like, dude,
28:15
you're you're gonna get hosed in life, buddy. When when he runs,
28:18
when he runs, when he runs to them, like his his shoulders
28:22
are down, his limbs are kind of loose, and when even when he
28:25
like goes into the carriage that takes him to Who's going to take him to
28:30
Chateaudif Like his he has this naivety about him, but then until he sits
28:34
down and it locks. Yeah, it has no brilliant body work from Cavizel,
28:41
like it's it's man, this has to be my favorite performance of his.
28:45
Oh right, so so oh go ahead, John, Oh well,
28:48
I mean I was gonna say that. It's also I think a wonderfully intelligent
28:53
movie that also makes things extremely clear to the entire audience without making it feel
29:00
like there was some studio note to say, oh no, I don't know
29:04
how well this will play in the sticks. We got to slow this down
29:07
a little bit, be a little more. Like every every little reveal that
29:11
they have, like about who Clarion was was and how he was related to
29:17
everything and all of that stuff, you know, walking around a little Napoleon
29:21
Kane, it's like, how do you not know that? Dude? Yeah?
29:23
Yeah, right. There's a massive thing in this movie that it does
29:30
really well, and I will attribute this to the director. Is the reveal,
29:33
like you're saying, the reveal of information and what we know and what
29:37
certain characters know is beautifully laid out. Because there's a lot of time when
29:41
Dante's doesn't know at all what's going on, but we know because we can
29:45
see, you know, we see the other side of that conversation on the
29:49
rocks with Mercedes and and and Mondego, so we know that's coming. And
29:55
then it goes on the other foot later where we even don't know Edmund's plans,
29:59
but we you know he's planning, and we're seeing them unveiled as the
30:03
dupe is getting, you know, their come up ins. So it's really
30:08
just a I'd say, if you took anything from making film away from this
30:12
movie, it is how to reveal information to your audience. Sometimes it's because
30:19
character A knew it, sometimes because character B. Sometimes neither know it.
30:23
Like that, I think is why this movie works at its core. I
30:27
agree. I agree. Now we we we've been, as we've said,
30:30
we've been heaping praise on this and I would love to ask what you guys
30:34
think didn't work in this And I'm not saying this didn't work, but it
30:38
always gives me pause because I know this is this is kind of a joke
30:44
because Henry Cavil's in it. I'm about to say that this movie has a
30:45
little bit of Clark Kent syndrome, where like, why would nobody real understand?
30:52
Why would no one recognize them? Especially for nand and Mercedes, because
30:57
when you're reading the book, when you're reading Count of Money Christo, you
31:00
know, it tells you like, Okay, yeah, he's changed so much
31:04
from prison, you know, like he like so much has happened to him
31:07
that nobody recognizes him. And when you're reading the written word, your brain
31:12
goes, Okay, all right, that's fine, I understand that, I
31:15
get that. But when you're couldn't possibly be Edmund edmunds exactly, like when
31:19
you're watching the movie, you're like, oh, that's Jim Caviezel now with
31:23
Villefore I totally get it, because he spent three minutes with him, right,
31:29
and this was seen years ago, this was sixteen And then he's like,
31:32
hey, sixteen years ago, would you get sentence Edmund Dantes And he's
31:36
like, dude, what, like I haven't even thought about that, and
31:38
like ages, yeah, but like when fernand your best friend and Mercedes your
31:44
lover, well, Mercedes does have paused. It's the first time he sees
31:48
or you can tell she's like and I attribute it because I did think of
31:52
that as well, and I do attribute it to the fact that this is
31:56
an age without cameras, without pictures, without like you know. Now,
32:00
granted, I would feel being in the same room as him, Mercedes would
32:05
be getting warning bells going off, of like, because when you're next to
32:07
someone like you loved and was your like fiance, you're you would think there'd
32:12
be And maybe that's what we're seeing play out, is that kind of like
32:15
is this so and so? But I can buy it. I think there's
32:17
enough suspension of disbelief that you know, And I think that's also the even
32:22
if Mondego thought for a half second that that was Edmund, He's like,
32:27
but what is more plausible that Edmund died like I was told sixteen years ago,
32:32
or he is in fact the richest person I've ever met, a kind
32:36
of minor crystal like that sounds ludicrous, So then you just put it out
32:39
of your mind and go it must obviously be the more logical solution. I
32:45
agree. I'm willing to go along with it, mainly because I know from
32:50
personal experience that and people might roll their eyes or whatever, but I know
32:54
from personal experience that if I take my glasses off in shave. People do
32:58
a double take every so off. When I'm first walking in the hall,
33:00
were like, oh h h and if you if I went sixteen years,
33:06
then I think that somebody would you know, to your point, Darren,
33:09
people weren't having video calls every week talking about movies that directors. Did you
33:15
know? There was there was a space of time. That's why I never
33:19
mind the fact that Mondego was so important. That's going to affect his brain.
