Confusing, thought-provoking, strangely moving.

Rating: 10/10 (4 June 2004)

Spoilers within.
There's a lot of talk about how Vanilla Sky is inferior when compared to the movie it is based on, called "Abre Los Ojos." But I've never seen the original film, so I can objectively say that I enjoyed Vanilla Sky very much, without worrying about how it compares with the original. The first time I watched it, I was thoroughly confused. It was thought-provoking, yes, but a lot of things didn't make sense. Only in subsequent viewings did I really tie everything together and get the most out of what is really an excellent movie.
The basic premise of the movie is that the exorbitantly wealthy David Aames (Cruise) is running a company he inherited from his father. He lives his life without thinking of the consequences of his actions: he treats his 'friend' Julie (Diaz) carelessly, and when she finds out that he has really fallen in love with another woman, Sofia (Cruz), things take a grim turn for the worst. At this point, David's life seems to take on many dream-like qualities, and it's difficult for him to decide what is real and what isn't, and who his friends really are.
There are a lot of twists and turns in the movie, and in many cases when you think there's a resolution, things just take on another turn. Even if you didn't like the movie, there's no question that after seeing it, you will be thinking about it and speculating for a long time after its over. And in my opinion, that's one of the best things you can say about a movie.
What I also liked about the movie was the music that went along with it. There's a lot of good songs that in my opinion, go perfectly with the scenes, and they make for some truly moving moments (the '3-day Memorial' scene still gives me the chills). This is a good time to mention that Jason Lee's performance was just uncanny. I haven't seen him in many serious roles, but he just did a great job. I never thought that a movie like this would be as moving to me as this was, and I still have not seen a lot of movies that were able to evoke the kind of emotions that Vanilla Sky did.
Certainly, a lot of people may feel like this was just a big marathon run only to wind up right where you started. But even so, I recommend this movie to anyone, especially someone who enjoys a so called Thinking Man's movie.
8.5/10