Queen of the Damned - Review by Marrah

Starring: Stuart Townsend, Aaliyah Haughton, Lena Olin, Marguerite Moreau, Vincent Perez Directed by: Michael Rymer
Written by: Scott Abbot, Michael Petroni
Distributed by: Warner Bros
Release Date: 22 February, 2002
Rated "R" - Running time: 110 min - Genre: Action/Horror

Before the Film
As I walked into the theatre, I was still hesitant. I'd heard they were taking "The Vampire Lestat," which I loved, and "Queen of the Damned," which I never finished, and put them together in a single movie. I watched the previews and the commercials, and I didn't really want to see the film. There was entirely too much focus on Aaliyah. It was an irritating portrayal and bad screen shots were used in the clips. The only thing I was interested in seeing was Claudia Black who plays Pandora in the film. Pre-viewing impression: Another evil vampire who wants to destroy the world - blah blah blah.

Previews
I wonder if there's a rule that states "every set of previews must begin with the most assinine, innate garbage ever captured on film." Then a genre preview - Blade II, it's gonna be a good year for the leather companies! Still, it looks interesting. And there's a bunch of other crap which don't look good, but aren't glaringly bad either. Excepting, of course, that Brittany Spears atrocity which shames the entire film industry. And we wonder why other countries hate us. After the previews - I hated us. Finally, thankfully, the movie begins.

Queen of the Damned
Or so I thought. After floating/flying/hovering through a misty graveyard ('cause there ALL misty, right?) for five minutes, we lurch into an abrupt voiceover by our own beloved Lestat. From what I remember, the dialogue follows along the book pretty well when he rises. About seven minutes later, the film actually begins. Townsend is good looking as Lestat, despite the dark hair, and I was prepared to give him the benefit of my doubts. And maybe if so much wasn't made of Lestat's beautiful golden locks in the book, it wouldn't have bothered me near as much as it did.

The past flashbacks were well done, despite the irritating and glaring errors in the story. And they were errors. Stylistically, the film was gorgeous. The scenery was lush and fitting. The special effects were phenomenal in most cases, though a bit over-used in certain scenes. The editing was superb except when it was atrocious. The costuming was interesting, understated in places, but stereotypical in the modern scenes. The makeup, while better than 'Interview,' made the vampires look like they were in desperate need of a good day's sleep. Visually, despite these problems, the movie was a success.

Musically, the film rocked. The background music as well as the songs performed by Lestat were well worth the price of admission. My only comment on the vocals is that they should have added something to make them sound a bit more haunted. Actually, if edited correctly, this film would make a wonderful music video. Don't ask me if that's good or bad.

The storyline, on the other hand, left quite a bit to be desired. Apparently, anyone going to see this flick is supposed to be so overwhelmed by the visual effects that they don't notice the blatant and looming gaps in the plot. I will confess to not making it through "Queen of the Damned" in book form. (I've been told it gets good after the first 200 pages, but I can't force myself to wade through it at the moment.) I did read "The Vampire Lestat" from cover to cover, so I can't say with any certainly how the book followed "Queen," but I can say that the deviations from "Lestat" were irritating and damaging to the characters and the storyline.

Marius was much too chatty, but Jessie was rather well-played. There wasn't enough of David to establish his connection to the story except in periphery. But the most annoying aspect of this film wasn't anything I've mentioned. Integral characters in the story, plot resolution, hierarchy, etc. were never brought into the story. Let me explain. They showed up in the film, but were never brought into the story. Several characters were never even introduced! Pandora, Armand, and Mael were never named. They simply show up, eat, die, and move on (and not necessarily in that order). The only reason I knew who they were was because I recognized the actors, and I read the website information on the movie. I don't know about you, but that's entirely too much work to expect from your general audience. No background or connection was established between the ancients, or even the fact that they WERE ancients. Who exactly is Maharet to Akasha? And as far as the Talamasca goes - their purpose in the story is never elaborated on. The group is only a vehicle for Jessie's obsession with Lestat.

