A Tale of Three Movies

Rating: Null/10 (30 August 2002)

On the surface, "Vanilla Sky" seems like a completely fresh and original movie. In actuality however, this is not the case. The longer I thought about it, the more I realized this movie is nothing new or unique. "Vanilla Sky" is actually a composite rip off of three movies (not including the original, "Abre los ojos"), that we've all seen previously:
1.) "Vanilla Sky" rips off "Total Recall" in regards to the whole differentiating between what is a dream and what is a reality. However, where "TR" succeed in never completely revealing what was a dream and what was reality is where "VS" fails.
2.) "Vanilla Sky" rips off "The Matrix" in regards to the whole idea of an alternate reality, running simultaneously with the reality you know. Interesting in how "VS" tries to pull this off, and definitely merits another viewing to pick up the various subtleties and nuances throughout the film.
3.) "Vanilla Sky" rips off "What Dreams May Come" in regards to the whole idea of death being like a surreal impressionistic painting, as well as various other ideas about death. However, while "WDMC" was a complete and utter train wreck, and barely merits mentioning in the same breath with a movie like "VS", "VS does indeed rip off this aspect from "WDMC".
All in all, despite it's relative unoriginality disguised as a completely new and original film, "VS" wasn't that bad. It definitely could've been better, but I get the feeling Cameron Crowe got too caught up with everything to make it completely cohesive. I rank it a 7.2 out of 10.