33:22
That's true, but but that's why it was so important. Like when
33:23
you came to a party, people announced you because nobody kind of knew,
33:28
Like you didn't know who people were, you knew the name. So as
33:30
long as someone walked in and vouched that you were you, then you were
33:35
golden. It reminds me of my father in laws was a firefighter and up
33:38
to fire chief and once when he was younger, you know, they all
33:43
firefighters have like the big mustache or most do, and one time he shaved
33:46
it off and went into the firehouse and people were like stopping him at the
33:51
door, like dude, like who, like you can't give you back here?
33:53
Like they totally did not recognize him. They took a polaroid and put
33:57
it up on the wall and said name this bro because no. But and
34:00
it is like there's some people have that striking difference. And I guess for
34:05
Edmund it was Edma doesn't wear goatees. I can't possibly anything rich and still
34:09
alive that possibly, Yeah, it's true, like you know the Gotee rich
34:13
still alive. People were told you were dead for sixteen years. Totally,
34:15
totally, I get it. I get it. Like when you're watching this,
34:19
when you're watching it and you're a modern audience, you're just like you
34:21
have a modern mentality and you think that. But yeah, like all those
34:24
things, all those things come to play and you guys are absolutely right.
34:28
Like I don't remember this, but I'm told this that my father shaved his
34:32
beard off when I was like two, and I lost my mind as a
34:37
two year old, where like I ran into their room, I thought there
34:40
was a stranger in the house. Yeah, like I now, Yeah,
34:45
now to speak to that though, because we are talking about all the stuff
34:47
that it does properly in terms of film language and everything, giving but giving
34:53
what we like the movie, so we're giving it a pass. On on
34:57
Edmund not looking different enough they would have made the decision to maybe give him
35:01
a scar that would be a distinguishing feature that would distract people from its broken
35:07
nose or something. Yeah, his nose got broken in one of the beatings.
35:10
He has a goatee, he has a little scar over his eye,
35:15
like people would that would be three significant factors where people would be like,
35:19
okay, sixteen years hair or something like that. Yeah, yeah, some
35:23
streaks of gray that threw people off. But it's I agree that it's kind
35:29
of a shortcoming because they could have done something to make it more pronounced,
35:32
to have us go along with it more. But I think that becomes a
35:37
function again of just how much are you enjoying the ride? And there are
35:42
so many things, where are so many movies where you just like, oh,
35:45
okay, that's fine, I'll let that pass. And that's the thing,
35:49
Like, if we weren't enjoying this film, or if it wasn't a
35:52
well made film, we would have been tearing this apart, Like we would
35:54
have been saying like, oh, come on, like the guy has a
35:57
goatee and all of a sudden you can't recognize him. Come on, Well,
36:00
I will say one of the things I like, as they're talking about
36:02
the visuals of the characters, this movie does a great job with keeping track
36:08
of who is who, meaning there's a lot of French names guys, and
36:14
so very often I will get lost in these kinds of movies when people look
36:19
too similar, or they're wearing too similar the same thing, or they both
36:22
have dark hair, or their name and obviously we say the word they say
36:27
their names a million times, and so that helps. But I love the
36:30
fact that like, okay, Dantes looks like this, and I can identify
36:34
the key players. I love you know J. B. Blanc as as
36:37
the captain Luigi. I won't remember his name, but every time he shows
36:42
up, I'm like, that's that guy. You know that and know who
36:45
that is, and even and Edmund even shook his hand and says, I
36:49
may call on you again. You never know when you need a good friend.
