Pretty good but fails to live up to the original

Rating: 4/10 (14 July 2012)

Most people are probably not aware that this is a remake of the movie "Abre Los Ojos". Its not inspired by "Abre Los Ojos" it literally is a remake following the plot and original scenes nearly exactly. I am lucky to have read several reviews of Vanilla Sky suggesting to watch the original (which is in Spanish) before Vanilla Sky. I can only agree.
In Vanilla Sky Tom Cruise delivers a nice performance. In fact, his performance (aside from a couple things he does in here that are just bizarre) along with the script are what carry the film. However, Eduardo Noriega, the original actor, delivers a better performance. Penelope Cruz actually plays the same character in both movies. However, she is better in the original for a few reasons. One, she gives a more nuanced performance and comes across better in her native tongue, two, she has better chemistry on screen with Eduardo, and three, her character makes more sense playing opposite the rival girl in the original than opposite Cameron Diaz who is a little too charismatic and beautiful to be playing the role of second best.
The original also never lapses into mediocrity. However, here there are a number of scenes where the acting or some of the secondary characters wanes. The ending in Vanilla Sky also was shot in a way that unfortunately cheapens and takes away some of the impact of the original script (I don't want to say more and spoil it).
In short, I found Vanilla Sky to be an interesting watch especially as I was able to compare it to Abre Los Ojos in every scene. It is understandable that producers would want to bring the story and script of Abre Los Ojos to a more mainstream audience, as it is brilliant, and therefore make Vanilla Sky. However, as often happens with remakes this one lacks the power of the original and I can only really recommend to you to see the original first.