Phantom

S

Shaw

Veteran
I did a search to see if this had already been discussed but didn't come up with anything so:

I rented Phantom of the Opera the other night. First time I had seen the movie as I missed it in theaters. Great cinematography! They did an excellent job staying true to the book and stage performance! And of course the music was great and powerful as usual :D. I wasn't a huge fan of the guy who played the Phantom - I much prefer the guy who was cast in the first broadway production (I think). Anyway, overall a good movie and definitely worth renting if you haven't seen it.

I loved the use of deep DOF! Wow! We hear so much about shallow DOF but this movie really used deep DOF to good effect.

Anyone else see this?
 
I thought the production design was outstanding; I *loved* the opening; the cinematography was excellent, the music was great, I liked it quite a bit.

But I thought the two male leads were horribly miscast, and the way they rearranged the second act, the logic of the story was broken.

But I came away wanting to own the disc.
 
I couldn't agree more! The opening was awesome!

Excellent point about the story. It's too bad really. I also found the scene with electric guitar riffs in the background somewhat out of place (on the "lake" ). I didn't mind the guy who played Raoul so much. I was pretty nutral about his casting.

Maybe I'll dig up my disc of music from the stage and post a comparison of guys who played the Phantom (ie music clips). Sort of give people an idea what I'm talking about at least.
 
Michael Crawford (the original Phantom when Andrew Lloyd Webber opened the show) is kinda old now. I think that would preclude him from being in the movie, though I will agree with you that his voice is more suited to the role. :) The Phantom was always supposed to be a tenor. The person playing the Phantom in the movie has a bit of a deep voice for a tenor. He was also a bit young. The conflict for Christine was never between Hunky Guy A and somewhat disformed Hunky Guy B. It was a conflict between the attraction of two people in love (Raoul), and the attraction of a Father figure that she's desperatly looking for (Phantom). By putting a younger actor in the role of the Phantom they softened that dynamic a bit.

All said and done, I thought the movie was fantastic, and even though I had a few minor critiques, they're not important enough to go in to.

It's good to see Scheumaker (I think that's how you spell it) back to the kinds of films he's good at instead of Batman movies.
 
Well said!

I know, Michael is a bit old now and not really a prospect for the film. I was just commenting that I liked him better as Phantom. :)
 
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