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PAGE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS...you have been warned
Ah, Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. A most iconic piece of vampire fiction that I am almost embarrassingly into. I am (very) slowly making my way through this titan of a book series, and cannot decide whether I am enjoying it or not...
I also haven't watched the TV adaptation of the series simply due to a lack of interest, so all discussion here will be confined to the film and the books.
THE MOVIE
This movie is quite honestly, iconic. It's a really great adaptation, despite the fact that the mere idea of casting Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as Lestat and Louis sounds laughable on paper - somehow it really works! The worst thing about the film is the not-so-subtle attempts to downplay Louis and Lestat's relationship and cutting out Louis' brother. I can understand downplaying Louis and Lestat's relationship, but cutting Louis' brother mostly just confuses me. This is because... well, his brother's death is quite a pivotal moment for his character and they (somehow) replaced him with a dead wife and child. It feels like in the adaptation, they just missed the point of Louis' preacher brother dying - it wasn't just that Louis became despondent after losing someone close to him, his brother's death was quite significant in setting up Louis' strained relationship with religion even before being sired.
Louis' guilt over his brother's death is also completely removed by the "wife and kid" direction. I dunno, overall it just doesn't make much sense to me.
I love all the performances in this film - I honestly have no idea how Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise pulled these roles off so well, considering they're probably nobody's first thought when casting a gothic horror film about gay vampires. Kirsten Dunst is incredible as Claudia and Christian Slater ruined how I picture Daniel in my head (seriously...I can't seem to get my brain to understand that Daniel is BLOND. Ah well, the tragedy of viewing the film before reading the books). Antonio Banderas may not be Armand in any way, but he definitely gives a great performance - plus, it's Antonio Banderas, who can complain?
