A missed opportunity

Rating: 7/10 (9 September 2003)

I haven't seen the original "Abre Los Ojos", so I approached "Vanilla Sky" with something of an open mind. And the movie was for the most part entertaining enough, though I wouldn't rate the acting capabilities of Cruise, Cruz or Diaz very highly.
I normally like films where you have to make sense of a seemingly jumbled chain of events and figure out the significance of what you're seeing (good recent examples being Memento and Mulholland Dr.). The quality I appreciate the most in these films is that they require you to think for yourself to work out a valid interpretation of the film (or at the very least piece everything together in the right order). The biggest flaw in "VS" is therefore the last half hour, where everything is laid out for you in excruciating detail.
As I said, I don't know if this is just a carbon copy of the original Spanish ending but either way I see it as an insult to the viewer. It's basically the director saying "I'm sorry for having let you watch 2 hours of something that might seem confusing. Here - let me spell it out for you since you obviously didn't come to see a movie expecting to have to use your brain".
"Vanilla Sky" is not art but entertainment, and half-decent entertainment at that. And while entertainment has its uses, I certainly wouldn't recommend the film to anyone.