36:52
You're like, hey, foreshadowing, Okay, I need to look for
36:54
JB. Blanc yep, yep. I think the difficult I have is I'll
37:01
go straight out and say it while I was watching it, because we're sitting
37:04
here, we're like, oh, well, let's look for the negative,
37:06
and we're already giving it an out for one of the negative things quote unquote.
37:09
But I can honestly say this is one of those ones where I find
37:14
it a challenge every so often watching a film where I know there are certain
37:19
things that I'll dig it for. But as I'm sitting here watching it and
37:22
I'm thinking to myself, I'm questioning the way I approach quote unquote reviewing movies,
37:27
because at one point, about halfway through, I said to myself,
37:30
well, why wouldn't I give this five out of five? What is lacking
37:35
here? I'm having a good time. I like the actors, I like
37:37
the characters. I like the pacing, I like the way everything's going.
37:40
It's not self indulgent. But there's that nagging thing of like, we have
37:45
this expectation that, oh, but in five stars. Yeah, and so
37:50
I think, not the Godfather Part two? Why would I give this five
37:52
stars? Yeah? Exactly exactly, And so I think that the it is
37:57
right to call out that Edmund doesn't look different enough to the other people.
38:00
But that I think is also a function of time compression. Because we've been
38:06
with Edmund the whole time, we don't get the sense of him being gone.
38:09
So when other people encounter him. No, we've been with him the
38:14
whole time. How do you not know how he looks? I've been here
38:15
with him the whole time, that's true. We never cut back to how
38:20
is life going in France? And they're getting old, Like we don't see
38:22
them until Edmund sees them, which I think is the right choice. Yes,
38:25
but we lose that point of view. I mean, I think they
38:30
do make Mercedes feel a little older, because you know, it's been you
38:32
know, thirteen years, so she should feel the actress is only seven years
38:38
older than Henry have all. That's weird, but again, maybe working in
38:47
something you don't need to go back and show them living their lives in Paris
38:52
or anything, but maybe doing something to make it feel a little bit more.
38:59
Basically, the pacing with Richard Harris is so good that it moves briskly,
39:04
and so you lose sense of the fact that it is literal years passing
39:07
while they're together. I mean they try like the whole beatings thing annually.
39:14
Like that makes sense. The fact that after the tunnel gets longer, you
39:20
have like he has more clothes, and like they have like all their little
39:23
heidy things, like here's where we hide our wooden swords, and here's where
39:28
we hide our books and all of that. But you're absolutely right, though,
39:31
it is massive time compression, and we're just also at that age,
39:37
you know, unless it's like fifty years, the human eye is like,
39:42
oh, you look roughly the same, Like there's not or if you go
39:45
from like born to thirty, yeah, that's gonna be a big difference.
39:50
But like, not that he's that young when he starts, but it is.
39:53
It is hard to show that kind of passage of time on him,
39:58
and you don't want to do it too much because then if you can't pick
40:00
them out in a scene, not that I think that would really happen,
40:04
but that would be bad. Well, definitely, the whole confused identity thing
40:07
was a thing in literature for a while. I don't know if it is
40:10
so much anymore, but like I think of you know, I think of
40:15
Tailor two Cities, like everything hinges on that idea, and so it was
40:21
very much a question of the time. I think, basically just handling some
40:24
of the time compression to make it feel less compressed, and a few make
40:30
up tweaks to Edmund, and those are the only two major flaws i'd really
40:34
go after quote unquote. I think that the action scenes, the sword fighting
40:40
is really well done. I especially like the sword fight in the apartment.
