Rating: 
Summary: This movie has its moments
Review: Areas of this movie live up to the expectation. Aaliyah, as Queen of the damned gives the movie most of its credibility. The scenes when Lestat is singing the music of Korn provide the rest. Outside of this, the movie was disappointing, and overall failed to capture the drama of Anne Rices story. The movie moves all too quickly through the plot and does very little to develop any of the characters. There is a very pop-culture feel to this movie, much like that of the crow or many more of the B grade vampire movies around. I must admit I was hoping for more on that score. As for inconsistencies with the book. Well there are a lot of them. Marius is hardly the same character. No brooding in his art or no mention of only killing the evil doer. Not to mention, the movie describes him as the maker of Lestat. (Why?) How hard can it be to tell the truth? There is no mention of Maharet's sister, Mekare; Nothing of Pandora. The final scene is completely inconsistent with the book. Still. I am glad I saw the movie and it was still worth watching (as a Anne Rice fan).
Rating:
Summary: Try This
Review: Ignore the title. Stretch your imagination to the breaking point. Pretend this film has nothing to do with the Vampire Chronicle books (which it doesn't, but is supposed to). I did and actually found myself enjoying parts of this much as I do your standard Saturday afternoon B-movie or a ripping good MST3K. One thing I greatly enjoyed was the character of Marius. In fact, I liked him better than the original. Initially, I was intrigued with Marius as he was originally written. Then the author imbued him with all the charm of a funny Uncle Bad Touch and the intrigue vaporized. This Marius is nothing like that character. He has a witty and playful sense of humor and I loved the way he toyed with Giles - I mean David. David too was well played and well rounded and both characters provided welcome relief from the ghastly plotting and performances infecting the rest of this film. But, aside from the director's indecision as to whether he was doing overblown melodrama or high camp, what was seriously flawed about this effort? What relegated this to the MST3K vault? Editorial decisions. Scenes that were cut because they "would have made the film too long." I'm certainly not suggesting their inclusion would have put this in Oscar contention, but they would have worked wonders for continuity and clarification. Lestat's entire backstory for instance. Too long. Unnecessary. Cut it and put it in the "bonus materials" section. More fascinating still perhaps, as someone mentioned, was the sudden and unexplained appearance of The Ancients. Who were they? Where did they come from? Where did they fit into this? Apparently the explanation for that too contained too many character profiles and details that would have confused the unwashed masses. Better to just throw them into the mix and leave everybody guessing as to who they were and what they were doing there. I'm sure there were more, but it's been some time since I watched this. Talk amongst yourselves. Hopefully some day someone will try this again. Hopefully that person will have actually read the book and try to stick a little closer to the plotline. Until then, view this movie as a stand alone B-effort that just coincedentally has the same name as a well-known book. You'll sleep better.
Rating: 
Summary: WORST MOVIE EVER
Review: I am a HUGE Anne Rice fan.I looked foward to seeing thsi movie once I knew it ws in production. But I should have had a clue when it was going to go straight to video. Once Aliyah passed away theu released it. They should have laid the movie to rest. I think this is the worst movie ever! It did not follow the storyline of the book. Even if you take it as just a vampire movie not based on Anne Rice's beloved characters, it still did not even make sense. My advice is to watch one of the greatest movies, Interview with a VAmpire and forget this movie exists. That's the only way I can get past this abomination of a movie. NO ONE SHOULD EVER EVEN WATCH THIS MOVIE MUCH LESS BUY IT!
Rating:
Summary: How could Anne allow such a massacre?
