Garp
Well-known member
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'The Phantom of the Opera' [1998]
Dario Argento helms this version, taking a certain amount of liberties along the way. First off, our anti-hero (played by Julian Sands) starts his skulking career as an unwanted baby, raised by, er, rats. (Do you like rats? It would definitely be a plus if you do, as they play quite a big role in this film.) Anyway, the rats manage to teach him English, how to wear clothes, etc, like any well-to-do family of rats, and no doubt turn a blind rodent eye whenever he viciously slaughters anyone who stumbles into his underground lair.
This is a strange film. It has a non-filmic look, making it seem like a Mexican telenovella, and yet the production values are high. The costumes are great and the sets are sumptuous. Sands is appropriately creepy as the Phantom, and Asia Argento (yes, Dario's daughter) is passable as Christine. There are flashes of, well not greatness, but certainly quite goodness hiding here, but the whole thing comes across as slapdash. None of the scenes seem to fit each other somehow.
It's one of the more bloodier Phantoms out there, if that's what you're looking for, with nudity that manages to be unerotic. When the ratcatcher and his midget sidekick invent a vehicle that vacuums and slices rats, I began to question why I watch these films. Who benefits here? I'm still struggling with that one.
And then Sands gets up and close and personal with his rats and I just throw my hands in the air. Why does it have to make sense? Life is too short. Enjoy the ride.
I can't think of a good reason why I would ever watch this again. Honestly, I can't think of a good one why I watched it this time either.
Dario Argento helms this version, taking a certain amount of liberties along the way. First off, our anti-hero (played by Julian Sands) starts his skulking career as an unwanted baby, raised by, er, rats. (Do you like rats? It would definitely be a plus if you do, as they play quite a big role in this film.) Anyway, the rats manage to teach him English, how to wear clothes, etc, like any well-to-do family of rats, and no doubt turn a blind rodent eye whenever he viciously slaughters anyone who stumbles into his underground lair.
This is a strange film. It has a non-filmic look, making it seem like a Mexican telenovella, and yet the production values are high. The costumes are great and the sets are sumptuous. Sands is appropriately creepy as the Phantom, and Asia Argento (yes, Dario's daughter) is passable as Christine. There are flashes of, well not greatness, but certainly quite goodness hiding here, but the whole thing comes across as slapdash. None of the scenes seem to fit each other somehow.
It's one of the more bloodier Phantoms out there, if that's what you're looking for, with nudity that manages to be unerotic. When the ratcatcher and his midget sidekick invent a vehicle that vacuums and slices rats, I began to question why I watch these films. Who benefits here? I'm still struggling with that one.
And then Sands gets up and close and personal with his rats and I just throw my hands in the air. Why does it have to make sense? Life is too short. Enjoy the ride.
I can't think of a good reason why I would ever watch this again. Honestly, I can't think of a good one why I watched it this time either.