Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Edohotep
Writers: Seth Grahame-Smith and John August (story).
Cast: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Jackie Earle Haley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Alice Cooper, Christopher Lee and Eva Green.
Sometimes injecting new blood into an old favourite, namely Dark Shadows, is not required. The original 60's show ages very well on its own; the 90's version looks like it was introduced to a market not quite ready for vampire fever, and the 2012 product? Twilight is over, and so should the vampire rest.
Tim Burton's directorial attempt at reviving Dark Shadows for a new generation is more like reinvigorating interest than to try something new. Not everyone will want to go delving into exploring the series mythos with the originals. Instead, what this film does is to combine almost everything supernatural plot-wise that defined the television show into nearly two hours.
Not all of them are properly introduced. All Burton did was put his trademark visionary stamp on it. That included some dry humour that could have been easily omitted. The comedy that other press suggested was way off the mark. Most of it was a subtle reminder of how Barnabas Collins is displaced in time.
The tale was in development for a few years by Burton's original right hand man, writer John August (Big Fish, Corpse Bride). But when he did not finish it, the more popular Seth Grahame-Smith (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), who is building his name these days in Hollywood, took over. He may have simply finished what the other started than rewrite the lore that defines the world of Dark Shadows from the ground up. That made for an inconsistent film.
Hopefully Grahame-Smith's next upcoming film, Abraham Lincoln: Zombie Hunter will be better. This film does not make for a very good introduction of his screenwriting skills to a wider audience.
Unless each act is credited to which writer did what, some parts stand out far better than others. The opening act establishes how the Collins family moved away from Britain to settle in Maine to establish the town of Collinsport. This little introduction is perfect, and Depp provides a very deeply personal narrative. On screen, he mixes in a very Bela Legosi style of regalness in the same vein as Jonathan Frid's version. True to form, Depp injects a few Nosferatu cum Edward Scissorhands type chuckle-worthy moments in his performance.
Just like the many other personas that he has played throughout the years, he is a character actor who enjoys his roles very much. Strangely though, this vampire looks far too young, like he's in his early twenties than like a wiser elder.
But when the movie switches pace and introduces Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote), are viewers suddenly watching Jane Eyre meets The Turning of the Shrew? The story switches gear by focusing in on her than Barnabas.
At the same time, the matriarch of the family, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) does not seem to have time for familial concerns. Her relationship with her brother Roger (Jonny Lee Miller) feels estranged, and nobody can even know in what to make of Carolyn (Chloë Grace Moretz). Instead, she is trying to keep the family afloat while hardly managing the family business, a fishing cannery. Pfiffer could have kicked up her performance a lot more to show how insanely worried that she is towards maintaining the family heritage.
But this all-star cast is under utilized. Even Dr. Julia Hoffer (Helena Boham Carter) could prove how much of an Agent Scully (from the "X-Files") she can be, when she starts to question who Barnabas is.
As a movie for the newcomer, a lot of information needs to be processed. Some details are not even included to help make sense of the finale. Audiences already familiar with the world of Dark Shadows will take the quick introductions for granted than to wonder how the Collins family continues to survive. There are times where they act like the Addams family and that may have been Burton’s directorial intent. Unfortunately, there is no Thing, but David Collins under a white sheet makes up for that missing character!
Like the rest of the film, everyone in the Collins family is in their own world. They are too preoccupied with themselves to worry about the outside world going on. When considering that 1972 is a favourite year for many films to set themselves in, the world-shaking events do not seem to matter here. Dark Shadows places itself in that era to make its own social statement about how families tend to function in this forgotten year. A few were struggling with the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
The movie mostly coasts on neutral as it tries to repair the family reputation, and the importance of Dr. Julia Hoffman and the Collins children are tossed aside. By the time there are some epic reveals, it comes too late to be important in the tale. Not even Willie (Jackie Earle Haley) gets to shine. He does a decent job, but there is no beating Jim Fyfe's interpretation or recalling how Robert Englund played another kind of Wille in "V" (1983).
Unless the studios involved are planning on a series of movies, this movie was one product that tried to tell too much in too short a time. Too many distractions were added in places where it was not needed. To feature Barnabas out of sync with reality really does not make sense. That should have been dropped in favour of concentrating on the love triangle between Barnabas, Victoria and Angelique. That defined the series more than any of the other tales about werewolves, ghosts and beasts.
Had there have been a set timeline, the next film could have dealt with Hoffman's obsession with healing Barnabas of his vampiric disease, or the ghosts that David communicates with. Strangely missing is the Sarah Collins, Barnabas' little sister. Even Carolyn's "secret" could have been saved for later. Like the soap opera of old, Dark Shadows is a product that is meant to be told in many small parts, not as a semi-complete movie.
Overall: 5 out of 10.
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Posted in: 2012,horror movie review,movie poster,movie review,remake,remakes,vampire,vampires,vampires suck
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