I told you
Tom, stop thinking about Nicole
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Much talked
about yet ultimately disappointing big name movie which nevertheless
has a cracking soundtrack.
Nigel
Bell
There's much to praise Vanilla Sky for, indeed for two thirds
of it's two and a quarter hours, there's a rollercoaster of genres,
fine acting, great music.
Unfortunately
the run-in to the movie is a big letdown if only because the final
scene could be interpreted as taking you back to the beginning of
the story, therefore making you ask yourself "why bother?"
The Plot
Cruise plays playboy David Aames, who's inherited his father's
publishing business and can have anything he desires, including
women.
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| OK, let's
see if you kiss as well as Nicole |
For all this
he's lonely, a fact drawn out in a great opening dream sequence
which sees Aames sprinting through a deserted Times Square (the
film company managed to get 40 blocks of New York sealed off from
5 - 8am one Sunday, November morning).
Events take
a turn at Aames's birthday party when he's introduced to Sofia (Cruz).
The attraction is instant. Later it seems both have found true love.
That's bad news
for Aames's old flame, Julie (Diaz), who picks up her former beau
after his idyllic night with Sofia.
Julie flips
and ends up driving her car over a bridge, killing herself and putting
Aames in a coma, disfiguring his face in the process.
From hereon
in things get pretty weird with Aames being accused of murder. But
murdering whom?
The verdict
Vanilla Sky, a remake of Spanish director Alesandro Amenábar's
Open Your Eyes, is multi-layered and crosses a host of genres
- thriller, love, film-noir and finally sci-fi.
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| How about
you? Oh yes, I think I'll take you to my next premier |
However, for
the first hour and a quarter you wonder what all the fuss is about,
the film seemingly following a logical thread.
It suddenly
spirals and you do become disorientated. It's great, trying to work
out what's truth and fiction, what's dream and reality, who it is
that's actually been murdered.
But when everything
is explained (in the sci-fi period) it all becomes a little too
far fetched and at it's conclusion, when one possible option is
that the whole film has been a dream, you do feel cheated.
That said there's
great acting, especially from Cruise and Diaz, who turns in a Glenn
Close style-performance circa Fatal Attraction.
Ultimately though,
it's a bit like being back in class with the teacher saying you
have two minutes to finish your creative writing. Panicking you
go for that fail-safe option "and then I woke up and it had
all been a dream."
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