A Glossy, Highly Manipulative Mess! 'Abres Los Ojos' Re-do deserved better treatment

Rating: 4/10 (17 December 2001)

Stanley Kubrick worked with Tom Cruise for over two years, to produce the highly anticipated, visually stunning failure, 'Eyes Wide Shut'. Cruise should still have stretch marks from that fiasco. Tom Cruise seems to be a very sincere, and extremely hard-working actor, unfortunately, he must have believed Cameron Crowe could actually make a more superior psychological thriller than Kubrick; which seems kind of silly. 'Vanilla Sky' is an glossy, manipulative, and ultimately insulting attempt to convince viewers, they are actually watching a very cerebral psycho-erotic work of art. Tom Cruise is once again, out of his element, especially during the painfully absurd psycho-cinema portions of this film. Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut' was a visually stylish and beguiling film, which made the Tom Cruise character seem more out of place. 'Vanilla Sky' is a handsome film; but the director's sloppy and manipulative antics are so ridiculous, that Tom Cruise looks pretty good in comparison. The other performances were competent, and I agree with those who feel Penelope Cruz was better in the original film. Also, a tighter film edit may have helped this film. 4/10, mainly for poor direction, and Tom's poor judgment.