shadowsong26 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shadowsong26) wrote2013-02-21 01:49 am
shadowsong26) wrote2013-02-21 01:49 am
Entry tags:
(no subject)
So, I just watched a video review* of the heinous monstrosity (hah) that is the Queen of the Damned movie. Which, for the purposes of this commentary and this commentary only, I am going to acknowledge it exists. Beyond that, it doesn't.
Anyway, the review hits on a lot of the issues with the film--the frame-story plot doesn't work in the time period it was set/released in, the acting kind of sucks, Lestat's character/personality is condensed in a way that doesn't work, it wanders overmuch into Brooding Sexy Vampire territory, it focuses most of its plot on a portion of the books it's based on that only lasts like a collective 50 pages, it leaves mythos-centric characters in but excises the mythos, completely excising Louis, twisting Jesse's role into Shallow Love Interest...also, a lot of discussion about the way music plays into the book but doesn't work in the context of the film, that I hadn't thought of, but makes sense.
I saw this movie once, and once only, and the stuff mentioned in the review does bother me, in retrospect, from what I remember. Then again, about the only thing I remember about the movie is, cheesy though it was, Aailyah's performance was the one saving grace. Lena Olin (checking back at the cast list) might have been good, too, but I honestly don't recall her at all.
The main issue I had with the movie, though wasn't any of the stuff mentioned in the review. It was the mangling of Lestat's backstory. Yes, replacing Magnus with Marius was teeth-grindingly awful, but nothing, nothing compared to the removal of Gabrielle and Nicolas. Because. OMFG. Everything, but everything Lestat does in his life/existence ties back to his love for Nicki. Especially since he fixated on Louis for the latter's resemblance to his lost love. Everything about his relationship with Armand (the stuff with Armand's Satanist coven is ALSO cut), too, is informed by Nicki and, to a lesser extent, Gabrielle. And without that tie, he doesn't go looking for Marius, never finds Akasha, and basically does not become the vampire he is for the bulk of the series. I mean. For fuck's sake.
I kind of get the removal of Gabrielle. Because, y'know, squicky incest vibes. But the only reason I can see for cutting Nicki--especially since Louis was also cut, but Armand, inexplicably blond without even the excuse of Awesome Casting that gave him dark hair in Interview, was left in--is to make Lestat exclusively straight. So...ignore the relationship that made Lestat who he is, his first love, his second vampiric child...because Lestat must be straight.
FAIL.
But, anyway. My issues with the movies aside. A lot of the comments on the page (that weren't bitching about the discussion of Nu Metal) were about the fact that none of the Vampire Chronicles after Queen of the Damned are any good. So, I thought I'd give a brief rundown of my opinions, because I've read them all. (Even New Tales, but I'm not talking about those). These will not be spoiler free, and I'll put in trigger warnings as I recall them.
Tale of the Body Thief: I actually like this one. I think it's an interesting next step in the story of how vampires relate to their internal vestiges of humanity, the existential crises that involves, how having lived a full human lifetime plays into whether or not you'll be successful/happy as a vampire, and whether or not a mortal existence, with its limitations but lack of necessary slaughter** is better than the extremely sensory but morally bankrupt life of a vampire. Lestat's attempts to be human are, quite frankly, hilarious in how badly he fails at it, and his impulsive decision to turn David at the end is...IDK, but it gives me feels every time. If you liked the other Chronicles...well, it's different, so you might not like this one. But on the other hand, it's the logical next step, until/unless she wanted to focus on the flashback backstory of another popular vampire. There are suicide triggers in this book and the three that follow for sure, I don't recall for the last three if there are, though, sorry.
Memnoch the Devil: I...have no memory of this book. I think I only read it once or twice, and I guess it wasn't awful enough to leave a lasting impression, but it wasn't very good, either. I might reread, just to see. ANYWAY, from what I do recall, it's when Anne Rice started to focus her novels on Christian theology and morality, which kind of took the series away from what made it good. So, IDK. Unless you're trying to Complete The Set, so to speak, I don't know that I'd recommend reading this one. I'd have to reread to confirm that recommendation, though.
