THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
A film review by Joshua Tyler
Copyright 2002 filmcritic.com
Most horror movies are all flash, action, and plenty of screaming. The Queen of
the Damned is no exception to the rule, despite attempts to become something
more, but it still manages to deliver a fair bit of vampire fun.
The Queen of the Damned stars Stuart Townsend as the vampire Lestat, a character
first made popular in film by Tom Cruise in the engaging Interview With a
Vampire. This time around, Lestat has risen from his slumber again, intent on
making his mark. Tired of hiding in shadows, he starts a career as a rock star,
much to the ire of his maker Marius (Vincent Perez). But the anger of the
world's vampire covens is the least of his problems when his music awakens the
mother of all Vampires, the all-powerful Queen Akasha (Aaliyah).
While it is true that both Interview With a Vampire and Queen of the Damned are
based on Anne Rice's series of popular novels, they really share little else in
common. Interview is a thoughtful and intelligent film, punctuated with terror
and violence. Queen of the Damned is only a step above your typical horror
flick. Its characters are frequently one-dimensional, lacking the sense of
power and charisma that Rice's vampires so richly deserve.
Townsend however, is quite capable in his role as the engaging Lestat. He is
wholly unable to match the electricity and life that Cruise originally brought
to the character, but he does a great job of pumping out a `produced on a
budget' second best. Townsend oozes disturbing sexuality, his lines delivered
with the lust of Shakespeare and the darkness of Poe. His nipples too perform
wonderfully, under the most difficult of circumstances. Normally, the
performance of a man's chest is not worth comment, but Townsend goes through so
much trouble to continually display them, it's almost impossible not to
notice.
Marius too, played by Vincent Perez, really brings life to the screen, though
with an admittedly limited performance. Though his motives are frequently
puzzling and poorly explained, Marius is instantly likable, perhaps even more so
than Lestat. The movie might have been better served had he been used as some
sort of wickedly intentioned protagonist, yet Marius himself is well defined.
The film aims for rich styling and dark hearted violence. At times, Queen of
the Damned reaches out for something deeper in the heart of Lestat and almost
catapults itself to a higher status, but it inevitably gets lost in the gore of
the Hollywood vampire world. Sadly, this is most obvious in the case of the
film's weakest link, the Queen of the Damned herself. Forget for a moment that
the character is little more than an afterthought in a film that could have and
should have been about Lestat's redemption. Instead consider the work of Aaliyah
herself. She was undoubtedly a talented and beautiful artist, with a lot to
give the world. Few have had anything to say about her that wasn't filled with
lavish praise. Yet, the truth is: She's not exactly an actress. It may not
feel good to say it, but Akasha is just a prop, sent in to set things on fire
and give the vampires something to do. Aaliyah adds no substance to her
character with her performance, though clearly her heart was in it.
Visually, Damned is solid, if not particularly inspiring. The vampires tend to
move in a slightly annoying manner, but clearly when it came to effects, budget
crunching was in play. Several of the fight scenes are well done and enjoyable,
and while there is little to point out as a specific fault, I doubt this Anne
Rice outing will exactly wow audiences with mind blowing effects.
RATING: ***
[* = lowest rating / ***** = highest rating]
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Michael Rymer
Producer: Jorge Saralegui
Writer: Scott Abbott, Michael Petroni
Starring: Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau, Aaliyah, Vincent Perez, Paul
McGann, Lena Olin
http://queenofthedamned.warnerbros.com/
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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 287952
X-RT-TitleID: 1112623
X-RT-SourceID: 178
X-RT-AuthorID: 4328
X-RT-RatingText: 3/5
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