Review: How could Anne allow such a massacre? Honestly this is one of the most worst films I have ever seen and I can't believe Anne Rice allowed it, even giving I heard a good review about it. Obviously Anne is just as disappointed as her fans are, because I know if I was her I wouldn't be calling this film even an moderate movie. It was horribly done, and the storyline as well as the characters were far from being accurate. And there were only a few characters you ever saw! And then at the end of the fricking movie after the credits, they show one clip that is supposed to make us Vampire Chronicle readers all feel better by shoving in a another character or two who give a one sentence line and that's it, including Armand who looked so terribly wrong from the picture Anne and sexy Antonio Banderas gave us, but I can't even mention how he really looked because I was still staring in amazement at Marius's sudden haircut! If you loved Interview with the Vampire which most did, you will absolutely, positively, hate Queen of the Damned. It's a huge joke. Instead of the moving being labeled horror it should be labeled comedy because that's exactly what it is. Interview with the Vampire gave me shivers, and the characters were top notch. Even Kirsten Dunst played a convincing vampire. But all these characters on Damned are lousy, and they didn't fit in. Stuart was, unlike Tom Cruise, the right age of Lestat, but that's pretty much it. The acting, the vanity, the shivers Lestat gave, Tom Cruise had given the best of those needful qualities. Stuart didn't look like Lestat, he didn't sound like Lestat, and he didn't appear as a vampire. I was thouroughly disappointed in this film, and I don't recommend it. They tore up the novel of Anne's that was a bestseller, and turned into a cheesy fang thriller that no one ever likes. There's no plot, just a bunch of poorly made action scenes that not even someone who doesn't follow Anne Rice would enjoy, or at least not greatly. And they even went to a new low in the history of movie companies changing books into bad films by taking out the most important character in the entire movie, which was Mekare, the woman who was actually supposed to kill Akasha, and never even mentioned her, hoping that Maharet, her sister, would do. Which it doesn't. That was a low, and I can't imagine why they did that. They could have done a much better film if they had taken more time to audition, taken more time for makeup, taken more time for scenes, and most of all, taken time to study the novel more, and maybe even study Geffen's much more brilliant version of one of Anne's novel turned into movie Interview with the Vampire. As an Anne Rice fan, I was totally am deeply offended and disappointed, and even if I never heard the name Anne Rice, I would still hate the movie because it was poorly done and appeared not to have been even cared about. Anne protested against Interview, when she should've saved all that criticizing energy for the future when an ominous force called Queen of the Damned the movie came to her vision.
Rating: 
Summary: You might be surprised
Review: Okay, first things first. To reiterate what everyone has been moaning about, this is not a sequel to Interview with the Vampire and though it is based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name, if you come to the movie expecting an accurate visual recreation of the events depicted within the book, you're going to be sorely disapointed. However, watch with an open mind and maybe slightly under the influence of a few drinks and you may find yourself easily entertained for the duration of the movie. The film stakes it's claim (pun intended) from the get go. It's a film about a rock star vampire so if the idea sounds ridiculous to you, then you probably won't get it. However, those out there who realise it's an idea with a veritable gold mine of rich and intoxicating avenues open to it will relish the images served up in the movie. The critics, while openly singing Aaliyah's praises, panned the film mercilessly, singling out Stuart Townsend inparticular. I personally think Aaliyah's performance to be a little overated and found Townsend's performance to be right on the dot. Nowhere near as good as Near Dark and The Lost Boys, Queen of the Damned warrants at least one late night viewing for those with a taste for the macabre (and a fondness for heavy and brutal music would also be a benefit). Watch and you may be surprised and I'll see you in the Admiral's arms (if I ever find the [darn] place).
Rating:
Summary: DON'T BUY IF YOU READ THE BOOK!
Review: I'm a fan of Anne Rice and have all her Vampire Chronicle books. I loved the movie Interview With The Vampire and was really looking forward to seeing Queen of the Damned. I was so disappointed. Anne Rice did the screenplay for Interview and it was very well adapted to a movie. Anne Rice did not do the screenplay for Queen and it really shows. The book was far better. I only gave this 2 stars because I know people who have never read the books and they liked the movie. I suppose for them it was good. For me this movie totally destroyed a very exciting story. Queen is one of the best books in the Vampire Chronicles. I just wish the movie had done a better job of telling the story.
Rating:
Summary: ....Yeah, If You Read The Books...DON'T WATCH THIS!
