Count of Monte Cristo: fucking fantabulous! So good! If you have any appreciation whatsoever for adventure, epic romance, dashing action, swashbuckling, delicious characters and dastardly scheming, get thee to a movie theatre right now and watch this baby.

If, on the other hand, you lack any sort of interesting personality whatsoever, feel free to give it a miss.

But seriously, wow. It's been a long time since I enjoyed a movie that much. I was constantly convinced that the character on screen was the coolest character ever, only to change my mind in two seconds when another character came on. Guy Pearce was so great he was only upstaged by the magnificent Count himself. There was not a character that was not beautifully realised and rendered. Even the chick was cool.

Sumptuous visually. And the action! Brisk, energised, filmed in a crisp, delineated way that made it that much better. It was all wonderful. A great package. Two hours of my life that I relished every second of.

And now I have twenty-four hours to get over that before I go into Episode II.