Phantom Of The Opera 2004
Has there EVER been a more often filmed story than this one? Originally based on Gaston LeRouxâs 1910 novel which in itself was a fictional âexplanationâ of a rumored âghostâ whom in real life was said to have haunted the Paris Opera House in the late 1800s and was even blamed for the actual falling of a chandelier onto the crowd during a live performance, the story saw a number of little silent movie ditties before the grand 1925 version starring Lon Chaney, one which Leroux himself saw and approved of before dying 2 years later. On and on it would continue with Claude Rains, Herbert Lom, Robert Englund and several others all leading up to Andrew Lloyd Webberâs spectacular stage musical (although not the first of its kind either as there had been a musical stage version of Phantom written and produced by somebody else in the late 1970s) that almost instantly made a worldwide household name of Michael Crawford for his stunningly evocative portrayal of The Phantom and guaranteed a Tony Award win for him among many other accolades. The power of Crawfordâs interpretation was in the fact that (even with all the singing), he still completely UNDERSTOOD the character whom he was playing, a romantic monster who was not necessarily misunderstood simply because he really WAS a monster, one who sang beautifully despite his hideous visage but was still a homicidal madman (as per LeRouxâs story) who engaged in threats, extortion, terroristic pranks and even outright murder in order to get his way not only with the beautiful soprano whom he had fallen madly in love with, but also with the management, cast and crew of the entire opera house itself who all knew what was up with him and mostly lived in fear because of it. A movie version was quickly commissioned in 1989 with Crawford and Lloyd Webberâs wife Sarah Brightman set to star, but Brightman would then divorce him and the whole thing would go into limbo with Crawford retiring from the role on stage way too soon (although there is little doubt that he made more than an obscene amount of money from the show mostly from his own name brand notoriety which made everybody want to see it so that he no doubt retired very comfortably) so that when Lloyd Webber (as Producer and Co Screenwriter) finally got it made in 2004, Crawford seemed to be out of reach in terms of casting availability (as were most of the other seasoned stage performers of the role) and so they went with Gerald Butler, still not very well known at the time and an even more problematic choice given that (except for a stint as a frontman in a rock band in his younger days) he had absolutely no professional singing experience whatsoever and now was having THIS dropped into his lap as his big breakthrough role. Overall though, when considering the circumstances, Butler acquits himself rather well here although when we get to his rendition of Music Of The Night, it dawns on us just how truly large a shadow Crawford had cast on the role. Moreso, the casting of Butler changed the entire dynamic of the character (especially if one is familiar at all with his more macho action roles) whereas Crawford understood that The Phantom was in reality a pathetic and creepy older man with an amazingly beautiful singing voice sadly pursuing a girl who was clearly out of his league, Butlerâs Phantom becomes more of a scorned, ultra masculine alpha male who just so happens to be gruesomely deformed (although ironically Crawfordâs stage makeup for The Phantomâs deformity was a lot more elaborate than what we get here) and not at all a less than ideal choice for Christine since he is arguably STILL better looking and more charismatic than Patrick Wilsonâs romantic rival Raoul. And since Butler at 34 was possibly still a bit too young for the role, one can only hope that nonetheless every conceivable effort had been made to lure Crawford back for this screen version (there is actually very little information known on what negotiations if any had even been conducted with Crawford). The real masterstroke of this production was in getting Joel Schumacher (Lloyd Webberâs first choice from day 1 having been a fan of his Lost Boys) to direct and Schumacher (an extremely underrated director who made several classics despite his measured efforts to butcher Tim Burtonâs Batman Franchise) delivers a sumptuous effort starting from the opening scene with the well known Phantom overture blaring as we watch the hustle and bustle of various opera performers excitedly getting ready for their big show that night. It sucks us right into the movie even as we become confused by the fact that apparently Christine has already started âreceiving lessonsâ from The Phantom and had been for a while without seeing his face or even knowing his name. Apparently, her late father had promised to send her an âangel of musicâ after he died, something The Phantom actually was not but nonetheless had used this to his advantage to gain her trust by having her either think that her father had âsentâ him or (even worse) that he was some sort of literal reincarnation of her father. As Christine, Emmy Rossom fulfills all the requirements marvelously: beautiful, wide eyed, sings like an angel whether in hope or in despair and is just likable enough to keep the viewer rooted in her fate. We also get some strange stunt casting in Minnie Driver as the infamous diva Carlotta, babbling in a crazed Italian accent and having all her opera singing dubbed in (although she did sing the original song that plays over the end credits). After Carlotta walks off the job after having a spat with the new owners (who had literally just been introduced to the entire company), Christine is temporarily penciled in to play the lead in the current production while the owners receive mysterious threatening notes from The Phantom including demands of paying his salary(!) which it is said was something the previous owner had been all too happy to oblige. Eventually Christine finds herself escorted to The Phantomâs lair, entranced and hypnotized by his voice and demeanor all while believing him to be a supernatural being instead of the sad, deformed, ordinary yet brilliant man that he actually is all while Wilsonâs Raoul (given a LOT more sympathetic and heroic portrayal here than one would expect considering the opinion of the character held by most Crawford fanatics) desperately tries to rescue her from his clutches. The film also features the almost never previously used plot dynamic of giving The Phantom a âgo betweenâ (Miranda Richardson) who works as an assistant manager at the opera house and has actually known him since childhood when he was a captive boy in a carnival freak show, having helped him escape and then setting him up in the sewers underneath the opera, someone who from time to time subtly relays info back and forth about The Phantomâs intentions as per his wishes. The film does at times fall into the dreaded film musical pitfall of having entire, literal âsung conversationsâ (âI really must gooooâŚâ âBut I love youuuuâŚ.â) and surprisingly the whole thing contains very few actual memorable songs except for Music Of The Night, All I Ask Of You and the iconic title song, but at least Schumacher is here to put all of his skills to maximum use as he quite honestly directs the shit out of this film, skittering along only when the whole thing slows down just long enough to linger on certain bits (the rooftop scene is a particular paint drying moment or ten). Butler obviously tries very hard here to emulate Crawford at least vocally (or else he was just heavily coached along) which is always the best strategy to do an authentic Phantom especially when one looks at the various singing styles by the plethora of âofficialâ stage performers in the part even as Butler looks nothing like the originator himself. The finale which sees The Phantom go soft hearted on both his true love and his hated rival as Christine finally shows him the true meaning of gentleness and humanity has its proper level of effectiveness and while the much missed absence of Michael Crawford can never be denied, this remains a more than acceptable cinematic version of Lloyd Webberâs take on the story, catapulting Gerald Butler to the A list and retaining just about every magical element of the original stage version except for just one thingâŚ
8/10