Fairly good film that is let down by the last half hour.

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2001)

"Vanilla Sky" could have been a great film, but the unnecessary and overly long ending softens the impact and leaves one feeling somewhat disappointed. The first two thirds of the film are very well done, with some excellent shots (eg, the deserted New York city streets), and the viewer is left guessing at every turn: is this a dream, or is this reality? Is this the past, the present, or the future? Was it a setup, or did he really do it? The movie is enthralling and there are many details to keep the viewer's mind focused on the unraveling story, although by the end of the film you realise none of them really mattered.
At the "end" of the film, all the pieces fall into place as the main character (and hopefully the audience) realises what's been going on, and had the film ended at this point, it would have been one of those chilling endings like "The Sixth Sense." The viewer has enough information to make sense of the film, but nothing is really explained in detail; viewers could have a wonderful time exploring the many possible explanations of the film. (For those who have seen the film, this is the scene where Tom spots the television commercial and starts banging on the glass in the cell).
Unfortunately, once Tom has figured it all out, the audience is subjected to a long, drawn-out explanation of what has happened (just in case they hadn't figured it out yet), and the film explains everything in agonising detail, which destroys all the fun! No longer can you ponder whether such-and-such a scene was real or a dream, because it's all laid out in black and white. Ending the movie on an optimistic note also seemed against the grain of the film; it's been dark all the way through, so why change directions now?
Others have compared this movie to Mulholland Drive, which I feel is a much better movie, despite (and because of) the fact that it is totally incomprehensible to me. It seems like "Vanilla Sky" is trying hard to be an artsy, intellectual movie, yet at the same time it tries to cater to the "big dumb action movie" crowds. This backfires as the "artsy" crowd will feel patronised whilst the "popcorn movie" fans won't be seeing this film anyway.
All in all, an interesting film that is worth seeing for the first two thirds, but you can definitely wait for the video / DVD release.