40:45
When Edmund is trying to get away. Yes like that. It's like a
40:49
desperate I don't know how to fight, like yeah, you grab it,
40:53
says, don't make me take your hand like it's it's that felt like a
40:58
real moment where it's just like list like I can take you. You know,
41:01
I can take you. Don't put up too much of a fight or
41:05
I will fight back like it was. It was that moment of a truly
41:08
superior force and a desperate man. And the desperate man acted like a desperate
41:13
man would. He didn't just go like okay and he sits down and waits
41:15
for the guards to show up. No, he he does whatever it takes,
41:20
but it's not enough. He literally grabs the sword he's so desperate with
41:24
his bare hands, which it's another Rob Roy. Yeah, that's right,
41:30
we all remember that. Well. I think that that also speaks to a
41:37
director and an editor that know how to cut a scene like that, and
41:40
that that's another strength is it's really easy to make the cutting too quick in
41:45
that in that micro sense, it was like, no, we need to
41:47
close up here, we need to close up here, And it's like the
41:50
camera gives the scene and the editing gives Yeah, literally, play yeah,
41:57
let it play Outlet the people do the action, not the editing. Yeah,
42:00
exactly. The frenetic energy of that scene is from the fact that Edmund
42:06
is not an experienced swordsman, not because the camera shook really close, so
42:12
it's got to be and it's like, no, that's the way you should
42:14
do it. Well, speaking of the just the look, there were some
42:17
moments when you know, the carriage is going by, or basically I want
42:22
to talk about nighttime because there's a lot of stuff that happens at nighttime here,
42:25
and I feel it did a pretty decent job of having natural light sources
42:31
in play. I mean there's obviously light that is added, you know,
42:37
or the moon is you know, the brightest has ever been. It's a
42:40
full moon every time, Yeah, every time, you know, but you
42:45
need that, Like I get that. I would much rather be able to
42:47
see what is happening than be like, well, wait a minute, there's
42:52
like five torches and brackets. Where's that giant white light coming from? Like
42:55
I don't care but like the party where he's unveiled and the fireworks like that
43:01
was really cool and a lot of other Uh, the beach scene on Elba
43:07
at the beginning, I do have another nitpick. Okay, go for it
43:10
now that you bring that up. So I love the reveal scene. I
43:15
think it's cheesy. I think it's over the top, and I think it's
43:19
great because the dude comes down, there's like acrobats, he comes down.
43:23
The guy is showing he is richer than God, like he is just throwing
43:28
money at this end, and and he says greetings, you know, like
43:31
but you know, Okay. Here's the thing though, where the where they
43:35
are position, where the audiences, No one shouldn't see any of that.
43:38
No one could see any of that, not at all. I thought you
43:43
were going to call out the fact that at one moment, as the balloon
43:47
is coming down, Lewis Kuzman is out of focus. That went wanted to
43:53
us. I wanted to smack, like throughout this movie, I wanted to
43:57
smack the focus puller, because there's more than a few moments when things are
44:00
out of focus when they shouldn't be. Not so much that it's clearing,
44:04
not so much that you know, like you're like, you shouldn't use that
44:07
shot, but like, yeah, Tristan noticed exactly. I will say in
44:13
that scene too, when when Yakapo is like about to announce somebody's like ladies
44:17
and gentlemen, I'm like, dude, dude, project, but you're talking
44:21
like you're in a room and at least have like And it was even worse
44:25
a phone or something. It was even worse with Edmund. He was just
44:29
it was like meetings and it was you know, the people even up front,
44:32
what what what do you want? And also and alsoid something about feelings
44:37
and I think I saw a balloon far away, but I don't know what
44:39
happened after that, you know, like I don't even know what a balloon
44:43
is. I've never seen one. What is this sky magic? You know?
44:47
But yeah, I mean again it's it's literally It was funny though,
44:52
because yeah, focus pulling aside in that scene you could just for me,
44:55
I could feel like, man, this guy is just just throwing money out.
