I have something to admit. This is my first real
experience with The Phantom of the Opera. I've never read the story.
I've never seen a stage production of it. I've never listened to the
soundtrack. All I know is what I've disseminated from pop culture over the
years. I've seen The Phantom of the Megaplex several times, but I've
never seen The Phantom of the Opera. That's my shameful starting point.
I mainly point this out to say that I'm not sure what parts of this movie are
an extension of the musical and what is a decision for the film. So, apologies
to Joel Schumaker if I complain about something that's Andrew Lloyd Weeber's
fault.
Let's start with the good. Emmy Rossum. She's always
the reason to watch a thing. I like her in Shameless. I liked her in Genius.
I liked her in this. And she gets to sing! What could you dislike about that?
Do you know who else gets to sing? Minnie Driver! She's always a joy to watch.
Always. I like that this feels like a big fucking movie. Andrew Lloyd Webber's
music for this is huge, so when they decided it was time to turn this into a
movie, they designed it to match. The Cinematography and Art Direction Oscar
nominations were well deserved. And, on a gut level, the song "The Phantom
of the Opera" is a banger. I hear that song early on and wonder what kind
of wild ride I'm about to go on. I can't say how this version of the song
compares to others, but I was all for it.
However, I do get why the movie is considered a
disappointment. Even though I like both actors in general, I could not get
behind Gerard Butler as the Phantom or Patrick Wilson as Raoul (I think it was
the long hair). The movie is too long, and once I started losing interest, it
never regained momentum. I was jazzed up during the boat ride with the Phantom
and Christine singing "The Phantom of the Opera", then nothing came
close to matching it. That's actually pretty common with musicals though. This
is frontloaded with the best songs so that they can use them for callbacks
later on in the story. It makes sense for a stage production, but it's trickier
for a movie. This movie over-relies of calling back the Phantom theme. I was
kind of sick of that organ bit by the end.
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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