| |
|
Last night Grendix and I went to see a sneak preview of Queen of the Damned.
The crowd was a bizarre mix of gay male Anne Rice fans, hip-hop kids, and of course, the Goth contingent.
Let me say this firsthand: if you didn't like the books even a teeny bit, then don't waste your money to sit through something you'd probably just bitch about.
That said, here we go:
The film itself is very stylish, and were we to make a comparison to the previous Vampire Chronicles film, then Interview with the Vampire would be like a daguerrotype. Very much a period piece--even when Louis is talking to Daniel--that particular film conveys a sense of classicism, sadness, and tragedy. Not so with QOTD. If IV is indeed a daguerrotype, the QOTD is flashy, tech-savvy, fast-paced, top-of-the-line laptop. Even the flashbacks to Lestat's creation--extremely brief--don't really seem like they were set two hundred years ago. Stuart Townsend is absolutely captivating as Lestat--it was sort of neat because he really does look more like what I had often Lestat appear like--he is pompous, predatory, magnetic, and sexual. The only downside is that he plays Lestat as too much of a predator; the sympathy we often read Lestat expressing is woefully absent. (Don't even count the scene with the violinist. I have no idea why they bothered with that if they were going to have his manager in the present choose two girls for him kill at every stop.) Aaliyah, strangely, is touted as being a large part of the film, when really, her part doesn't really make that much of a difference. Her accent is horrible, when she talks, it sounds like she's got a reverb pedal hidden somewhere under her smelted breastplate. She mostly just looks evil and says particularly trite dialogue. Looks good in fangs, though. Vincent Perez--who plays Marius, who in the film is called Lestat's creator--is quite amusing. I think he's the subtle comic relief, but I can't figure out if that's intentional. Lena Olin gets billing as Maharet, but she's in the film for all of ten minutes, if that. Again, she looks good. In fact, all of the actors playing the vampires look so fucking eerie, I give a shout-out to the make-up artists. I swear to God they all glow. Pretty and unnatural being the operative words here. The plot itself is supposedly taken from The Vampire Lestat and the Queen of the Damned, but that's very thin line.
Here's the plot: Lestat wakes up from supposed hundred sleep--in this universe, Claudia and Louis and Gabrielle don't exist, apparently--to the sounds of a rock band. (Well, thank god, that's there.) He makes them and himself popular beyond their wildest dreams. Lestat of course challenging humans and his kind alike to see him for what he really is. He's not pretending, he says, he's real and he doesn't want anonymity anymore. Of course, I am not exactly sure why his band sounds like any of the heavy nu-metal/industrial sort of sound, but then I look around at the Goths in the audience and go, "Ah. Got it." Moving on...the story really does focus on Lestat's love of the limelight, with a weak subplot thrown in about Jesse from the Talamasca falling in love with Lestat after reading a journal of his, then seeking him out. After meeting up with our fanged friend in London, she follows him to Death Valley, for the first and only concert his band is giving. Basically she asks him to make her a vampire, but after showing her the brutality of kiling to exist, she gets cold feet and Lestat pretty much tells her to get bent, he ain't got time for this. (There is a flashback sequence of Jesse as a child in Maharet's mountain compound, but again, there is no point for it to be there, because it doesn't really make a damn bit of difference.) Lestat meets up with Marius. Droll bit of repartee, blah blah blah. Marius tells him that he has woken Akasha and that she is coming. Let's go back to London to a vampire haunt where Akasha watches the music videos of Lestat's band. Fellow vampires mutter some big-dick vampire talk about how they are going to kill Lestat at his concert, blah blah blah. Akasha, who even after being in a state of unconsciousness for two thousand years still manages to find the last living blacksmith who can fashion her breastplate and headdress, just burns the joint and the vamps within down. The best sequence in the film really is the concert sequence. It's gaudy, it's ostentatious, and it's exactly what one would expect from a rock star that thinks he's God. Huge outdoor concert, fire effects, huge screen TVs, towers of amps and speakers, and tons of screaming fans. I might add that Stuart Townsend is wearing a sheer mesh long-sleeved black shirt and that I think I went through a full body shudder. Moving on...anyway, vampires who pissed at Lestat revealing his true nature rush the stage. (Sidebar: One of the best things about this film was that they finally showed how vampires are supposed to move--quicker than the human eye can register, so quick that time seems to slow like molasses as they "walk." It's pretty damn cool.) But unfortunately it quickly descends into the sort of fight sequence that has been seen in very goddamn film since "The Matrix" came out. We. Get. It. Now. Quit. Akasha, of course, ruins the party, kidnaps Lestat, and Jesse meets up with Maharet, who takes her back to the mountain compound with a council of vampire elders. We have Armand, Pandora, Khayman, Mael, and Marius. But you know what? We never fucking know that until the credits!!!! They are never introduced, hell, they're in the film too late to start with, and they barely have dialogue. Back to Akasha and Lestat. There's some vampire making out, some bullshit badly accented dialogue coming from Aaliayah about Lestat's ego, and Stuart Townsend does what he does best: looks hot. And pale. Anyway, Akasha says she's got a grudge to settle and off they go to the mountain compound. Swift Story Resolution Alert: The end of the film was rushed. Lestat and Akasha show up, the other vampires challenge her, blah blah blah. Akasha orders Lestat to drain Jesse, he does, blah blah blah. And apparently, this Queen vampire who turn you into toast by just gesturing her fingers, can be killed when a vein is open. That's right, folks, they just have to drain her to death. Admittedly this might be a hard thing to do since she doesn't play well with others, but c'mon! Anyway, the vampires attack her and Maharet takes Akasha's life into herself so that she can be the One True Vampire Mother. *sigh* The film ends with Lestat making Jesse into a vampire and her saying goodbye to her Talamasca buddies.
So, good things: the make-up, the clothes, the way they made the vampires move, the teeth, and of course, Stuart Townsend.
Bad things: long build-up to a story that makes very little sense--one being was we never get a proper reason why Akasha's so bloodthirsty. In the book, we do, but in the movie they reduce to a simplistic moronic reason that would have even the biggest Anne Rice in spastic fits. "The Matrix"-like fight sequence, Aaliyah's bad accent (it's really a shame that this was one of her last films as it does not do her justice in terms of her acting abilities), and the fact the dude from Korn (!!!!) is Lestat's singing voice.
I give a C+. I mean, I'll see it again, but probably with headphones, a pack of smokes, a flask of liquor, and the overwhelming urge to have Stuart Townsend spank me.
 |
|
|