45:01
He might as well throw it out of the balloon, like he's basically
45:05
just showing iron and the and the invites themselves, the invites themselves. There's
45:09
not a copy machine, like like like they those had to be has drawn
45:16
and hand illustrated, h and every single one of them. Yeah, but
45:21
that's how you did it, That's how you like, that's how fancy people
45:23
did partners and such. But we all know that. I hate doing any
45:27
sort of research. But those acrobats seemed a little bit too much circus away,
45:31
Like did they really have acrobats that were that good back then? Like
45:35
I was not merely on the edge of having hot air balloons, so I
45:38
think, yeah, a little bit. I mean, I mean yeah,
45:40
I mean like I think they definitely kind of I know they had Yeah,
45:45
well I was just gonna say that, like like in France, maybe not,
45:49
but I mean this they had circuses in France, and they had you
45:52
know, like you know, I had acrobats in India and you know,
45:55
and and you had obviously I'm I'm more talking about the level of acrobatics because
46:01
like that was like some next level daring dude, like come out of a
46:05
hot air balloon and like do the spinny yeah, you know the fabric thingy
46:10
that I seen nobody. Yeah. Yeah, it's a shame that like he
46:15
did that for no reason. Yeah, yeah, that's and that's a simple
46:20
staging fix. But what have you? What have you? I mean,
46:23
I I had enough a hard enough time. I did have to look it
46:27
up. Chateau Chateau Deef means you castle, just in case you were yet
46:34
the rock or something. But I mean I went to Google Translate. I'm
46:39
sitting there, you know, Chateau Chateau Deef, and my basic, very
46:44
basic understanding of French I was like house of if what like. And that's
46:47
why I had to go look it up and run it through Translate. So
46:51
so okay, another Actually I did think of another criticism that I like to
46:53
talk about, and this is main counted on one hand, but keep keep
46:57
going. Well this was really kind of Madoc. And I want to get
47:00
what you guys think about this, because like we're all believers, we're all
47:05
Christians, and so this is a like God plays a heavy theme in this
47:08
film, you know, like like Edmund Dantes as a believer, you know,
47:14
he says God's everywhere, It's in everything, same with Mercedes, and
47:17
he loses his faith because he you know, like he goes to chatedaw defense
47:21
it's God, it's not real, Like I'm suffer suffering horribly, and then
47:24
he continues to resist God and it's not until he accepts God again once he
47:30
enacts all of his revenge, and it's everything he's ever wanted, you know.
47:34
To me, I always, as a young person, I always hated
47:37
that message, and I'm like, oh, you know, when things are
47:39
going bad, God's not real. But when things are going good, oh,
47:43
thank you God. That's kind of the like, I feel like that
47:45
message didn't really land as well as they were trying. I agree, I
47:52
understand what you're saying. It's like the anti job. Well, they were
47:55
trying to pull off something. I think that was more rooted in the sense
48:01
of he was coming back around to faith, but he knew he couldn't let
48:07
go of this one thing. And I think where it gets clunky, as
48:12
it's two, I would have given as trite as it is. The way
48:16
we all come to grips with something like that is him beating for nand in
48:22
the sword fight and then saying no, this is wrong, I won't kill
48:27
you, and then walking away and for Non coming up behind him. You
48:30
know, that sort of thing that if it played like that, we would
48:34
have all been like, Okay, he saw the error of his ways and
48:38
then his hand was forced because he decided X, Y, and Z.
48:43
So I agree with you, it doesn't quite stick the landing there, but
48:45
I think and I think it also misses an opportunity to pose an interesting philosophical
48:52
question of did he view himself doing these things? Because you know, the
48:55
Lord works in mysterious ways, and guess what, sometimes somebody needs to be,
49:01
you know, the the deliverer of judgment, as it were, of
49:07
the open. So I'm not saying I advocate that idea. I'm saying,
49:10
like, maybe that that could have come across more cleanly in how he is
49:15
wrestling with it, because through the whole thing, I think he gets back
49:19
to a faith something of a faith footing thanks to his time with Richard Harris.
49:23
But with this tone of I'm not I can't fully embrace it until I
49:28
stop being a bad person. And I'm not going to stop being a bad
49:30
person. Because all of these people deserve what's coming to them. So the
49:35
question becomes because that who you know, God will grant me justice? Well,
49:38
then we as an audience have to sit there and say, well,
49:40
if what he's delivering is justice, is it wrong? What he's doing because
49:45
I think that it has more of a problem if we have a situation where
49:51
they go with the original version and Villefort does blow his brains out, but
49:55
to your point, instead they have it where he says, oh no,
49:59
no, no, no, it's like for like, you know, it's
50:01
it's a rasalkol sort of thing. You know, justice is balance. You
50:06
know, you left me for dead and burned down my house. Now we're
50:08
even, you know that sort of thing. So except for of course,
50:13
for non To just needs to die. Yeah, I mean that's the thing.
