Well ladies and gentlemen we're near the final days of February aka seasons of love theme. So, I present to you all The Phantom of the Opera one of my favorite musical/romance films that I've decided to watch, and I am not going to lie when I say that twenty years since the film’s release the film as aged as fine wine. Well, more like twenty-year wine but still tastes like crap, despite you yourself not being a wine drinker. Now without a doubt this is one of those movies I was strangely obsessed with in terms of music wise especially in high school and 2004 was around that time when the Star Wars prequels was conquering the world and really this was 2004 so I had a year to wait for Revenge of the Sith so as strange as this sounds this was one of those movies I was more interested with especially music wise because it had that epic feel that gives you goosebumps whenever you hear the music and when you have in actor like Gerard Butler impressing you singing wise and since the guy never sang before in terms of Opera yeah you'd be surprised when you watch this movie despite after 300, he really Matthew McConaughey'd his career.
Based on the infamous Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber. A young soprano (Emmy Rossum) becomes the obsession of a disfigured and murderous musical genius (Gerard Butler) who lives beneath the Paris Opera House.
If you were a band nerd, your music teacher probably had you play a lot of Phantom of the Opera music from pep band to honor band or stage band. And without a doubt Phantom of the Opera was one of those music scores that's imprinted in my memory, and so when my sophomore year of high school I've been seeing numerous previews of the movie and just the music to the movie especially the theme song, it just gave me chills moreover goosebumps and when a musical like that does that to you that's something special. And to be honest I have no clue how I watched it because when I was in high school I was a naive kid, I guess in my mind I just told my brother that Gerard Butler was in the movie and we loved him in Dracula 2000, or my sister was insisting on us watching, though I don't remember hell it's been twenty years since I've sat down and watched the movie so really I don't know how I was like "yeah lets watch it". Ironically enough, as I've researched was director Joel Schumacher had been impressed with Gerard Butler's performance in Dracula 2000, so having read that I was like "My Man" though Butler became Schumacher's first choice he had to take four lessons before singing "Music of the Night" for Andrew Lloyd Webber, and I haven't seen or watched any interviews of Webber so I'm guessing he was impressed with Butler's performance. Now having watched the film, if I have any positives to say about the movie, the strong attribute of the film is really from its casting, the singing and the soundtrack as well as its production design to its cinematography. And no question the soundtrack probably up there in one of the many greatest soundtracks I've ever heard in my lifetime well, maybe top fifteen or twenty but it's up there. Now that being said if I had any critique about the movie it would most certainly be the writing and the directing, and the amount of plot holes I discovered it's like the largest hole you can see when you buy a house and yourself was like "nope" and leave immediately moreover to give you some great examples are like how did the Phantom train Christine through the years and how Raoul and Christine became lovers like fifteen minutes into the movie and granted this is based on the book but really if you're going to tell me to read the book before I watch the musical that's sounds insane because I'm not going to attempt to read the book and then watch the musical just to understand the characters and that's like writing 101, when it comes to directing or writing a movie or musical is to give a little time to understand these characters from start to finish. And it's not just the plot holes of the story but also some of the flaws and some of the choice of shots that I had a problem with, for which really it's not a huge crime because I actually think some of the scenes or music sequences are actually quite funny because when we get to the "think of me" music sequence we get to Raoul discovering Christine, he cheers then decides to leave and as smart a** I'm like "wait the show isn't over, where you going Raoul?" Or the way Phantom is taking Christine back to his lair and goes from stairs to a short ride on a horse and then the infamous boat scene it's strangely funny almost like a Pirates of the Caribbean ride only it's for lonely women who will pay twenty bucks for a good looking dude to escort you to his phantom lair, granted it sounds weird when I say it but really I'm saying that all the dudes are phantoms and the lonely women are paying to have that fantasy. Sure you can pick apart a movie like The Phantom of the Opera and find what ways you'd can fix the movie with the amount of flaws and plot holes but really it's just way to much work especially now when producers will always ruin that movie making experience moreover if you really want to spend time wanting to remake this movie yeah sure, I'd salute you but I strongly doubt anyone will ever feel interested in wanting to see another stage opera turned movie especially when it comes to The Phantom of the Opera. Twenty years since I've seen the movie, I still think it's fantastic to watch and a lot of it surrounds the killer soundtrack and the amazing casting from Gerard Butler and Patrick Wilson who would later go on to star in two of Zack Snyder's great films 300 and Watchmen. For a movie like this you'd just have to appreciate the film for what it is, and I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves music soundtracks or just loves musicals.
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