: Dark Shadows
Director: Tim Burton
This is a very strange movie. It’s based on a TV show I’ve never even heard of, let alone watched, so I can’t judge how it compares. It’s about a vampire that returns to his family mansion 200 years later and finds what’s left of his legacy in ruins, and he sets about restoring his family fortunes using his vampire skills while trying to adjust to a different era.
I really wanted to like this and there’s much that’s inspired, brilliant even, but it’s apparently supposed to be a comedy and all the jokes come out flat. The problem is that it’s too realistic. The tone is deadly serious, with real bloodshed, violence, cruelty, and death. That’s not funny. The special effects are also too realistic, lending to the idea that this is all really happening, which, again, is not funny. (This should have had a tone more like Ghostbusters instead of Aliens.)
There are some great one-liners, but they fall awkwardly, as mixed in with the realism, we aren’t sure if we’re supposed to laugh or not. There also aren’t enough jokes, with long passages that could play as straight drama. If it’s a comedy, it should be consistently funny throughout (or at least try). As a drama, this still fails. The opening back story really doesn’t tell us enough about the characters, and that later stuff depends too much on the former.
I also thought the 1970s setting was awkward. It should have been a key feature of the film, but other than the music and a handful of references, the story could have been modern day. They just didn’t really do anything with the period, and what they did was stereotypical and not very interesting or funny.
There are lots of good things: a great cast, a few scenes that are awesome, some great concepts, and Depp is just brilliant throughout. But unfortunately that’s not enough to make a movie. The thing is an interesting experiment, but it just doesn’t work.
Topic: [/movie] |
