Phantom of the Opera (2004) Review: Villains Can Be Fun!

Speaking of villains as protagonists...

Many antagonists become the heroes when a book becomes a film. In Dracula the book, Dracula is a major character but in the last 2/3rds of the book, he is mostly off-screen. In Dracula the movie, he has to take center-stage. 

Likewise, in The Phantom of the Opera the musical, the Phantom becomes a major player, and he hauls into the storyline everything that turns the story from a thriller into an EXTRAVAGANZA.

Review from 2006

I realized Phantom of the Opera (2004) is a totally nutty film when the electric guitars started up.

Okay, so I know the musical is hardly historically accurate, but I'm willing to exercise an enormous suspension of disbelief with musicals. Still, when the Phantom, that musically-obsessed dude, started rowing Christine to his lair and the electric guitars chimed in, well, all I could think was: Talk about being ahead of his time. No wonder Christine is all gooey and enthralled: he's an early member of Kiss!

Which doesn't mean that the movie isn't a hoot and a half. For one thing, the Phantom is young and super attractive (in fact, he is so attractive, when Christine pulls off his mask, you sit there going, "Huh? So the guy has a bad sunburn--what's the prob?") For another, you've got Minnie Driver and a huge cast of thousands overacting all over the place (Minnie Driver is always fun). And there's a scene in a graveyard and a sword fight and that big chandelier (I always pictured it as falling straight down; I must say the film's version of a slowly descending side-ways catastrophe is much more impressive) and lots of pounding chords. Not to mention the lair and the water and all the grids. Kind of like what Titanic could have been if James Cameron hadn't wanted you to feel bad for the 3rd class passengers.

Big music! Smoke! Fire! Electric guitars! Lots and lots and lots of candles! Masks of various sizes and shades! Big, billowy dresses! Like many Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, the music substitutes for depth. I mean, come on, there's the Phantom's past (which is interesting) and the Phantom's own opera (which is interesting) and the Phantom's relationship to Mme Giry (which is really interesting) and instead, you get a lot of singing. *Sigh.*

However, there's something to be said for creating a psychotic, sunburnt, shouting, musically-obsessed guy in silly dress (which he wears rather well) and then, getting audiences to watch him for two hours.