50:15
Is it like is it justice? You know? Yeah? I think
50:17
so? Is it godly? No? And I think that's the thing that
50:22
I really struggle with is because it's the literal last shot of the film is
50:27
the phrase God will give me justice or God will grant me justice, you
50:30
know, like carved into the wall. And then like you know, like
50:32
we as believers know the line, you know, like God saith that fines
50:37
will be mine. And she was like, oh okay, all right,
50:39
you know, which is even what the priest says. He says as he's
50:43
dying, he's like like, use it for good, you know, and
50:45
he's like I can't. And then he doesn't and uses it for revenge,
50:50
like he does exactly what he says he's going to do. But thank you
50:53
for making me a lethal killing machine. Now I will go and best my
50:57
foes. But you know, but that's the thing where I think it does
51:00
have an interesting and I don't think it explores it as well as it could,
51:05
but it does have that sort of interesting underpinning of, you know,
51:07
isn't the world better off with these people removed from you know, like you
51:13
know, yeah, you know, like in the moment at the end when
51:17
Mondego's leaving Mercedes and she's like, oh, he's like they're after me for
51:22
you know, lying and killing and embezzling and cheating, and and she's like
51:27
did you do these things? He's like yes, but you know I shouldn't
51:29
be caught for it. He's like, that's besides the point. Yeah,
51:32
yeah, I mean yeah, I mean I guess it's a little clunky at
51:37
the end. I could maybe sit there and like torture myself into being like,
51:39
well, you know, he was gonna stay with her when she was
51:43
shot, but then Mondego came back, and it's like that's like his ending
51:46
where like his his revenge has been exacted, and then it's Mondego's action that
51:51
spurs it forward further. And so it could be like true, it's true
51:54
because he Edmund does say like he's like, just go, it's cool.
51:59
I stole your life, you know, like I show you, I show
52:01
your wife and you and your son. But like you can go, you
52:05
can go, like I stold him back. I should say you can go,
52:07
Like there is that moment of mercy where like movies love to do this
52:10
where they're like, listen, I'm not going to kill you. Okay,
52:14
I'm the better person than you, because if he just then they turn and
52:16
just kills him and shoots him like out of cold blood, like it's not
52:20
really the best look for our hero, right and and do that, And
52:23
movies do do that where they say like I'm not going to kill you,
52:27
and then they turn their back and they're like, oh yeah, well I'm
52:30
going to try to kill you one more time and then they throw the knife
52:31
and then oh oh oh I forced your hand. Oh my god, I
52:37
don't know. And this movie is no different. In the in the novel,
52:40
Villefort goes crazy and Fernand kills himself like he loses everything, he's publicly
52:45
shamed and then kills himself. It's interesting. I just had a similar remembering
52:51
of just similarities from this plot to say A Night's Tale, which is not
53:00
necessarily a revenge movie, but it is a movie of someone who like is
53:04
rebuilding themselves with subterfuge and entering the world they're not supposed to be in.
53:08
But a very different vibe is the fact that you know, he has his
53:12
opponent, but he is not like trying to destroy him and undo his world.