The Vampire Armand: Okay. Not really a secret, but I fucking adore Armand. He's my favorite of the main vampires--which is not to say I don't love the others, though Louis occasionally gets a little whiny for my taste. But I love Lestat, Marius is cool, Gabrielle is awesome, Claudia scares the shit out of me but is probably my second favorite...anyway. Armand is my favorite. (To the point where, *secret shame kind of not really*, in an RP I did, I built a character who was supposed to end up romantically involved with...either Louis or Lestat, I don't recall. She looked like Claudia if she'd lived to be sixteen, so it was def. one of them. Anywho, Emily was all 'nope, fuck this shit, I want the redhead.' And, ever since then, whenever I RP VC in my head or with anyone else, I can't make her shut up and/or let go of Armand. And yet, she never actually wants to be turned.) But I digress. I love his backstory (though SERIOUS rape/sexual assault triggers for this book, I'm not kidding), from his human life in all its locations to his vampiric life to his side of the story with regard to Claudia's destruction. What I don't love is the frame story. In part where Armand is during it, but mostly because of Sybelle and Benji. Because they seem to have no personality aside from Pianist Stuck On One Sonata and Cheeky Twelve-Year-Old Bedouin Boy and Sybelle's douchenozzle abusive older brother. I don't get why Armand is interested in them (other than they don't care he's a vampire and they feed him?), so they're not all that interesting to me, the reader, either. And them being turned at the end is SUPER FUCKING WHAT THE HELL, especially Benji, especially given all the things Marius has said about 'turning people who are not adults is BADWRONGNO, just look at Armand's issues and HELLO CLAUDIA'. But anyway. Skipping the frame story, I love this book. Read it if you like the series, even if you didn't like Memnoch--it's referenced, but since it's a backstory book, it doesn't really matter. Or at least read it if you like Armand, anwyay.
Merrick: This one seems to be an exercise in 'which beloved character can carry the Idiot Ball longest.' Because HELLO DAVID. HELLO LOUIS. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS. YOU KNOW BETTER. FFS. Louis I forgive a little more because Merrick is basically literally putting a love spell on him, but DAVID. Who WORKED WITH HER as part of the Talamasca and knows damn well what sort of magic/witchcraft she's capable of. The only good thing this book does is bring Lestat out of his weird Memnoch-induced coma. Don't bother with it.
Blackwood Farm: Okay. Fans of the series. Have you ever tried summing up Queen of the Damned/the origin story in like a sentence or two? I have. It went something like: "So, there was this king and queen in Egypt, only the queen was actually Babylonian, and there was ritual cannibalism that she didn't like and banned, so they were assassinated, but a demon sent by redheaded twins from Mt. Sinai (I think, it's been a while since I read QotD, I may have the location wrong) they'd pissed off a few years earlier possessed them instead, turning them into vampires. Then they turned a bunch of other people, including the aforementioned twins, there was this sort of mini-war and the twins were separated and sent drifting in stone coffins, one of them vanishing into South America." When you put it like that, without all the fleshing-out detail, it sounds kind of ridiculous, no? BLACKWOOD FARM MAKES EVEN LESS SENSE THAN THAT. OMFG. It ignores a lot of the mythos developed in both the earlier Chronicles, and in The Mayfair Witches***, Quinn is unlikeable and even whinier than Louis at his worst, Mona is...I don't even know how to describe her. Other than to say she basically made a bet with herself when she was thirteen to sleep with EVERY LIVING MALE TO WHOM SHE WAS BIOLOGICALLY RELATED (again with the incest, wtf?). And yet, it's kind of a guilty pleasure for me. In part for the way Lestat interacts with Quinn's family, in part for the sheer WTF canon-ignoring going on, in part for Goblin and the story behind him, which is...heartwrenching and could have been used so much more effectively if it had come in with a more likeable protagonist. I mean, if you can put up with all the problems in order for the few occasional moments of decent, you could read it? IDK if it's worth it, though.
