Rating: 
Summary: Poor interpretation of the book.
Review: I fell asleep 3 times while trying to watch it. This movie is not scary at all. It doesn't even come close to the book. I suppose that every body has their own way of interpreting a story and they come up with the films. But in this case the film production differed from the original theme of the story. I stay with the book.
Rating: 
Summary: 'Damned' if You Do, 'Damned' if You Don't
Review: Considering the element of the movie, I didn't know vampires could sing. Now I know rappers aren't the only ones ripping off other artists, for example, Lestat (Stuart Townsend) is ripping off Korn's lead singer, Jonathan Davis. He sounds just like him, it's amazing... After many centuries of absorbing dust, Lestat the vampire finally decided to get out to become a rock singer? He ruined the vampire secret and exposed the world about their nature. Who cares? All of the vampires wanted him dead, except for one. Akasha (Aaliyah) wanted him to be her prince. Bad taste. She ruined the Death Valley concert to get to him (good job! terrible concert!). There was one moment though that was memorable. The scene where Aaliyah was in a tub full of roses, it was hot! I'm sure this movie was nothing like the book, I don't know because I haven't read it. Aaliyah fans may be disappointed with the small amount of screen time Aaliyah had. It was good enough for me.
Rating:
Summary: You have to be kidding!
Review: ... Everybody involved in this film should either be punished or have their SAG memberships revoked! Where to start - the writers of the screenplay obviously only read the book jacket. The story is so [messed] up and ruined that it is unbelievable. Casting: WOW - makes some of the bad choices in INTERVIEW look inspired. Townsend tries about 5 different accents - all of them bad. Aailyah (sp?) would have died from embarrassment if the plane hadn't taken her. We could go on down the line, beacuse everyone is either horribly miscast or a horrible actor. The sets are cheap and cheesey - some look like painted cardboard. Lighting and design - well, at one point Aailyah came out and I thought it was a Janet Jackson video from the 80's. Run - FAST - from this one!
Rating:
Summary: Bipolar feelings toward this movie.
Review: If I had to venture a guess to why Anne Rice failed to appear as a special feature on this DVD its probably because she was really pis....er,irritated at what the script editors did to her beautiful books! If you are looking for a continuation of 'Interview' then stop, go back to your shopping cart and delete this DVD from your selections because you will find almost nothing of that in 'Queen'. The plot and the characters in 'Queen' were soooo empty and watered down that at times the plot was just yawn worthy, at other times the plots were not followed through. The ancients were almost nonexsistant (if they had only put those deleted scenes back in!!).The one thing, the only thing that this movie got right was Armand, that is, if you could even figure out which one he was because they never mentioned him by name!Also, the special effects were rather cheesy, Matrix-like and unappropriate for a movie that was trying to walk in the footsteps of 'Interview'. I did really enjoy Stuart Townsend as the 'rocker' Lestat and I don't think Tom Cruise would have had that same effect. Much respect to the actress, but I did not think that the Queen of the Damned was accurately portrayed.I really think the main cast was way too young and gave the movie a teeny bopper feel to it. On the other hand the movie had one GREAT feature which was the music. The words of the songs are great at portraying Lestats feelings and the soundtrack is unbelievable. I can't get enough of it. The DVD is also LOADED with many unbelievable features such as concert sequences and Lestat music videos, which make the DVD worth buying just for that. There are also loads of deleted scenes and other great features.In addition there is a gag reel which ruins the atmosphere of the movie but is amusing to look at regardless. If you are a die hard by-the-book Anne Rice fan then forget the movie and get the CD instead. If you like vampire movies then get both the CD and the DVD, I still think that this movie was better then Dracula 2000,Blade, Vampires and the rest of Hollywood-gone-wrong vampire movies . I just hope that the next person who attempts to make a vampire movie based on Ann Rice's books is aware that we prefer quality over the mainstream Hollywood glitz. PS-Now,can someone tell me why the heck in those really bad vampire movies do humans who get turned into vampires suddenly know Kung-fu and Matrix-like moves?????
To recap boys and girls: DVD SPECIAL FEATURES GET A FIVE STAR..the movie and plot get a three (only because I was realllly thirsty for a new vampire movie).
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not the real story.......
Review: This movie is not bad...........as long as you don't compare it to the book. Watch this movie without thinking of the book(s) (the movie is actually a combination of The Tale of The Body Theif and Queen of the Damned). I did enjoy the movie, once I stopped trying to compare it to the book.......unfortunately, as the other comment said, you can't put that many years of details into an hour and a half movie......it just doesn't work. Watch this movie like you've never read the book and you will enjoy it, although, I do wish Alliyah had more screen time and they had told the real story of Akasha. Also, they need to go back to Tom Cruise for the roll of Lestat......he's much [better]!
Rating: 
Summary: It [wasn't that bad]!
