The Phaaan-tom of the opera is there, inside my mind!

 

Okay so it turns out I love.
love....
love this music. (yeah I'm not gay, I just like showtunes)

But I hate...
hate.
hate this movie.

Before we start have you guys heard? Probably, because I know everyone's heard. In case you haven't heard the word. Click this link.

Phantom of the Opera starts off several years after the events in the book original film. The movie is told via flashback. The flashback themselves have transitions to the past that rival the best in any of the Highlander series.  it pretty much follows the plot of the original film, except in song. This Phantom however is a musical genius, he knows everything behind the theater/opera business. He's a great composer, singer, makeup artist, stuntman, effects coordinator, costume artist and theatre manager, I've a feeling he also might be stellar at running the concession stand if given have a chance. He finds a young ingénue by the name Christine Daee who has been gifted the gift of song. He nurtures her talent and one day plans to make her a star.

Unlike the previous film, our musical Christine Daee is much more innocent. She likes the idea of being the star someday, but she isn't manipulating anyone to get there. She is also in love with the Phantom. The only one who actually has a problem with the Phantom's deformity is the Phantom himself. He owes a lot more to the character of Two-Face than the character Lon Chaney played in the 1925 silent picture. His scarred face is easily obscured, but his tortured soul cannot be hidden by a mask. The third lead, the count is a swashbuckling young man, as skilled in horse riding and fencing as he is in singing.  In the end we don't buy Christine's love for the Count de Chagny, he's just a summer love she had many years ago. The Phantom has helped her blossom into womanhood, and has shown her true passion. The only reason I think they don't end up together in the end is because he's a murderer and he's being hunted down by angry villagers with pitchforks and torches.  Aside from that he's a nice guy, who just need a hug. Once Christine gives him what he needed, he sees the error of his way and lets the heroic duo go.

Why do I hate this film? it's not cause it's directed by Joel Schumacher. I've made my peace with that man. For years I've refused to watch anything with his name attached, ever since he made the worst film ever made: Batman and Robin. It's amazing how one film can tarnish an entire career. How the man who made classics like D.C. Cab, The Lost Boys, Flatliners and Falling Down can be burned at the stake as a heretic for "gaying" up Batman.  He made a great picture called Phone Booth in 2002 and helped made Colin Farrell a star. But it wasn't until the Special Edition DVD releases of the original 4 Batman films that I forgave him. The motherfucker apologized in not so many words for Batman and Robin. He said something along the line of, "The studio was pressuring us to make a giant toy commercial. we are all grown people, we knew what we were getting ourselves into though, in retrospect we should have known better" That was the day I called the Fatwa off of Joel Schumacher that I've had on him since 1997. Seriously, on my old website, The Sci-Fi Buzz and Traveling Circus I posted a wanted poster Dead or Alive for Joel Schumacher for crimes against humanity. I know it's just a movie, but man did it suck.

He did a perfectly good directing job, he turned a static stageplay into a beautiful looking flowing motion picture. most people tend to just do a one camera angle shoot for Musicals brought to film and they turn out dull and horrible. He padded this film with events right out of the original film and book. There was even a great swordfight in a cemetery that just made you believe this was happening in the real world and not on stage.  This was very much like a Disney Animated musical, only boring.

Yes boring. Thanks to the leads and the slow pacing. We definitely needed an intermission here. A pause to let us reflect and brace ourselves for yet another song. it seems like quiet a few extra songs were added. I mean I know it's a musical about making an opera, but did the operas have to have their own full fledged numbers too?

Gerard Butler was a bit stiff and his singing rough. it seemed like he was doing a bad Antonio Banderas  impression, which is coincidental, because he really wanted to do this part and the studio turned him down. Here he is in a duet with the originator of the Christine Daee role on Broadway, Sarah Brightman.

 

I also don't think Emmy Rossum was worth all the fuss. Certainly not worth killing for. I did like Minnie Driver as the operatic Diva Carlotta. she seemed to really have a lot of fun with the role, even though all her singing was dubbed. No one's really cared about Minnie since like Good Will Hunting. It's good to know that she's still working even though like Carlotta, she has to take a backseat to the prettier more talented younger girls. I'm curious how she even got offered the part. It's a musical and she can't sing. It's like someone through her a bone or something. She ends up playing the second or third female lead,  she steals the show away from Emmy Rossum and even Miranda Richardson who was fantastic in Sleepy Hollow but seems to phone this performance in.

In closing, I'd recommend this if you're a fan of the musical only. I wouldn't watch this film again, but It definitely piqued my interests in the Broadway Play. If it's coming back this way I'll definitely be checking it out.