The Count of Monte Cristo

This is one of the greatest of revenge tales. Even Lew Wallace borrowed from "The Count of Monte Cristo" when he wrote "Ben-Hur" around 40 years after "Monte Cristo" was first published.

A few reviewers on here take issue with how this veers off from the book and don't give it a high rating for that reason. Every adaptation of "Monte Cristo" veers off from the book. That has to happen because the multi-faceted revenge story is complex and wasn't meant to be watched, just read. This veers off in ways that enhance the theme of this story.

This series is a great watch. We couldn't stop. We wanted to know what he was going to do next. And because there was so much irony, many scenes were surprisingly funny as Dantes' victims fell into his web.

Sam Claflin was detached, pained, clever, single-minded and charismatic, credibly portraying everything that Dantes needed to be to pull off his revenge.

I've been a fan of The Count of Monte Cristo since reading the book years ago, but I've struggled to find an adaptation that truly worked for me.

The films are too short to do the story justice, and while the popular 1998 French-Italian miniseries had its charm, it feels a bit dated now and takes some liberties with the plot.

I was actually anticipating the new 2024 French film adaptation when this English TV series appeared out of nowhere (though it is still a French-Italian production).

This series is the best adaptation I've seen so far. After watching it, I can confidently say I'm less excited about the film (although three hours long, it probably still not long enough to include all story elements).

It's been a long time since I read the book and I don't remember every detail, but the series seems faithful to the story and the eight episodes give the plot room to develop. It simplifies some secondary character and story arcs, but overall, it covers much of the novel.

My only critique is that the middle episodes did get a bit convoluted, and I sometimes struggled to keep track of the three families. (To be fair, I'm terrible with names, which didn't help.)

Regardless, I highly recommend this series, whether or not you're a fan of the book. My wife, who hasn't read it, loved the series just as much-and even asked to keep watching, which is rare for her.

For those old enough to have witnessed the Alan Bardel 1964 version, glued to their flickering TV screens, transfixed by the gothic horror and grime, this one was going to be a hard act to follow. To film this, in a modern age, with all the demands of hi-res, colour and costumes was a very brave attempt, and for that I genuinely applaud the effort......... however, it could have been done a WHOLE LOT better, which probably suggests that even with all the EU tax breaks (and other backhanders) there simply were not enough Euros in the chest to really give justice to the Dumas classic. The UK actor Sam Claflin, as Edmond Dantes had screen presence, but arguably not enough ruggedness to really carry the role, in comparison with a persona of Jeremy Iron's gravitas (cellmate Abbe Faria). One big gripe was about the buried treasure. The chests, after having lain for 300 years would have been infested with guano, cobwebs and bat feces, if not totally decimated by Time, but looked like something recently bought on E-bay. Bad move, my continuity guys! Despite all - I'm watching to the end, and I will do my hardest to enjoy it!

I'm extremely happy with how this series was made. Not only have they found a way to make it realistic, but they've also found a way to make the story so precise that it could have easily happened in reality. One of the few adaptations I can say is wonderful. The cast and locations are breathtaking in their authenticity.

I appreciate the fact that they changed the story just enough to make it more feasible, as compared to random. The issue with the original was always there were too many things that had to align just right for it to work. That's not the case with this series, they made it very believable.

!0/10 well done, truly fantastic work.

By far the best adaptation of Monte C and closest to the book. Compared to French version this one is superior. Almost 90% is true to the book, the rest is light modifications, some good, some not very smart... Lacks the intensity of the stories in the book. Maybe one or two more episodes would give time develop all characters correctly!

Everything was covered, a lot of details, good cinematography, but a lot is left unsaid... Few characters were merged, and used poorly, but I gave it a high rating, because other adaptations did not even try to follow the book.

Solid adaptation of a great book!