53:17
He is, you know, more of the mustache twirling antagonist. But
53:23
yeah, and this one again at the end, I think it would have
53:28
been less satisfying for fern End to just actually run away, and we're like,
53:32
but then, was he punished enough? He kind of was, but
53:36
we also want to see him dead because it's a movie. So but but
53:37
you know what, I will hang onto that because he does say, go
53:42
on, you know, there's no where you could shoot me. This is
53:44
all over. I'm you can't hurt me, you know, no matter where
53:46
you shoot me, And then he says, o't shoots the one place it
53:50
does, and he shoots her and he goes and it would have ended there
53:53
without his decision to come back, at which pointing he had lost everything,
53:58
Like where's he gonna go? Like, yeah, it makes sense how they
54:00
how it plays out, so he yeah, I mean you know what,
54:04
I'll say, yeah, no, But but like he doesn't he really doesn't
54:09
go farther than he's supposed to. I guess you could say at the end
54:13
of it, yeah, and I love the Jacopo was the one who said
54:16
it was like in the entire time he was he was like, he's like,
54:20
just take the woman and go. It was a woman who loves you,
54:22
you're you're you're rich, just go, just go. And then at
54:27
the end when fern End comes back, he said, he's like, yeah,
54:30
you gotta finish this. He's like being honest, like you have to
54:32
finish this. I I also love at the very end, even though like
54:37
I'm a little iffy on on some of the some of the god stuff.
54:40
At the end, when when uh Dantes says like everything that is important to
54:45
me in this world is right here, and Jacopoe's there too, I just
54:50
like it would have been so easy to just make Jacopo the lackey or to
54:53
make him, you know, the right hand man who's just there for business,
54:57
but he's like his only friend. He kind of is. And I
55:02
love that the movie like shows that and and and and elevates that brings the
55:07
two. I agree. It would have been so easy just to treat Louis
55:12
Guzman is just like, oh, he's comic relief, and it's like,
55:14
no, he's actually a character with meaning heart. Yeah yeah, yeah,
55:20
so my gosh. I don't know that we had too many criticisms so far.
55:24
I mean, like some interesting discussions. Have a pretty amazing movie.
55:28
It's kind of hard to to rip it apart. Or like you said,
55:30
John, maybe we can just learn to just enjoy movies. Why even why
55:36
let's not even give it a rating. Let's just go on about it.
55:38
No, we're gonna give it a rating, guys, because that's what we
55:40
could maybe elevate. An appendage pointed up toward Heaven or an appendage pointed down
55:46
toward Hell for those things which are failures, you know, would be very
55:50
straightforward binary choice there or how many how many thumbs up for thumbs down?
55:55
Yeah, exactly, just a binary All right, Well, John, let's
56:00
start with you, as this was your your first foyer into the count of
56:04
money. Christo about twenty years after the fact. But that is all right,
56:08
because never too late, never too late. With recorded entertainment, it
56:13
isn't. So what would you give this, give this film now that you've
56:17
escaped from Chateau d'ef It's it's difficult because of everything that we've talked about before.
56:24
There are some procedural things probably that I would have I would have liked
56:29
to see them addressed differently. But I thoroughly enjoyed this. But at the
56:32
same time, I'm I feel like I'm hedging because I don't know if my
56:37
next watch will elevate this or solidify this, And so I'm going to give
56:44
it a very very solid and respectable four with the love of a five in
56:50
my heart. But it sort of like, let's be honest sort of moment
56:53
here where it's a five and leave you have the money. Yeah, there
56:59
is things it could have flowed better, been a little clearer, some makeup
57:02
choices, all the stuff we talked about. So I'm gonna this is gonna
57:06
land with a very solid and respectable four, which is much higher than than
57:09
than the previous two entries. In Yes, yes, all right, Tristan
57:15
family favorite. I'm glad you were wound the VHS after you watch it again.
57:21
But what do you give the count of money, Cristo this time around.
57:23
Hasn't been a long time since you've seen it, Like, I know,
57:27
you're not family favorite that much, not that much. Like I showed
57:30
it to my wife a couple of years ago, so it wasn't since I
57:32
was a kid. Like I've rewatched this plenty of times ever since. As
57:37
honey, I gotta go find the VHCR and figure out how I'm going to
57:40
play it in I Oh no, I was DVD at this time. This
57:46
is this is post Gladiator Matrix. I was DVD. So with the I'm
57:52
like John where I'm giving this a solid and loving four. I want to
57:55
give it a four and a half. But at the same time, I
58:00
am something makes my brain it because it's your own rating. I know,
58:05
I know, but it makes me itchy when I try to give it a
58:07
four and a half. I love this movie. I love this movie.
