Cruise Shines as the Undying Vampire

Rating: Null/10 (26 April 2015)

Interview with the Vampire (1994)
*** (out of 4)
The vampire Louis (Brad Pitt) asks a reporter (Christian Slater) to meet him so that he can tell his life story. He traces back two centuries to when he was a suicidal man who was given another way of life by the vampire Lestat (Tom Cruise).
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE was, believe it or not, quite controversial when it was first released due to how much graphic violence and blood there was but also because author and screenwriter Ann Rice objected to someone like Tom Cruise playing the lead role. By this time Cruise was already a movie star so I guess you can understand why she worried the film would be watered down or hurt with such a star being in it but it's funny to see that without him the movie would have been much less than what it is. Director Neil Jordan brings a European flavor to the movie but there are certainly several flaws here that keep it from being a great movie or even a really good vampire movie.
As for the pluses, there are quite a few including the before mentioned European feel of the picture. Jordan was coming off THE CRYING GAME so it was a good choice to bring him on to director as he managed to create a very dark atmosphere and he also manages to handle some of the black comedy quite well. He also managed to bring a certain style to the picture that set it apart from a lot of the Hollywood pictures out at the time. With that said, I think the film didn't quite go far enough in many aspects. I haven't read the story to know what is different here but I just felt that a lot of the sexuality and some of the darker moments had been tamed. If the darker elements weren't in the book then I think they would have helped this film.
It's funny that Rice didn't want Cruise in the picture but the weakest portion of the film comes towards the end when he's not in it. I thought Cruise did an exceptionally good job here and I really liked the way he played pure evil. The Lestat character is basically just a killing machine and I thought Cruise made you believe that he really was a member of the living dead and someone who has seen centuries of history. Pitt is also extremely good as he brings a sympathetic touch to the character that puts him at a complete opposite of Lestat. Then you've got Kirsten Dunst who is very good as the young girl who gets transformed into a vampire and also good are Antonio Banderas and Stephen Rea. Slater is also good in his role but you can't help but feel River Phoenix would have been much better.
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE isn't a flawless movie as it certainly drags in spots and the 123-minute running time probably could have been trimmed by fifteen minutes or so. I'd also say that the screenplay is pretty much long-winded and at times it seems like it should have been edited down and just had a tighter story to be told. Still, the film manages to have a lot of good things in it and is worth watching.