Review: This movie sucked. They took two amazing books (The Vampire Lestat & Queen of the Damned) and slammed them together; hoping in some way to make a good movie...well, they failed! I know everyone was so hyped about this movie being Alyiah (sp) last film whem she died but the movie didn't do whatever start of a acting career justice. Hell, it was even like the Aksaha in the book! They storyline is all mashed together and ... MARIUS is NOT Lestat's sire and that is NOT how Lestat learned to play the violin. They should have taken the time and made two movies and cultivated the story. I do think Stuart Townsend made a wonderful Lestat and it's too bad he wasn't in Interview with a Vampire because it was Lestat's true age... but... trust me, rent this before you buy it. The only thing cool I found while watching a friend's DVD is that it has the music video's for a few of the songs.... PS - The soundtrack is AMAZING
Rating:
Summary: Aaliyah is wonderful
Review: I finally saw Queen of the Damned at someone's recommendation. If she hadn't recommended it, I never would have rented it. I'm glad I did; I really liked it. Aaliyah was amazing as Akasha. All I could think was that is was such a tragedy and a great loss for her to die when her career was just beginning. She was amazing. And I also thought it was pretty creepy that she died so soon after she played the queen of the undead . . . gives me chills. The story is good, and the captivating nightime cinematography pulls you into a world where vampires walk among humans. The great soundtrack should send Goths rushing to the store in a frenzy. I do think the movie was too long. I would have gone nuts sitting through it in a theater unless I had been forewarned about the length. Parts of it are too slow-moving. Stuart Townsend as Lestat did the best he could with the character, but unlike Interview With the Vampire, Lestat in "Queen" is written as a secondary character to Akasha, although he has much more screen time than she does. But when Akasha comes on screen, she is mesmerizing, and it is worth the wait. The actor who played Marius, Lestat's sire, is the best male actor in the movie, and steals the show when he is onscreen with Townsend.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but Fascinating
Review: This is a film that on first viewing seems bad. Then I realized I couldn't get it out of my mind. Now I consider it fascinating for certain elements, and Stuart Townsend makes a great Lestat, sexy and charming, as well as the accent being more correct. I love Tom Cruise, but Townsend seems more relaxed as Lestat. The character of Akasha is almost impossible to play - like casting Helen of Troy, you can't please everyone. But the actress gains a lot of sympathy for her death before film's release. I found many elements of the film - including Akasha - to be more campy than dramatic. The producer & director pay a lot of lip service to fans' complaints during their commentary track, basically making excuses for themselves, leading me to believe they really wanted to make their own vampire-is-modern-rock-star film but were stuck cashing in on the Anne Rice association. For example, one of the biggest complaints about the Lestat in this film, that he preys upon groupies. In the books he only preys upon evildoers (and he can read their minds to determine such). The producer and director threw out Lestat's being able to read minds entirely, and say only that Lestat's morality is basically an inconvenience to them, so they choose not to believe in it. So treat the books and film completely separately and you should have a good time. The deleted scenes and Lestat music videos are a bonus.
Rating:
Summary: The movie was terrible...
Review: except when Aaliyah was in it, and that wasn't very long. I know she's supposed to be all evil, but the lie they sold us (Aaliyah's fans) was that she was in the movie for a long enough time that we would see her as evil Akasha and not wholesome Aaliyah. So that when it was time to kill Akasha, we wouldn't see it as Aaliyah dying.. that's some BS. besides the fact that damn Akasha sort of burns to death (you gotta see it my way), and that she's not even in the movie 45 minutes, I have to say disappointment is not even the word. My girl represented her role though. it was nice to see Aaliyah in that stretch of a role. far different from herself, or her other role in Romeo Must Die. She did an awesome job at being evil. The bar scene was bad-ass, don't front. But I just wish she was in the movie longer. I think the movie should have been called "lestat's perrils" or something other than Queen of the Damned. Why hint like the Queen would be there longer than 32 minutes? Normally when a movie is named after a person, that person is in the movie for much longer. It's a little shady on the part of Warner Brothers and Rymer and them. I almost buy into the rumor that it was gonna go straight to video until Aaliyah died. People always out to make a buck on someone else's dime... I dont' know. I hope that wasn't the case.Either way, she really did a great job in her last role.
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