58:09
I think this is a great movie. I love to rewatch it, but
58:13
there's something, there's something that's holding me back from giving a four and a
58:16
half or a five. So I give this a solid, loving, amazing
58:21
four, but a five in my heart just like John and so I get
58:24
I give it four solid Michael Wincott saying I have all the time in the
58:30
world. I love that guy. Yeah, well, it's been a little
58:35
while since I watched this. I definitely watched it a lot around you know,
58:38
two thousands. I mean, lived with a bunch of film students at
58:43
college, and so very often we would just put this movie in or listen
58:46
to the soundtrack because it was oh so good. And yeah, this was
58:50
a fun discussion in the fact that I feel like we weren't unjustly heaping tons
58:55
of praise on it. There were a lot of things that worked really really
58:58
well for this and as just the fact that it is a revenge movie with
59:02
a quite complex plot that sticks the landing, like it could easily have not
59:08
and or added too many you know scenes, or you know, I don't
59:14
know, there's other ways it could have unraveled. But uh, like like
59:17
we've said, uh, you know, he was able to bring together you
59:22
know, this amazing cast and just get the performance out of them. I'm
59:27
really glad Costner was on in it, because I don't think we would have
59:30
gotten anything closed to this costner Dantes had no, I don't. He's he
59:43
jumps out off the shadow def and jumps onto his trimaran and is cranking the
59:46
little hand bicycles and sailing away. I also do feel like, you know,
59:52
I don't know a lot about Italian u island geography, but it feels
59:55
like everything is like spitting distance from everything else, like it doesn't and like
1:00:00
anything is very far away. Well, Europe is basically a suburb. I
1:00:04
mean, you could walk to Italy if you want it. True, that's
1:00:07
true, but no so but I am daring, daring to dream. I'm
1:00:13
giving him a five on this. It's there are little parts again that are
1:00:17
are are a little rough. But I enjoy this movie every time I put
1:00:22
it in, every time I rewatch it. The even though I remember it,
1:00:27
I remember how it's going to play out, but just rewatching the rise
1:00:30
and fall and right, the action, just the way it goes. The
1:00:35
sword fights, the not twisting of the knife. It's not a twisting of
1:00:38
the knife kind of movie, but it's a I've literally just taken everything from
1:00:43
you and now you have nowhere left to go, and you're like, oh
1:00:46
man, he is just it is the most well crafted revenge I think I've
1:00:52
ever seen. Every time I watch this movie, I secretly feel, I
1:00:55
secretly think and feel like maybe he won't get into the carriage this time.
1:01:00
Maybe he won't say clarion and he'll live his life with right right, you
1:01:06
know what, I changed my mind. I'm giving this four and a half
1:01:07
boom damn it. Wait now, wait a minute here, okay, because
1:01:13
I'm sitting here, pull a tracker making a four and a half. Do
1:01:16
it? There we do it. There we go, pul tracker. I'm
1:01:21
not gonna be such a curmudget anymore. Well, I think that fits you,
1:01:25
John, because you did say several times that you, you know,
1:01:30
you just love this performance, and you were just heaping praise on this and
1:01:35
you said you enjoyed it. You can't. You caught yourself my way being
1:01:37
like, I'm just enjoying this movie. And yeah, so and now you
1:01:43
gotta show you're young and and you know, show some you gotta spread spread
1:01:46
the joy. I'll see if if anybody does anything bad to Daddy. I
1:01:50
want you to understand how dedicated he's going to be. Watch this movie.
1:01:54
It's like, why are you watching kind of money? Crystal and repeat,
1:01:57
I gotta learn. I study up, taking taking notes. So that was
1:02:00
a great portrayal of County Monte Cristo. Love the book, love the movie,
1:02:06
and I'm glad I was able to pull your ratings up by my joy
1:02:10
and gratitude. But next week, as we're continuing in the House of Reynolds,
1:02:15
we're going to time jump just like Edmund Dantes did, but not literally,
1:02:21
to see Risen from twenty sixteen. Here on, house Lights join the
1:02:25
Revolution, Join the Nerd Party.