"Queen of the Damned" lacked focus of any kind. It was a hodgepodge of stories, most of which didn’t have a beginning or conclusion. No one ever decided if this was going to be a love story, a horror film, or a rock video. And by the time the lights come up, you're so dizzy from the deluge of plots that you can't really determine if the movie was good, because you're not exactly sure what movie you saw. Honestly, they should have narrowed the focus, tightened the plot, and solidified the characters. Rice's books are strong, in spite of the pages of over-description, because the characters are so solid. If they had focused on that aspect, the film would have been one of the best. It had the potential and the talent, but it fell flat. See it. Just wait till it hits the dollar theatre or ENCORE.

LINKS:
QotD Movie Cast Site
Official Movie Site
SciFi Review
Claudia Black's Diary @ 13th Street

Biography: Anne Rice: Vampires, Witches and Best Sellers
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'Queen' Review - Spoiler Edition

~~ Spolier Warning ~~ I discuss specific scenes, characters, and plot points from the film above. And give you what I think they should have done instead. If you don't want the movie ruined for you, don't read the following.

Right from the beginning, the movie cops out on the story. Lestat is supposed to rise from the ground. It's a specific allusion to his rebirth - out of the ground - back to life. The stone sarcophagus he crawls out of in the movie is more a slinking, decrepit tomb. The rising looses its layers of meaning. The feeding scene is a waste of film, redundant and purposeless. It belongs in a schlock film, which is not what they were aiming for here.

*** They should have had Lestat crawl out of the ground in scene one, cut the cemetery crap altogether. Then start his voiceover dialogue while he's walking down the street. He grabs a guy as he's walking along and bites him. Keeps walking, without pausing, tosses the guy away. This keeps Lestat in character and doesn't overdramatize the feeding like they did. He gets to his house, finds the band - that part was fine.

There was LOTS of wasted time in this film, and most of it was do to the numerous twisting plotlines. Focus, people. Either divide the film into two parts, or give us one line to follow. The glaring errors and character problems generated by the flashback scenes were insurmountable. First, Marius took a spoiled rich boy and devastated him. Part of what Lestat is came from Marius stripping him of everything and making him dependant on him. He strips him naked physically and mentally. In the film he is too chatty. He gives too much away. Those Who Must Be Kept are not a secret in the film. Marius TELLS Lestat their names & everything! In the book, Lestat thinks Marius is dead by suicide. The abandonment issue is also a big one for Lestat - Marius, his mother, the violin player, and Louis with Claudia. It's a reoccurring theme which partly causes his challenge to the vampires to come kill him. In effect, he becomes Louis in this movie, whiny about the burden of living forever. Blah blah. That is not our playboy.

***They need to find a happy medium between Townsend's Lestat and Cruise's Lestat, and I think they might hit it. I wanted to see Lestat playing for Akasha in the past merge with her full waking in the present. That would have been a great transition if they handled it right. Yes, it would have put things slightly out-of-order but how could you tell? I mean, it's not like what they had wasn't already a jumble.

Why exactly does Akasha show up at the vampire club? Because of limited vision and no sense of what was going on. She was half way around the world.

I didn't hate everything. The scene where Lestat awakens and walks out into the sun to see the dead bodies everywhere is phenomenal. That is the best scene in the entire film. (By the way - when did Akasha have time to find a manicurist to paint her fingernails gold, and where in the 20th century did she find an ancient goldsmith to make her new clothes?)

The concert scene was alright, but she should have walked through the crowd killing people. And they overdid the motion-thing. It was a nifty effect, but they overused it. This is another place they could have saved time.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Queen of the Damned Review
Vampire TV in March
Law To Take On Holmes?
Buffy Fans Raise $20,000
Gorillaz/Redman Pairing Sharpens 'Blade 2'

TIDBYTES
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ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Law To Take On Holmes?

The Calgary Sun reported a rumor that Jude Law (A.I. Artificial Intelligence) is being wooed to play Sherlock Holmes in the upcoming Sherlock Holmes and the Vengeance of Dracula. The film has the famous fictional detective becoming a target of the vampire after joining forces with Prof. Van Helsing, the newspaper reported. Previous reports suggest that Law is also being courted to star in a new version of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, currently called Diary of a Young London Physician, the newspaper reported.

