Very Good but flawed

Rating: Null/10 (31 March 2004)

This was a wonderful take on Anne Rice's best seller but I think it did lack in bits. What was most strange was Tom Cruise who was in a role that it so different to any other role he has ever done. You just couldn't imagine him as Lestat in this but as soon as you seem him biting onto Louis's neck played by Brad Pitt there he is, as the cold hearted vampire Lestat. A friend told me who was a big fan of the book that a lot of fans thought that Cruise would never be convincing as the book's character but changed there minds when they saw the film saying that no one could have played him better than Cruise did. That's what being an actor is all about though, and that's getting into character and reading up on it and that's was Tom Cruise did. Brad Pitt was excellently cast as the tragic Vampire Louis who wants no part in being a vampire but has no choice to except who he is and feed like the rest.
It was a great all round cast and was probably one of the mainstream films I can remember which stared Christian Slater as he is quite obsolete nowadays. Antonio Banderas puts in one of his better performances known in recent times and the under dog of the film Kirsten Durnst who pulls off a great Claudia as a little vixen vampire. I thought the movie was very epic actually as there was great scenery and excellent landscape. Neil Jordan is a director who I think has directed some quite different films in the past, The Crying Game being one of them and this is his masterpiece I would think. But Tom Cruise is the centre of attention here and I don't think I have ever seen him play a role where you fear him so much and he is the man who haunts your dreams.
Bits which I thought weren't to good was we didn't see more of the interview between Pitt and Slater. More scenes with Armand would have been nice and some flashbacks about Louis's time with his family would have not gone a miss as he is always thinking about them during the film but I didn't get a feel for it as we never saw what they were like together and what Louis was like as a father.
An Excellent if a little flawed vampire flick.