I've been meaning to post my thoughts on this movie for a while now, but never got around to it.
So I'm going to post it now. I'm sure many of my views may prove to be a little...unpopular
, but that's what makes web forums fun! And I haven't had a good flame war in a while now.
A little background first.
I only saw the movie for the first time shortly after seeing Phantom earlier this year for the first time in a lonnnng time. Something had repelled me from the idea of the movie, just not interesting me at all. At least until I went Phantom nuts after Warlow, Marina et all blew me into Geosynch on the 15th of August.
Anyway.
I sat down to watch it and have done so several times. Firstly, I'd like to say that it was always going to be a big ask, translating Phantom into a live action movie, especially if you wanted to keep it as close to the performance as possible. Its all well and good with the musical to have all these different songs, switching between them by killing the lights, rearranging the stage and moving on. Not to mention all the other inherent difficulties in translating between the mediums. Constructing a flowing movie out of what little Phantom gives you was always going to be one HELL of a task and I think its to ALW's credit that he did such a good job while keeping the spirit of the musical.
Now with that said I don't think its perfect, far from it. I think there were also a few things in it that made me very much sit up and 'WTF' at the screen. But it *did* do some things fantastically well IMO. So I'll start with that.
The Good.* The flashback sequences. I know some people didn't like them, but I found them very touching. We only ever get a very small glimpse in the musical of the future, I think they could have lost the ending one, but one the whole, I did find they helped the flow, providing 'breaks' at the point we needed them to transition to other sequences. Movies just can't do the 'cut to black and start back up again' without it being really jarring...like Peter Jackson's fade after fade after fade at the end of ROTK.
And I have to admit I really did love that little nod and raise of the hat between Meg and Raoul, the acknowledgment of everything they shared, the promise to remember and never forget implied in it...
* The Point of No Return. I have to admit, this version of PONR has grown on me. The set design is much more interesting to me frankly, I always found the PONR set in Phantom to be one of the unnecessarily 'drab' sets. I also like that it is made much more clear from the beginning that Christine, then Raoul and the others soon realize what is going on, the song and sequence becomes much more intense and believable for me. In the musical, its just *not* clear enough if Christine really realizes it until the last second. Hell, this sequence with Christine is one of only two parts of the movie I think Emmy actually nails.
* Minnie Driver. Yeah, she nailed Carlotta
* Masquerade. Specifically, the merging of the Phantoms arrival with his 'notes' to the producers, that was both logical and allowed him to have great fun in interacting with the main players.
* The SFX sequence converting the opera house back in time, that was spectacular and hit the mood exactly as it needed to.
* The contrast when Meg headed through the mirror after Christine, the implication that Christine was *really* out of it worked well IMO in sort of emphasizing the bemused/under his spell status of Christine at the time.
* The chandler falling. Now its too bad we can't get THAT level of detail in the theater
I wasn't so happy with moving it to when they did, but it did make some degree of sense in providing cover to escape with Christine, in the musical how they are able to get out just doesn't make make sense if you think about it, but it works cause its the musical and they vanish 'off stage'. In the movie, that just wouldn't work.
* Christine and Meg, the interplay and friendship between them could be reinforced in the movie much more then in the musical and I did like that they put a bit more into it.
* The set / costume design. You could see a LOT of work had gone into it and they got most of it just about perfect IMO.
The iffy* The underground lair sequences. Some parts were okay, but a lot of it was far too exotic for me, it really didn't 'click' with the same sense of awe I always goet in the journey down into the labyrinth in the musical. Partially that is the fault of too much lighting IMO, the darkness was both symbolic and atmospheric, critical to the sequence.
* Piangi. He just never really clicked with me, but he had some good moments, especially in the rehearsal sequence. He was dominated by Carlotta, but that is entirely a good thing IMO.
* Madame Giry. She served her part...but she never really came across as the domineering and formidable lady she should, like -for example- Jackie plays her now.
* Firmin and André. They worked...but there was nothing good or bad about them really, just just fell a little flat IMO.
* Raoul falling into the overly elaborate yet easily escapable trap...It did work to sort of show the hell he had gone through to track down the Phantom and Christine, but it was a little much for me, I found it unnecessary. Though I guess the Phantom had to have SOME kind of hobby in the years before Christine arrived...
* Joel Schumacher. I don't think it was all bad, some sequences were inspired, but others were...well, bad. Very hit and miss, not consistent at all.
* Raoul growing a pair and actually *doing something* as the Phantom appears at the end of Masquerade; going to grab a sword as everyone else stands around. Of course, charging in after him like he did was one of the more stupid things he did.
The WTF?* Gerry...was not the right person to cast. Nothing against him, but he just didn't have what it took to pull the role off. His singing just didn't have the power a true powerhouse like Warlow or Crawford or Guest can put out and the role really suffered for it and his acting just...didn't do anything 99% of the time for me.
* And he wasn't helped by Emmy. She just never came across as the chorus girl being forced into the limelight, finding herself torn between desires, a young woman having to grow up very very quickly. To say nothing of some of the rather wooden moments. When she performed that final high note in POTO in the boat just sitting there staring, it utterly destroyed any suspension of disbelief I had. It was a had bit to do with what she had to work with, but it was made WAY worse by forcing her to stay in the boat. Compared to when Warlow yanks Ana around and screams SING, at which point she blasts her notes out...it was like night and day for me.
* The demystifying of the Phantoms actions. I can see why they did it that way, but it frankly helped to make him a far less intimidating character.
* Showing the Phantom before the mirror, even as a figure in the dark. Just no.
* The swordfight in the graveyard. Just no.
* Raoul. Just no.
* Raoul punking the Phantom in the graveyard. On one hand it makes the Phantom look weak, diminishes the final conflict and frankly letting the Phantom live because 'not like this' is just too...cliche. Really, the whole sequence missed the point, this was about Christine being lost and confused, not about either Eric or Raoul.
* The history lesson on the Phantom escaping with Giry. Pointless and frankly made them appear to be much closer then they should have been shown to be, just like her standing right there as he locks Christine's door.
* 'Brava Brava'. WTF? Different for the sake of different just confuses people when done like this.
* The screaming smashing of the mirrors at the end, the escaping through one...again the demystifying obsession.
* The ending sequence. Sorry, it should have ended with Meg and the mask as always. The rest of it was redundant...except showing that Eric was more fanatical a stalker then some of the US people of Warlow -sorry, couldn't resist
* Music of the Night. It just had no effect on me...which is rather bad considering how critical it is to the story!
There is more, but that covers the critical stuff. Feel free to flame away
just recalling this thing,so enough said .
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