ManWithPez

Wow. Not a lot of subtext there, fellas!

We’re going to steer clear of Anne Rice or her books here.  Mostly because I don’t want her to go on a public rant, much like she did when Tom Cruise was cast in Interview With The Vampire.  In the end, of course, she issued a public apology, but she needn’t have bothered.  Everyone and their damn grandmother went to see the movie anyways.  I did, and I was glad I did.

I like this movie.  I know now that Tommy Boy has lost his mind that it’s not en vogue to say you like Tom Cruise, but he did a more than serviceable job as Lestat, the vampire who likes boys…I mean, uh…well, no, that’s what I meant.

We begin in a rented room in San Francisco (big surprise) with a young jounalist (Played by Christian Slater, taking over for Viper Room victim River Phoenix) speaking to Louis( Brad Pitt), a roughly 150 year old vampire that wants to expose his kind to the rest of the world because he just can’t stand what he is.  He tells his story about being a suicidal plantation owner in Louisiana who allows himself to be made into a vampire by wily blond frenchman Lestat.  Afterwards, he finds he can’t stand killing people, something he can’t control when he feeds.  Lestat apparently loves killing people and challenges Louis’s notion of evil and God.  To cleave Louis more strongly to him, Lestat turns a little girl, Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) and the three live together for some time, apparently happy.  Soon, though, Louis and Claudia begin to chafe under the baser Lestat and to be free of him, Claudia slits his throat and leaves him for dead.  He comes back (Vampire, you know), the two set him on fire and leave for Europe.  Once there, they find the first vampires they’ve met besides themselves, led by Armand (barely English speaking Antonio Banderas), who promises Louis answers if he can just give up his little girl companion.

First, the bad.  And, for the most part, it rests squarely on Brad Pitt’s chiseled shoulders.  In the press, he said that he was so miserable while making this movie that he’d never make another one.  The character is so morose and miserable that it affected him.  Grow up, you goddamn titty baby!  It’s a movie, and your overacting didn’t help matters!  He’s like a black hole of personality here.  Kirsten Dunst got rave reviews for her portrayal of Claudia.  Time has given me perspective in this matter, and I now think that she’s simply shrill.  No wonder Lestat wanted to find different vampires to hang out with!  Also, Stephen Rea is horrible as Santiago, the European vampire’s enforcer.  He doesn’t look dangerous, and he acts even less so.

And now, the good!  Tom Cruise (and I’ll probably get hate mail for this), I thought, was excellent.  The scene with Louis and Lestat with the two hookers in the hotel room is arresting.  Simply because Cruise makes it so.  He caught a lot of flak over this movie, and I don’t think any of it was deserved.  He was supposed to play the part of a whiny, power mad reprobate, and that’s what we got, in spades!  Antonio Banderas, as Armand gets across the idea that he both knows all the answers, and is lying with every breath.  And, you can’t argue with how the movie looks.  Big budget, big budget look, and for the grandiose scheme of the movie, it could be no other way.

This is one of those films that whenever I talk about it with someone and they say “The book was better” I just tune them out.  Of course it was better, but this is as fitting an adaptation as there ever was.  So, put the book down and watch some TV.  For once, it won’t hurt you.

Oh…and there’s some tits and most of the male vampires look like they’re about to make out with each other at any minute.

Enjoy!

Tags: Horror, Review

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.