Blood and Gold: Another barely memorable one. Which, considering that it's Marius's backstory, is kind of weird. I mean, it goes in depth into how he became a vampire, what his life was like in Rome at the dawn of the Empire, how he got his hands on Akasha and Enkil...and the frame story has an interesting premise, getting justice for what was done to Armand when the Satanist vampires stole him from Marius. Which...I don't know. It all just feels...flat and uninteresting to me. Maybe, like the Hulk in the MCU, Marius just isn't really equipped to sustain his own full-length novel the way Louis, Lestat, and Armand were. But that doesn't explain why the frame story sucked (hah), too. I don't know. It doesn't inform the last book at all, it's actually really disconnected from the rest of the series. I'd skip it, unless you have a die-hard love for Marius.
Blood Canticle: OH MY GOD DOES THIS ONE SUCK. No. Seriously. I mean. All the problems with Blackwood Farm only worse because no Goblin. Also, Lestat, who was able to perform complex hacking in another book, can now barely send a fucking email. Also, a lot of pointless tangential digressions, including one bawwwwwing about how much fans hated Memnoch the Devil. Honestly, though? The only parts of this book I liked were those digressions. Because they were less OOC than the rest, and because they're deep into so-bad-it's-hilarious territory. I still would avoid this book like the plague, though, even if you read Blackwood Farm. The funny moments just aren't worth it.
So, there it is. My thoughts on the latter half of the Vampire Chronicles and that film with Aaliyah that pretended it was associated with it. (I also have opinions on the musical and the Interview film, but this post is long enough) Hope you enjoyed it, or at least were willing to sit through my blather. <3 Sorry to have taken up so much of your time.
*I'd also recommend watching her Interview with the Vampire review, which is the first review she did. And I'm kind of hoping she'll review the musical at some point, but she hasn't yet, but IDK, since there's no official video or even soundtrack (THEY RECORDED A SOUNDTRACK WHY DID THEY NOT RELEASE IT D:). Her persona is a little over-the-top, but she makes good points about the films.
**Opinions of militant vegans aside
***I have only read one book in this canon, and that was Lasher. LOOOOTS of incest (Julien sires his niece, her daughter, and her daughter, if not one more generation, plus a separate not-from-incest granddaughter's daughter, and his son does similar stuff IDEK this family) and at least one instance of Rape Is Love. It's...um. Well, the stuff I remember from the one book I read was on the level of Rice's pornographic Sleeping Beauty trilogy, in terms of squick value. I wouldn't read it.
Anyway, the review hits on a lot of the issues with the film--the frame-story plot doesn't work in the time period it was set/released in, the acting kind of sucks, Lestat's character/personality is condensed in a way that doesn't work, it wanders overmuch into Brooding Sexy Vampire territory, it focuses most of its plot on a portion of the books it's based on that only lasts like a collective 50 pages, it leaves mythos-centric characters in but excises the mythos, completely excising Louis, twisting Jesse's role into Shallow Love Interest...also, a lot of discussion about the way music plays into the book but doesn't work in the context of the film, that I hadn't thought of, but makes sense.
I saw this movie once, and once only, and the stuff mentioned in the review does bother me, in retrospect, from what I remember. Then again, about the only thing I remember about the movie is, cheesy though it was, Aailyah's performance was the one saving grace. Lena Olin (checking back at the cast list) might have been good, too, but I honestly don't recall her at all.
The main issue I had with the movie, though wasn't any of the stuff mentioned in the review. It was the mangling of Lestat's backstory. Yes, replacing Magnus with Marius was teeth-grindingly awful, but nothing, nothing compared to the removal of Gabrielle and Nicolas. Because. OMFG. Everything, but everything Lestat does in his life/existence ties back to his love for Nicki. Especially since he fixated on Louis for the latter's resemblance to his lost love. Everything about his relationship with Armand (the stuff with Armand's Satanist coven is ALSO cut), too, is informed by Nicki and, to a lesser extent, Gabrielle. And without that tie, he doesn't go looking for Marius, never finds Akasha, and basically does not become the vampire he is for the bulk of the series. I mean. For fuck's sake.
I kind of get the removal of Gabrielle. Because, y'know, squicky incest vibes. But the only reason I can see for cutting Nicki--especially since Louis was also cut, but Armand, inexplicably blond without even the excuse of Awesome Casting that gave him dark hair in Interview, was left in--is to make Lestat exclusively straight. So...ignore the relationship that made Lestat who he is, his first love, his second vampiric child...because Lestat must be straight.
FAIL.
But, anyway. My issues with the movies aside. A lot of the comments on the page (that weren't bitching about the discussion of Nu Metal) were about the fact that none of the Vampire Chronicles after Queen of the Damned are any good. So, I thought I'd give a brief rundown of my opinions, because I've read them all. (Even New Tales, but I'm not talking about those). These will not be spoiler free, and I'll put in trigger warnings as I recall them.
Tale of the Body Thief: I actually like this one. I think it's an interesting next step in the story of how vampires relate to their internal vestiges of humanity, the existential crises that involves, how having lived a full human lifetime plays into whether or not you'll be successful/happy as a vampire, and whether or not a mortal existence, with its limitations but lack of necessary slaughter** is better than the extremely sensory but morally bankrupt life of a vampire. Lestat's attempts to be human are, quite frankly, hilarious in how badly he fails at it, and his impulsive decision to turn David at the end is...IDK, but it gives me feels every time. If you liked the other Chronicles...well, it's different, so you might not like this one. But on the other hand, it's the logical next step, until/unless she wanted to focus on the flashback backstory of another popular vampire. There are suicide triggers in this book and the three that follow for sure, I don't recall for the last three if there are, though, sorry.
Memnoch the Devil: I...have no memory of this book. I think I only read it once or twice, and I guess it wasn't awful enough to leave a lasting impression, but it wasn't very good, either. I might reread, just to see. ANYWAY, from what I do recall, it's when Anne Rice started to focus her novels on Christian theology and morality, which kind of took the series away from what made it good. So, IDK. Unless you're trying to Complete The Set, so to speak, I don't know that I'd recommend reading this one. I'd have to reread to confirm that recommendation, though.
The Vampire Armand: Okay. Not really a secret, but I fucking adore Armand. He's my favorite of the main vampires--which is not to say I don't love the others, though Louis occasionally gets a little whiny for my taste. But I love Lestat, Marius is cool, Gabrielle is awesome, Claudia scares the shit out of me but is probably my second favorite...anyway. Armand is my favorite. (To the point where, *secret shame kind of not really*, in an RP I did, I built a character who was supposed to end up romantically involved with...either Louis or Lestat, I don't recall. She looked like Claudia if she'd lived to be sixteen, so it was def. one of them. Anywho, Emily was all 'nope, fuck this shit, I want the redhead.' And, ever since then, whenever I RP VC in my head or with anyone else, I can't make her shut up and/or let go of Armand. And yet, she never actually wants to be turned.) But I digress. I love his backstory (though SERIOUS rape/sexual assault triggers for this book, I'm not kidding), from his human life in all its locations to his vampiric life to his side of the story with regard to Claudia's destruction. What I don't love is the frame story. In part where Armand is during it, but mostly because of Sybelle and Benji. Because they seem to have no personality aside from Pianist Stuck On One Sonata and Cheeky Twelve-Year-Old Bedouin Boy and Sybelle's douchenozzle abusive older brother. I don't get why Armand is interested in them (other than they don't care he's a vampire and they feed him?), so they're not all that interesting to me, the reader, either. And them being turned at the end is SUPER FUCKING WHAT THE HELL, especially Benji, especially given all the things Marius has said about 'turning people who are not adults is BADWRONGNO, just look at Armand's issues and HELLO CLAUDIA'. But anyway. Skipping the frame story, I love this book. Read it if you like the series, even if you didn't like Memnoch--it's referenced, but since it's a backstory book, it doesn't really matter. Or at least read it if you like Armand, anwyay.
Merrick: This one seems to be an exercise in 'which beloved character can carry the Idiot Ball longest.' Because HELLO DAVID. HELLO LOUIS. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS. YOU KNOW BETTER. FFS. Louis I forgive a little more because Merrick is basically literally putting a love spell on him, but DAVID. Who WORKED WITH HER as part of the Talamasca and knows damn well what sort of magic/witchcraft she's capable of. The only good thing this book does is bring Lestat out of his weird Memnoch-induced coma. Don't bother with it.
