Movie Review

Now Watching: The Phantom of the Opera
Starring: Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, Patrick Wilson

Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers, so read at your own discretion!

Based on the hit musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the tale tells the story of a disfigured musical genius who haunts the catacombs beneth the Paris Opera, waging a reign of terror over its occupants. When he falls fatally in love with the lovely Christine (Emmy Rossum), the Phantom (Gerard Butler)devotes himself to creating a new star for the Opera—exerting a strange sense of control over the young soprano as he nurtures her extraodinary talents. (Synopsis from yahoo! movies)

Story: While rather dark and disturbing at times, it is a good story that portrays the battle between good and evil extremely well. While it is not a fight in the normal sense of the word, it is certianly a war between the power of good and evil. The Phantom represents the evil, Raoul, the good, and Christine, the one torn between the two. Another motif threaded throught the story is that of love. While the Phantom’s love for Christine is selfish and controlling, Raoul’s is selfless—to the point of being ready to sacrifice his life for hers. 9/10

Cinematography: In a word, stunning. One of the most gorgeous films to look at that I have ever seen. You could stop it at practically any point throughout the film and have a picture that you would love to print out and hang on your wall. The flow of the scenes is extremely well-done and keeps you interested through the entirity of the film. Just beautiful. 10/10

Acting: Even though most of the dialogue is in song, the acting in this film is very good. All of the actors and actresses use their singing to portray the emotions of their characters in a way that is very convincing and real.
Gerard Butler plays the Phantom and, in my opinion, carries the film. His acting is absolutely superb, both in speaking and in singing. His singing is spectacular, especially when you take into consideration that he had no prior vocal training. While his voice is not technically “perfect”, he is able to bring out the character’s emotions in his voice so well that it more than makes up for any flaws technically. He plays the near duel-personality of the Phantom incredibly, being kind and gentle one minute and then raging and cruel the next.

Then 16-year-old Emmy Rossum plays the young singer Christine, the target of the Phantom’s jealous affection. Her singing is gorgeous and, though some of her speaking lines lack realism, she is really quite good. One complaint that I must make is in regards to her accent. It goes from British, to American, back to British, and then to an almost southern twang in one scene. Rather distracting, but not unforgivable.

Patrick Wilson plays Raoul, Christine’s child-hood sweetheart, and now fiance. Although he is a little-known actor, he is very talented and gives a good performance in this film. His singing voice is excellent, a more technically good voice than Gerard Butler’s, and very pleasing to listen to.

Miranda Richardson and Minnie Driver are excellent as well, with very convincing accents, especially Miranda Richardson’s French accent. Both are very talented actresses, and all in all the acting throughout the entire film is extremely good, although not perfect. 9/10

Score: Well, it’s a musical so the score had better be good! The Phantom of the Opera was originally a novel written by Gaston Leroux and was adapted to an opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1986. Now, nineteen years after the opera was first written, Webber and Joel Shumacher have worked together to make a truly spectacular film. The music was slightly modifed for the film, with fuller orchestration than the opera, and two new songs were written, although only one was actually used. There are only two tracks that I really don’t care for in the entire soundtrack—Magical Lasso, and The Fairground—and, for me, that’s really quite rare. My favorites would have to be Phantom of the Opera (of course), Music of the Night, Wandering Child, and Journey to the Cemetary. All in all 9.7/10, and I only dock it because of those two songs.

Overall: Even though, as I stated before, the story is somewhat dark and disturbing, it really is a wonderful film. It also is one of those films that really grows on you with each watching. The soundtrack is beautiful and you could listen to it all day long without growing tired of it. The acting is quite good and the cinematography is wonderful. All in all, it is a great movie to watch by yourself, and even better to watch with friends. I would give it a 9/10.