the world of human immortals

Rating: Null/10 (5 July 2001)

i came across Anne Rice's original novel before i caught the movie on TV last year(long enough, huh?^^yeah i know it's rated R(A) here and i was not yet 18 then...too much blood, i guess^^) well anyway, i watched it. it was thrilling, but lacked a certain atmosphere of mystery as the novel, nevertheless they did a good job in bringing such a story to life. i guess the mesmerising quality is in the story itself: immortals, eternally young and beautiful, with supernatural powers, walking in darkness with pride, no longer the appalling monsters with fangs. but they are suffering emotionally, once or now (yes even including Lestat) because they all WERE mortals, and some of them never get free of the past.
personally i like the art design the most: the buildings, the furniture, the costume (lace, lace, lace^^), and my favourite goes to Armand's Theater, exactly as what i thought when i read the book!
the cast was, too, excellent. anyone who says Brad Pitt is not as good as Tom Cruise should go and check the scene when Louis saw the ashes of Claudia and Madeline. i think Brad Pitt was perfect for our most human, tender, weak, guilty (and sometimes fanatic) Louis; Tom Cruise was Lestat the Brat Prince himself, the cunning and devilish boy enjoying his immortal powers; Claudia was an amazing doll-like woman (the performance was almost flawless); Armand, in physical appearance, was not quite the one (he was supposed to be 17 when he became immortal as in the novel), but Antonio Bandreas gave a brilliant interpretation of the experienced yet innocent being (Armand, in my opinion, is the most passionate vampire of all, despite his oh-so-cool looking in this movie^^). as a whole this movie dazzled.
but (as i have mentioned, the book was certainly better) there was too much sentimental stuff. (i guess the director wanted us to pity the vampires, but...?) and a large part of the original novel that describes Louis and Claudia's journey to Paris was cut. i thought that part was too good to miss. the later part of the novel was a bit too fast and the story seemed to end in a hurry...
after all it was a splendid movie. yet still i strongly recommend the novel to those who want to explore the world of the human immortals. the complete CHRONICLES consist of 5 novels, with INTERVIEW as the 1st. personally i like the 2nd, THE VAMPIRE LESTAT, the best, and really hope that it would be made to a movie, too. there's also the NEW TALES OF THE VAMPIRES, which consist of the beautiful THE VAMPIRE ARMAND and PANDORA so far.

and i would like to comment a bit on the *homo* side of the movie that was mentioned in one of the comments...^^well, i guess it was sort of a very strong emotional attachment between the vampires (think of how few there were of their kind). but Lestat and Armand did have some special relationship in the past (no dirty stuff, i guarantee, but very interesting to read) mentioned in THE VAMPIRE LESTAT, and Armand himself was deeply attached to Louis, too. but no relationship parallels the bond between Armand and his maker, the legendary Marius (mentioned in THE VAMPIRE LESTAT and detailed in THE VAMPIRE ARMAND), it was a bit bold, but very touching^^essentially there is NO physical relationship between any vampires, so i hope people get clear of the picture that they are only strongly attached and felt for each other, especially between a maker and his fledgling(s). (maybe not for Lestat: he makes vampires out of fun sometimes^^)
so all in all to those who love the movie: read the novels, and i'm almost sure that you'll fall for at least one of the vampires (mine is Marius, for example^^). they're simply lovable.