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Queen of the Damned (Full Screen Edition)

Queen of the Damned (Full Screen Edition)

List Price: $14.96
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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: TERRIBLE
Review: I saw this the week it had opened and was disgusted by the lack of adaptation. It had no connection with the book except for stealing the names of characters. It was like some horrible MTV Original Movie.

The acting was absolutely terrible. I don't want to be harsh, but Aaliyah's effort in the film was awful, the only others who probably think otherwise are those who are still mourning over her death. Stuart was just downright ridiculous.

The directors ruined the book as a whole. I won't say anymore, since everyone's practically covered it all.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not as bad as I thought.
Review: I don't know why people are dissing my girl Aaliyah. I actually thought her acting would be horrendous, according to what I've heard, but in truth, not only was she a very beautiful woman, but an excellent actress. She reigns supreme as the Queen of the Damned, creepy, spooky, and outright regal. She is a woman in control.

Stuart Townsend is also an excellent choice for the rock star Lestat. He is beautiful enough to pull it off, for one.

The only fault I found with this film is that it can be sort of silly at times, but I blame that on the director/producer, not the actors.

Overall, the film is moderately entertaining, and I thought the acting was intense. I'm a picky person when it comes to films, and most of my film choices are rather high brow, but I actually liked this one. Rock on.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Queen of the Damned...Overlooked
Review: Some people think that just because Tom Cruise did not return to this sequel to Interview with the Vampire, that this movie would be terrible. Quite the opposite my friends. Stuart Townsend brings a sexy, passionate Lestat to the screen. I found myself loving every minute he dominated my TV. His presence and his acting are excellent. Alliah was good but sometimes her preformance was a little off. One thing I did not like about this movie is the BLONDE headed Armand instead of a black haired Armand (As Antonio Banderas played him in Interview). I also didn't like the fact that points with Louis were left out of this movie but...there can always be another sequel.

The music was to die for. I have never heard such a score and such an awesome collection of rock/metal music.

