*** Official "VANILLA SKY" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Michael Reuben]

posted by BrettisMckinney:

I think spoilers are probably ok for this thread.

The original thread didn't warn in its title that there might be spoilers; so there was a risk. Now that it's part of an Official Discussion thread, spoilers are OK. Official Review threads are supposed to remain spoiler-free.
M.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Matt,

As I mentioned in one of my last posts in the original thread, I view VS more as a standard Crowe story discussing the themes of forsaken or bittersweet love rather than being a film with a twist that needs to be made more vague for impact.

That is why I don't see any explanation as a fault because the point really isn't to warp YOUR brain, but rather Cruise's. We are on the outside watching a disillusioned romantic being humbled by reality (and I'm not talking about his face damage either).

In that way I find VS to be far more satisfying than Sixth Sense because it was far less about where the film went at the end and instead was very focused on the emotional impact of the final act. 6th Sense sort of bailed out after that moment when I was most hoping to see it go further with Willis's emotions and interaction with HJO. Not that MNS film isn't very solid stuff, just that I really respect VS and Crowe in general.

And as I also mentioned awhile ago, I don't see OYE being much different as a narrative and I don't understand the complaint that Crowe dumbed down the story nor overexplained it. I thought both films followed a very similar line in the final act.

To me VS vs OYE is very much like Fistful vs Yojimbo.