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Phantom Of The Opera (1998)

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Overall Rating 43%
Overall Rating
Ranked #5,438
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In Paris 1877, rats save a baby from death and raise him in the underground of the Opera de Paris. This child becomes The Phantom of the Opera, a half-human half-animal breed, who falls in love with Christine Daaé, an opera singer just beginning her career. He fights for her love against the aristocratic Baron Raoul De Chagny, though Christine loves them both equally. --IMDb
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Review by Nirrad
Added: March 12, 2009
Everybody in the world is familiar with "The Phantom of the Opera". There have been countless, and I mean COUNTLESS movies and plays based on the story, each with their own twist. Rather it would focus more on drama, horror or possibly comedy, the basic premises is the same. Now I'm not a big fan of the story and I have to admit that I haven't seen the original, in fact I'm pretty sure this is the only version that I've seen. But I respect the story and understand why it is so popular. But if you're like me and haven't seen any of the other versions, then this is definitely not the place to start.

As a baby, The Phantom (Julian Sands) was abandoned and sent down a stream in a basket. Just before plummeting over a waterfall he is rescued by a swarm of rats. Years pass and The Phantom is now a grown man. One day he hears opera singer Christine (Asia Argento) practicing on stage and he immediately falls in love with her. At this time he becomes obsessed and tries to win her heart by using any methods available. But overtime Christine starts to realize that The Phantom is blinded by evil as he begins to kill anyone who gets in his way or even Christines. Sooooo it's The Phantom of the Opera Argento style!

I immediately have to say that I was not disappointed with this movie. I have heard nothing but terrible things about this movie so I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. But it still sucks. I was annoyed the whole time by how the movie itself looked. I have no idea what equipment they used to film the movie, but it looked like I was watching a TV movie from the early nineties or possible late eighties. I can usually tolerate that, but with a director and a movie that's known for its visual style, it really distracted me from what did look good. Picture quality aside, specific shots and set designs were all well done, even if a bit ruined by the TV quality. While not as good as say "Suspiria" it is still nice to look at. Exceptions to this though are the scenes that take place on top of the roof of the opera house. It is so obvious that the actors are in front of a green screen. The sky looks absolutely horrible. Even the actors have the black outline around their body. This is something that you would see in a FMV video game. For those of you that have played these types of games know what I'm talking about.

Ah, the gore. Argento and violence go hand in hand. Most of the time he delivers, but there are rare occurrences when he seems to be off his mark. "Dario Argento's Phantom of the Opera" was just fine. That's all. I would have to say that it does contain some good scenes of violence, but not quite as over the top as I had hoped. As for the use of CGI? Yes it's used in a few places and yes it looks like shit. At one point someone is tossed onto a pointed rock from "The Phantom" and he is impaled. You might think that this sounds cool and would look fantastic but it looked as if I was watching an animated movie. For shame!

I'd have to question whether the screenwriters were even trying when they penned this one up. In one particular scene a chandelier falls from the ceiling and kills a few people and injuring a handful of others. People start to scream to flee the building which is exactly what I would expect. But in the next scene the people are back in the building watching the opera and some have bandages and casts on their arms and the tragedy is never spoke of again. If this was an attempt at comedy, then they failed miserably. At this point I was scratching my head thinking "did they just give up"? As for the acting, it was terrible. Nobody puts on a good performance. The only scene that was great was the final scene, as in the very last minute. The acting was great, the shot was great and the score was great. Perfect. Now if only the entire movie was like that.

"Dario Argento's Phantom of the Opera" is just simply bad and really boring. Even the most diehard Argento fan will acknowledge its crappiness. So if you enjoy watching a TV movie with bad acting, terrible effects and naked fat chicks then this is right up your alley. Otherwise skip it.

3/10.
FurryFish #1: FurryFish - added March 12, 2009 at 3:58pm
movie was ight
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