¨It is said that blood is thicker
than water. It is what joins us, binds us... curses us. My name is Barnabas
Collins, and this is my tale.¨
Dark Shadows is the latest collaboration
between director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp; it happens to be their
eighth time working together. The bond between them just might be thicker than blood.
Their friendship began when they worked together in Edward Scissorhands more
than 20 years ago and it has developed from there on as they`ve collaborated
with each other repeatedly, making some great films together and others not so
much. Dark Shadows will be one of those films that fall in the not so great
category and may perhaps be a sign that their collaboration together is getting
old and repetitive. We all know how great of an actor Johnny Depp is and he`s
always enjoyed to play these kind of eccentric characters. That is why Tim
Burton seemed to be a perfect fit for him as a director because he`s such a
great art director who is able to paint an eccentric vision of the world. Actually
that is the only element that worked in Alice in Wonderland, and is what saves
Dark Shadow from being rotten: the fantastic art direction. Burton takes us
back to the 70`s with some wonderful visuals and recreates a small fishing town
to perfection. Johnny Depp also gets to play a very eccentric character once
again as he`s a vampire who`s just awoke from the 18th century, so
it plays out as the classic fish out of the water tale. But just like in almost
every Burton film, you can`t fit his movie into one specific genre as it mixes
dark comedy with horror, fantasy and some romance. Dark Shadows at times fits
in all of these categories and at others it’s just hard to figure out what
Burton was trying to do.
During the 18th century the Collins
family leaves England and arrives in America with the prospect of building a
fishing empire. They do so and end up having the town named after them:
Collinsport. They build an enormous mansion and have several servants working
for them, but they fall under an evil curse when their son Barnabas (Johnny
Depp) breaks the heart of a witch named Angelique (Eva Green). He tells her
that he doesn’t love her and ends up falling in love with the beautiful Josette
(Bella Heathcote). Angelique curses the family by killing Barnabas`s parents,
Josette, and turning Barnabas into a vampire and burying him alive inside a coffin.
The story then jumps to the year 1972 where we are introduced to the surviving
members of the Collins family residing in the very same mansion which is now in
evident decay: Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her teen daughter Carolyn
(Chloe Grace Moretz), Elizabeth`s widowed brother Roger (Jonny Lee Miller) and
his tormented son David (Gulliver McGrath), and their staff which consists of
David`s psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), Willie Loomis
(Jackie Earle Haley), and Mrs. Johnson (Ray Shirley). Barnabas is released from
his coffin by accident when some construction workers find the coffin and open
it. He returns to the mansion which is now in ruins and after convincing
Elizabeth of his true identity promises that he will restore the family to its
former glory. What he doesn’t know is that the town is run by Angelique now he
is still very much alive and hasn’t aged one bit.
The first half of the movie worked for me as a
very dark comedy. I actually enjoyed the film, until the final act which just
went a little too far in its bizarre act and eccentricities (even for Tim
Burton standards). The final act was a disappointment, but I did enjoy most
parts of the story. Johnny Depp played his usual strange self and Michelle
Pfeiffer was great in her role. She claimed to be a fan of the original soap
opera that took place during the late 60`s and 70`s which this film is actually
based on. Despite the television show not being a comedy, this film actually
plays out as one in the same way most 70`sand 80`s TV series are being turned
into in recent years. I am a big fan of Chloe Grace Moretz and have followed
her since her work in 500 Days of Summer, Kick Ass, and Let Me In. I wish she
had been given more screen time because she is always a delight to watch on
screen and had an interesting character. Dark Shadows is a very weird movie and
definitely not for everyone; it won`t be ranked among Burton`s best work either
(not even close) so I don`t know if fans will actually enjoy this film, but I did
have enough of a good time during most of the film to give this film a passing
grade.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario