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Newest Reviews: New Movies - Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Old Movies - Touki Bouki: The Journey of the Hyena The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry Archives - Recap: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 , 2005, 2006, 2007 , 2008 , 2009 , 2010 , 2011 , 2012
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Vanilla Sky (Cameron Crowe) 2001 Vanilla Sky, Cameron Crowe’s pretty remake of
Alejandro Amenabar’s 1997 Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) changes
so little that one could almost think his true inspiration was Gus Van Sant’s
version of Psycho, which was nearly identical to Hitchcock’s. It’s
undeniably an entertaining film, since the original version of the film was such
an exciting experience, but most of the changes that were made have a negative
effect on the experience. As a result, Vanilla Sky comes recommended only
if you have seen Abre los Ojos. The film is a cleverly plotted thriller, and almost nothing
in that plot has changed in the film’s Anglicization. The biggest change is
that Tom Cruise now plays the, David, lead. He’s an actor that carries a lot
of baggage with him, and the film seizes on that. David, a wealthy,
irresponsible media magnate is rather narcissistic, and thankfully Cruise
isn’t afraid to be ugly here. We see him obsessing about his looks, and we
actually get to see him work to look like he does, which is refreshing. The
entire cast is filled with name actors, whose presence tends to similarly
distract from their characters, but their characters don’t get to have the
same thematic baggage as Cruise’s character, so his casting backfires a
little. Crowe wants us to pay attention to Cruise’s stardom, but expects us to
ignore Cameron Diaz’s. Most of the cast is fine despite this, and Diaz
actually does great work in spite of her small role. Somewhat more troublesome
is Jason Lee, whose tiresome smart-alecky best friend shtick feels as if it’s
been imported from a different film. Penelope Cruz, as Sofia (the same character
that she played in the original version of the film), has an expanded role in
the remake, and runs with it. It’s by far her most impressive work in English
so far, and her and Cruise have an undeniable chemistry. Crowe writes great
romantic-comedy style dialogue here, and even if it detracts a bit from the
film’s overall structure, the scenes that they spend together are enjoyable. The expanded romance seems in touch with the film’s
general dumbing down. The conclusion of the film has a mind-numbingly long
explanation of the plot’s events, complete with a multimedia presentation
(serenaded by Sinead O’Connor!). Abre los Ojos explained what this film
takes twenty minutes to explain with five minutes of screen time and two
magnets. This oversimplification feels sloppy, and even if it does provide
greater emotional closure, it reduces the ambiguity of the film’s final shot.
Crowe’s insistence on using a great deal of stock footage to reflect David’s
state of mind also fails more often than it succeeds. In an attempt to make the
somewhat cold and obtuse film feel warmer and more acceptable, the footage that
he chooses is mundane, obvious stuff. Finally, Crowe’s soundtrack to the film
is perfectly acceptable (Radiohead and Sigur Ros’ inclusion particularly), but
still doesn’t compare to Amenabar’s soundtrack in the original, which used
spaced out trip-hop rhythms to reinforce the film’s dreamy feel. Despite the
negative changes, the film is better looking than the original, thanks to
cinematographer John Toll. Crowe hasn’t exactly ruined what the original has
offered, either, even if he’s reduced its sense of pathos. The bottom line is
that Vanilla Sky still offers more than the average Hollywood film. *** 12-15-01 Jeremy Heilman
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