All in all...Queen of the Damned was a very good quality movie. Some parts are shakey but it is 100% worthy of seeing.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Trash!
Review: Let me begin by saying that I am probably about to point out things that others have already noted. I don't care; I just saw this awful excuse for a movie, and I am going to try my best to keep others from making my mistake!
I have loved Anne Rice since shortly after Interview With A Vampire (the movie) came out. Tom Cruise's portrayal of Lestat, in particular, drew me into the story. Now, true, the character Louis was hard to get behind (accurate to the book; Louis IS kind of a whiner) and Antonio Banderas, though he portrayed Armand beautifully, was physically about as inappropriate for the role as possible, and the end was a major departure from the book, but the movie held true to the general plot and personalities and feel of Anne Rice's world.
Not so with Queen of the Damned. It seems like the scriptwriters barely gave a nod to the plot; they borrowed the names of characters, but didn't even bother with their actual personalities; they took bits and pieces of some of the most insignificant bits of the book, without bothering with what was really important; they inserted ridiculous things that manufactured themselves.
For you who have not read, and probably will not read, Anne Rice, let me clarify a few of the most glaring points for you. We'll start with Lestat.
Lestat is a vampire. A self-proclaimed monster. He's not a nice guy. But he also drinks only the blood of the evil doer. I wouldn't call the poor girls he was chasing around in the movie evil doers. And Lestat is in love with humanity. Not just Jesse; he loves the members of his band, he loves David, he loves humans he comes into contact with. Humanity fascinates him.
Oh. And he can't fly. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that doesn't happen until AFTER he becomes Akasha's playboy.
As a note, I do think that with a better script, and a better idea of what he was doing, Stuart Townsend might have been as good a Lestat as Tom Cruise; maybe even better. As it was, he failed hard.
Then there's David. You don't see much of our boy David in the movie, which is ok. The little we saw of him, he was even well-portrayed. Except one little thing. Insiginficant, really, except that it's an essential part of the character. David is in his 70's. Hello?! The words "I'm too old" coming out of that actor's mouth are... Ridiculous.
Then of course, there's Marius. What did these butchers masquerading as screenwriters do to our lovely artist, our Roman scholar? They turned him into some sort of ... villain! Anyone who has read Vampire Lestat would cringe... To someone who actually read the book ABOUT Marius, his portrayal was perhaps the most painful of all. And to clarify a few key plot points related to Marius; he is NOT Lestat's maker. Teacher, perhaps, friend certainly, but not his maker. Moreover, Marius was trapped under tons of ice for most of the duration of Queen of the Damned; trapped by Akasha when she escaped so that he would not be able to interfere.
And Akasha... Aaliyah was great as Akasha. She was just as I'd pictured her, and the only reason I gave this movie two stars instead of just one. But, for the record, Akasha and Enkil were not actually statues. Their skin looked like marble, but not their clothes or eyes or hair or whatever. They had color, but the morons who wrote the screenplay apparently missed this.
Jesse, along with Maharet and the other ancients, is such a two-dimensional character in this movie I won't even go into them, except to say that it's sad that such characters so essential to the plot were so ignored. And when Lestat originally drank from Akasha, it was not Akasha who pushed him away; in fact, he was nearly KILLED by a jealous Enkil, and only just saved by Marius' intervention.
Now, a few notes about vampire lore. In the vampire club, when Jesse goes in looking for Lestat, claiming a relationship with the ancient Marius, one of the vampires tells her all of the ancients are dead. There is a reason for this belief. Just before Marius' time, Akasha and Enkil, her king, were dragged out into the sun by their keeper, in a bid to end their existence. While Akasha and Enkil only acquired a deep tan, because Akasha, who was the mother of ALL vampires, was burned, so every single other vampire was burned. New vampires were immolated; older vampires didn't die, but existed in agony. Their kind was nearly wiped out before the royal pair was dragged from the sun. Akasha's blood did NOT bequeath Lestat the ability to walk in the sunlight with no fear. If Akasha had actually walked into the sun, or through the fire, most of the vampiric population would have exploded into flame. And for Lestat, though after drinking Akasha's blood, sunlight would no longer kill him, it still certainly isn't pleasant.
Last of all, worst of all, is the plot. The scriptwriters took the most insignificant scene and turned it into the bulk of the movie. Lestat's awakening and discovering of rock music isn't even IN Queen of the Damned, it's in The Vampire Lestat. Moreover, that and the later battle comprise of perhaps two chapters, one out of each book. And yet in the movie, it's more than three quarters of the story! The rich history of the vampires is never touched on, even though it's the bulk of the plot in the book. It's vaguely mentioned that whoever drinks the last drop of Akasha's blood won't survive, but not why; they don't mention that if Akasha dies, all vampires die. And where is Mekere, Maharet's dumb (as in, tongue was cut out, not as in stupid) sister, the one who eventually took Akasha's essence into herself? Where is Akasha's quest to eliminate most men, to elevate women and establish herself as their goddess? Gone. Not even touched on.
Perhaps, if you never read the book, this is a watchable movie. But flashy special effects and attractive stars are no substitute for the depth of story that a movie like this COULD have had. Don't waste your time, don't waste your money - don't watch this movie.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Terrible adaption, but fun in itself.
Review: Of course trying to create a film from a book will always be hard, especially trying to make a film out of two books with extremely complicated plots.
But QOTD fails in so many respects to capture the plots and the messages of Anne Rice's books, and turns it into a romp of guitars, sex and blood and not much more. Not that this is always a terrible thing, but when comparing it to the books it is a shame.

Stuart Townsend plays a fantastically camp and perfectly cheesy vampire, which was what the whole film was about. Although he is very beautiful he in no way captures the role of Lestat. And why does he have brown hair?
Vincent Perez who played Marius was a delight to watch, yes, he seemed miss-cast, but if you forget the book, he was a good character.

However, in the end you get bored of the endless scenes of bloodsucking, and the depiction of the immense struggle of overcoming the Queen was not portrayed at all. In some places it becomes so clichéd you cringe. It is a film that is quite fun in itself, but when compared to the books, the complete changes in plot are just too drastic to ignore.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: lalala *windows break*
Review: ok, when i first borrowed queen of the damned, i had kinda wanted to see it. but then i watched it, i was completely blown away and i had my dad buy me a copy the next day. i liked it better than interview with the vampire. *nods* i know that some people don't like it, but i do.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The Horror....
Review: One thing that separated Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles from the hundreds of vampire drivel out there was her ability to develop deeply-layered characters that we could immediately identify with. Each one from Lestat to Pandora to Marius, had their own inner battles that served as an umbilical cord to their humanity. That along with the rich historic origins of vampirism exquisitely detailed from vampire to vampire, lent an aura of romanticism that few other writers could develop. The book, Queen of the Damned, connected the past with the present and introduced us to the group of immortals who hold the survival of fellow vampires in their hands. Queen of the Damned the movie, on the other hand, is just plain bad. From acting, writing, casting, directing, all facets of this exercise, which in essence is just a music video, utterly and miserably fail.