Blackwood Farm: Okay. Fans of the series. Have you ever tried summing up Queen of the Damned/the origin story in like a sentence or two? I have. It went something like: "So, there was this king and queen in Egypt, only the queen was actually Babylonian, and there was ritual cannibalism that she didn't like and banned, so they were assassinated, but a demon sent by redheaded twins from Mt. Sinai (I think, it's been a while since I read QotD, I may have the location wrong) they'd pissed off a few years earlier possessed them instead, turning them into vampires. Then they turned a bunch of other people, including the aforementioned twins, there was this sort of mini-war and the twins were separated and sent drifting in stone coffins, one of them vanishing into South America." When you put it like that, without all the fleshing-out detail, it sounds kind of ridiculous, no? BLACKWOOD FARM MAKES EVEN LESS SENSE THAN THAT. OMFG. It ignores a lot of the mythos developed in both the earlier Chronicles, and in The Mayfair Witches***, Quinn is unlikeable and even whinier than Louis at his worst, Mona is...I don't even know how to describe her. Other than to say she basically made a bet with herself when she was thirteen to sleep with EVERY LIVING MALE TO WHOM SHE WAS BIOLOGICALLY RELATED (again with the incest, wtf?). And yet, it's kind of a guilty pleasure for me. In part for the way Lestat interacts with Quinn's family, in part for the sheer WTF canon-ignoring going on, in part for Goblin and the story behind him, which is...heartwrenching and could have been used so much more effectively if it had come in with a more likeable protagonist. I mean, if you can put up with all the problems in order for the few occasional moments of decent, you could read it? IDK if it's worth it, though.
Blood and Gold: Another barely memorable one. Which, considering that it's Marius's backstory, is kind of weird. I mean, it goes in depth into how he became a vampire, what his life was like in Rome at the dawn of the Empire, how he got his hands on Akasha and Enkil...and the frame story has an interesting premise, getting justice for what was done to Armand when the Satanist vampires stole him from Marius. Which...I don't know. It all just feels...flat and uninteresting to me. Maybe, like the Hulk in the MCU, Marius just isn't really equipped to sustain his own full-length novel the way Louis, Lestat, and Armand were. But that doesn't explain why the frame story sucked (hah), too. I don't know. It doesn't inform the last book at all, it's actually really disconnected from the rest of the series. I'd skip it, unless you have a die-hard love for Marius.
Blood Canticle: OH MY GOD DOES THIS ONE SUCK. No. Seriously. I mean. All the problems with Blackwood Farm only worse because no Goblin. Also, Lestat, who was able to perform complex hacking in another book, can now barely send a fucking email. Also, a lot of pointless tangential digressions, including one bawwwwwing about how much fans hated Memnoch the Devil. Honestly, though? The only parts of this book I liked were those digressions. Because they were less OOC than the rest, and because they're deep into so-bad-it's-hilarious territory. I still would avoid this book like the plague, though, even if you read Blackwood Farm. The funny moments just aren't worth it.
So, there it is. My thoughts on the latter half of the Vampire Chronicles and that film with Aaliyah that pretended it was associated with it. (I also have opinions on the musical and the Interview film, but this post is long enough) Hope you enjoyed it, or at least were willing to sit through my blather. <3 Sorry to have taken up so much of your time.
*I'd also recommend watching her Interview with the Vampire review, which is the first review she did. And I'm kind of hoping she'll review the musical at some point, but she hasn't yet, but IDK, since there's no official video or even soundtrack (THEY RECORDED A SOUNDTRACK WHY DID THEY NOT RELEASE IT D:). Her persona is a little over-the-top, but she makes good points about the films.
**Opinions of militant vegans aside
***I have only read one book in this canon, and that was Lasher. LOOOOTS of incest (Julien sires his niece, her daughter, and her daughter, if not one more generation, plus a separate not-from-incest granddaughter's daughter, and his son does similar stuff IDEK this family) and at least one instance of Rape Is Love. It's...um. Well, the stuff I remember from the one book I read was on the level of Rice's pornographic Sleeping Beauty trilogy, in terms of squick value. I wouldn't read it.