Review: I'm a huge Anne Rice fan, and from a fan point of view, the movie was a huge mistake. Most everything was wrong... some of the most important characters were missing, events were changed, etc. The thing I hated most about the movie was that they portrayed Jesse as Lestat's love... WHAT?! Jesse isn't even supposed to be that young!Nevertheless, I liked the movie (yes, I liked it!)... if you just open up and look at it from another point of view, then it was okay. Probably some people that like vampire flicks will like it. I loved the music by Jon Davis y Richard Gibbs, it was the best thing that came out of that movie. Stuart Townsend was good to look at, but as it comes down to only one Lestat, Tom Cruise was it. But c'mon, Tom wouldn't have looked good as a rock star, would he? Aaliyah, good performance... Vincent Perez, probably my fave vampire in the film, like the real Marius was sweet looking and lovable regardless of the appearance flaws. All in all, the movie was alright as a vampire movie, but [wasn't good] as an adaptation of the 2 novels.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Horrible
Review: Okay... how about we take an amazing book... and turn it into a horrible movie. That's what happened when they made the movie Queen of the Damned. I don't know what the script writers were thinking with this one. First of all, they made up things in the movie that are a complete contradiction of the book. Then they left out the most important thing in the book... they didn't even bother to tell of the story of the red hair twins. I know that it is a movie and they have limited time... but how about cutting out this bogus love affair with Jesse and Lestat (come on... that's just cheesy) and tell the story of the red twins and the existence of the vampires. That is a lot more interesting. And the casting of Marius and Louis was just horrible. Did the casting directors and the script writers even bother to read the book? And then the ending... can it get any worse. Anyone who is a Anne Rice fan... stay far away from this movie. I am surprised that Anne Rice would even allow her name to be put on this movie. If you are expecting this movie to be like Interview with a Vampire, you are about to get a bad wake up call.
Rating:
Summary: Queen of the Damned
Review: Combining The Vampire Lestat and the Queen of the Damned novels into one screenplay was, ahem, damned to suffer massive story cuts because of the intricate and detailed background of a dozen or so characters involved. The amount of detail always was the strength of the Vampire Chronicles, in my opinion, and they were certainly worth the read.
That said, the question remains, without the detail and extra characters, can the basic story of Lestat's re-awakening of the Queen of all vampires be entertaining and sufficient enough to sustain itself? While I can not answer the question with a glowing appraisal, I will certainly admit that it did a decent job of combining all of the basic elements into a stand alone movie. The fact that this movie can stand on it's own without any ties to the prequel, Interview with the Vampire, is one of it's assets. You do not need any fore-knowledge of the characters, books, or prequel movie in order to watch this.
Even though it fits into it's own little package does not mean it was packed very well. There were some plot holes, some of which could have been filled by simply restoring the "Ancients" scenes that were on the dvd. I understand, as the dvd points out, that they were left out because it introduced another subplot and characters that would add unnecessary confusion. While I agree with their reasoning, I do think they should have somehow salvaged the scene so that while the introductions of the ancients would have been left out, Maharet's few lines about Akasha's reign of destruction and the vampire's responsibility should have remained. They would have added a needed sense of urgency and motivation that would have made the final confrontation with Akasha and the ancients a bit more reasonable and satisfying.
The character of Jessie is supposed to be the human link for the viewer to empathize through as they are taken into the world of vampires. In some scenes, this works adequately, but on the whole, Jessie's motivations, while they are explained, seem kind of empty. I am not sure if I can fault the actress or script, but when the movie was over, I still felt ambivalent about the character's experiences.
There were other elements that were not as fleshed out as they could be. The paranormal Talamasca needed a bit more background about their vampire tracking as did the character of Maharet and her family tree. Like Jessie, they were given some explanation, but I think a couple more lines of dialogue would have helped.
As I mentioned, the movie did a decent job of the basic story, but massive changes were made from the source material. Characters were dropped completely, or merged together, and huge sections of character history were removed. Most notably, Lestat's history is extremely compacted and revised. Nonetheless, there are some things that remained that I thought were done pretty well. The character of Lestat in this picture is rebellious and reckless which is more true to the character than he was portrayed in Interview. Lestat's re-awakening and concert scenes were exactly like I had envisioned when I originally read the book. The character of Akasha was also as I pictured and a very good casting choice.
If you are a fan of the books, and you need the twins, Gabriel, Magnus, and crew, you are going to have difficulty sitting through this. If, on the other hand, you can set that aside and view this as a vampire movie of it's own, unrelated to the chronicles, you will probably enjoy this for the stand-alone vampire flick that it is. In summary, worth the rental
Rating:
Summary: If you've read the chronicles, DON'T WATCH THIS
Review: The movie totally destroys the beautiful books Rice has written. First of all Lestat is blond, not black-haired. Magnus made Lestat, not Marius. Jesse is much older. Louis is missing. Lestat adopts the violin from his friend, Nicolas, not some woman he sees at a campfire. Lestat does not kill just the young, he kills the evil-doer. The producer must have seen or read Interview and made Lestat as Louis saw him. If you haven't read the books and you are a moron who is looking for action (things that go boom), half-naked women, and bad guys, then buy the movie. If you expect a shade of art in films or prefer books over movies, DON'T WATCH THIS. You'll become dumber.
Rating:
Summary: Dont expect continuity.
Review: Great movie and FX. Ann Rice fans may not like the movie adaptation of the novel but take it for what it is and i think any vampire fan will be pleased. Sound and picture quality are superb with a great soundtrack.
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