After years of hibernation, Lestat awakes in the 20th century and decides to "come clean" and cause a ruckus as he usually does. This he does by writing an autobiography (the Vampire Lestat) and joining a rock band and thereby announcing to the world the secret of the cabal. This, as you can imagine is not taken lightly by the other bloodsuckers who revel in their nonexistence, living on the fringes of society. The vampire nation decides it's time that Lestat shuts up forever. At the same time, Akasha, literally the mother of all vampires, is also awakened and decides to enforce her vision of utopia on the suspecting world.

Never have I seen such a bland, untalented, and unmotivated group of actors. Stuart Townsend plays a wooden and stiff Lestat who seems bored except when on stage. Aaliyah is truly miscast as Akasha. The scene where she enters a vampire bar is pure comedy. The few actors of substance like Lena Olin, are barely given any screen time. The dialogue is reminiscent of a cartoon. There are far too many vampire bar scenes where fashion attire is the only reason the scenes were shot. Black leather and heavy makeup, this is a good advert for the goth-look but nothing more. Itfs image and style over content and substance. It's no wonder that Anne Rice disassociated herself from it.

There seems to be a slew of directors from the MTV music video school of film making and though some learn enough to eventually make a decent film, the majority are better suited for commercials or even better yet, music videos. As long as it looks good, then it's fine. Eye candy works for a 5 minute music video but not for a 2.0hrs film. I didn't expect them to follow the storyline which is fine but it's clear that they chose this route only to appeal to the younger audiences in the same way they cast Townsend and Aaliyah. Demographically, I don't think the majority of Anne Rice's readers are teenagers. The only positive reviews I read, extol the beauty and looks of Townsend and Aailyah as reasons for liking the movie. Sorry but that's not enough for me and many others. I have made a note of those involved in this fiasco from the director to producers and will avoid anything they are involved in like the bubonic plague.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Terrible, just terrible
Review: It amazes me that anyone even remotely familiar with the book "The Queen of the Damned" could like this movie. The screenplay diverges horrifically from the original plot and is so badly riddled with holes that I wonder how many people can actually figure out what the heck is going on without the background information from the book.

Anne Rice should have had a bigger hand in the production like she did with "Interview With The Vampire". One of the largest problems with this movie is that it's way too short for the amount of content that really needed to be there. As I recall, many scenes were cut by the director for "pacing" reasons. What a shame that we have to cater to an audience with attention spans so slight that they cannot wrap their minds around a movie over 2+ hours long.

I believe that if you are going to make a movie out of a book, one should at least maintain general consistency with the original plot, otherwise don't bother giving it the same name. Many people may believe I am being unecessarily unfair by comparing a movie to a book since books usually can't stand as a screenplay on their own. This is true, however we have had some shining examples recently of books turned screenplays that have paid lasting tribute to their original stories. Interview With The Vampire is one such example, as well as the Lord of the Rings movies and the Harry Potters.

In terms of acting, it was very B-movieish. Nothing too spectacular here. Aaliyah is visually stunning as Akasha, despite the fact she is not Egyptian. Stuart Townsand plays the role of Lestat rather well, although I honestly think that Tom Cruise did a much better job of filing that role. Character development is at a minimum in this movie, something that is never overlooked in Anne Rice's writing and is what makes her books as interesting as they are. Hollywood should take better consideration of this if they plan on adapting any more of the Vampire Chronicles to film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great and entertaining movie.
Review: Stuart Townsend's portrayal as a attractive and sensitive vampire won me over :)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It appears to be a "love it or hate it" kind of thing
Review: I thought this movie was wonderful. Yes, I KNOW it isn't completely "true" to the 2 books, but considering that it IS a film on 2 books, I think they did a fantastic job. The music was FANTASTIC and there were some VERY lovely people in this film...


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