Good until the very end

Rating: 7/10 (2 August 2002)

Most of Vanilla Sky was done well. The characters are interesting. The plot leaves the viewer guessing until the last five minutes or so, when the movie ends in an unfortunate manner. Basically, one of the characters just tells David (Tom Cruise) what was actually going on throughout the movie. Rather than letting him and the audience discover it for themselves, the movie simply tells you in a conversation. I found this quite disappointing. Now, I didn't have a problem with what the ending was. It actually fit quite well. I simply wish it was presented in a different fashion.
The only other flaw in this movie was the music. Cameron Crowe has a bad habit of using classic rock in his movies in rather inappropriate places. Most of the time it fits well, but there were a few scenes in which the music didn't fit the action at all. Classic rock is fine and appropriate for a movie like Almost Famous, which is about the music world, but for other movies, such as this and Jerry Maguire, sometimes a good instrumental is all you need. The music problem, however, was but a minor annoyance that only manifested in one or two scenes.
Despite the expository ending, I do recommend this movie. Better yet, see Abre Los Ojos.