At the Theater- Dark Shadows - Though I've never been a big fan of the Director, and believe his infatuation with wild visual excess has marred most of his filmography, this is a surprisingly dull, unimaginative and subdued offering from Tim Burton (FWIW, Sleepy Hollow would my favorite from him). Johnny Depp's witty dialogue and inherent likability, coupled with Eva Green's vampish presence (not to mention her glorious cleavage!) can only hold this underwritten, half-baked, near-spoof of the cult TV Soap opera of the late 1960's/early 70's together so long. It has a solid, talented cast- though as an ensemble, it's a failure. I'm not sure Burton or the Producers were ever confident as to what kind of film they wanted to make...
Why even bother to introduce characters as major players (played by impressive names) if you're not going to use them? Early on, it appears to be a film centering around actress Bella Heathcote's character, yet she disappears for awkwardly long stretches. One could say the same for the rest of the cast not named Depp or Green- Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Jackie Earle Haley, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Johnny Lee Miller are given very little to say or do. Even cameos from Alice Cooper and Christopher Lee are poorly conceived. It's a head scratcher.
The second act is AWOL- it's yet another film where I felt a significant portion of footage must have been trimmed for theatrical run-time purposes. There's a weird lapse in logic involving a climactic confrontation between the townsfolk and the Collins Family and an eleventh-hour revelation involving Moretz's character seems painfully tacked on. You'll have quite a bit of fun spotting all of the "of the era" pop culture references, the late 60's/early 70's soundtrack selection is welcome and the original score from Danny Elfman is serviceable enough, though I'm still wavering on whether I liked the overexposed and washed out cinematography as used here.
The film is indeed playful, but rarely outright funny or exciting. Unless you're a die-hard fan of Depp's, skip this in theaters and wait for rental.
7.0 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment