3.5 stars
this movie is virtually identical to “The Shawshank Redemption” …
except instead of being set in 1950s in US it’s set in Napoleon era France …
was definitely a mistake watching them back to back in the span of 2 days …
the way i see it The Shawshank Redemption is simply The Count of Monte Cristo remade into an American story which of course involves a Banker and a Negro, just as in “Trading Places”
that doesn’t mean The Shawshank Redemption is WORSE, just makes it derivative …
derivative of the book, not the movie, since of course Shawshank the movie came before Count the movie …
anyway it is of course very cheesy and predictable, even has the " Luke, i am your father ! " plot twist, which can itself be seen a mile away …
i suppose in 1846 when it was written it was pretty cool …
but now it’s banal as fuck, and in fact it might have been even then but i wasn’t around so can’t say …
aside from that it’s not horrible …
basically Shawshank Redemption meets Pirates of the Caribbean …