Review of Vanilla Sky (2001) by Edgar C — 06 May 2010

Cameron Crowe's 2001 remake of Alejandro Amenabar's Spanish thriller Abre Los Ojos (1997) is a waste of time. Despite a big-name cast, the acting in this movie is highly disappointing.

This all starts with Tom Cruise, who absolutely butchers the protagonists role. Instead of portraying a desperately distressed and insecure youth (as admirably played by Eduardo Noriega in the original) - Cruise comes off as an unstable nut-job driven by his vanity. This removes all sort of empathy between the audience and the character, and results in an incoherent and unimpressive plot sequence. It must also be noted that while Penelope Cruz puts in a good effort, she should stick to Spanish films. Despite playing the same character in both renditions of this film, her performance deteriorates in the remake.

The few redeeming qualities of Vanilla Sky lie in the brilliance of Oscar-winning cinematographer John Toll. Certain scenes and dream sequences (the opening Times Square shot, in particular) are extraordinarily shot and very visually pleasing.

Aside from this, however, there is very little reason to watch Vanilla Sky. It's a longer and crappier version of Abre los Ojos.