Buffy Fans Raise $20,000

More than 500 fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel gathered in Los Angeles Feb. 16 in an annual party and fund-raiser that netted $20,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of greater Los Angeles. Partygoers included cast and crew of both UPN's Buffy and The WB's Angel, including creator Joss Whedon. "Thanks for inviting us—it makes us feel included, and that's very beautiful," Whedon told the cheering crowd at the American Legion Hall in Hollywood. "You guys raised a sh-tload of money here. You should be really proud of yourselves. All we do is come here and be adored, which we love. You guys put it together, you guys come here and make the contribution. You make the effort. You do something that means something, which means that our fans are cooler than other people's fans." Guests included Buffy executive producer Marti Noxon and cast members Alyson Hannigan, Michelle Trachtenberg, Amber Benson, Danny Strong, Adam Busch and Tom Lenk and Angel cast members J. August Richards, Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker and Andy Hallett.

The fifth annual Posting Board Party raised money through ticket sales, donations, an auction of one-of-a-kind collectible items and corporate sponsorships from Brentano's Books, Score Entertainment, CityofAngel.com, Commercial Loan Corporation, Dark Horse Comics and Moore Action Figures. Among the big-ticket items sold in the silent auction were a wooden stake made by prop shop History for Hire, signed by Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar, that drew a winning $2,500 bid, and sheet music of the Angel theme song by the Los Angeles rock band Darling Violetta, with a guitar signed by DV guitarist Jymm Thomas, which went for $500.

The PBP is organized by denizens of the Web-based Bronze posting board on the official UPN Buffy site and its counterparts on fan-based Web sites, including the Bronze Beta. The party included performances by Busch's band Common Rotation and L.A. rock band Four Star Mary.

[http://www.scifi.com/sfw]

Gorillaz/Redman Pairing Sharpens 'Blade 2'

As tipped by Billboard last month, Immortal's soundtrack to the upcoming film "Blade 2" will feature a number of unique pairings between electronic and hip-hop artists. Redman's collaboration with animated act Gorillaz, "Gorillaz on My Mind," is slated to be the first single. The soundtrack, due March 19, also features partnerships between Mystikal and Moby ("Gettin' Aggressive"), the Roots and BT ("Tao of the Machine"), and Bubba Sparxxx and the Crystal Method ("PHDream").

A spokesperson says a video is in the works for "Gorillaz on My Mind," and hints that it will likely feature an as-yet-unknown animated persona for Redman. Also featured on the 13-track set are collaborations between Cypress Hill and Roni Size ("Child of the Wild West"), Ice Cube and Paul Oakenfold ("Right Here, Right Now"), and an Eve and Fatboy Slim cut dubbed "Cowboy." Both Fatboy Slim and Basement Jaxx had recorded tracks for Eve, but only one made the final cut.

The New Line film, with Wesley Snipes reprising his title role in the action/thriller, will open March 22 in U.S. theaters. The soundtrack kicks off with the film's theme, a collaboration between composer Marco Beltrami ("Scream") and electronic producer/former Black Grape member Danny Saber.

The project is the brainchild of Immortal founder/CEO Happy Walters, and clearly modeled after such genre-bending soundtracks as 1994's "Judgement Night" (hip-hop/rock) and 1998's "Spawn" (electronic/hard rock), both of which were helmed by the executive.

Here is the track list for "Blade 2":
"Blade 2 Theme," Marco Beltrami and Danny Saber "Cowboy," Eve and Fatboy Slim "I Against I," Mos Def and Massive Attack "Right Here, Right Now," Ice Cube and Paul Oakenfold "Tao of the Machine," the Roots and BT "Child of the West," Cypress Hill and Roni Size "The One," Busta Rhymes, Silkk The Shocker, and Dub Pistols "We Be Like This," Fabolous, Jadakiss, and Danny Saber "Gorillaz on My Mind," Redman and Gorillaz "Gangsta Queens," Trina, Rah Digga, and Groove Armada "PHDream," Bubba Sparxxx and the Crystal Method "Raised in the Hood," Volume 10 and Roni Size "Gettin' Aggressive," Mystikal and Moby

by Todd Martens, L.A.

Source:
[ Billboard.com]

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