Queen of the Damned

Queen of the Damned
by Michael Rymer

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Movie Reviews of Queen of the Damned

Movie Review: Stuart Townsend IS Lestat!
Summary: 5 Stars

In order to tie the story together the filmmakers used a little artistic license. To shorten the very LONG story about how Lestat became a vampire and to tie he and the character Marius together quickly, they decided to make Marius the one who turns Lestat into a vampire. In the grand scheme of things this is minor. The story as told in the book described an ancient albeit insane vampire that changed Lestat because he found him beautiful then kills himself. Tying Marius and Lestat together makes sense for the movie. It established the relationship quickly and certainly didn't hurt anything. The intent of the story remains intact.

Another point many people seem to have missed is Lestat as portrayed in Anne Rice's books is NOT "homosexual" in the classic sense of the word. He can't HAVE sex in her books, except for a brief jaunt as a human in "Tale of the Body Thief". He does not think in terms of gender in her novels. It is a person's very being, who they are, that attracts him since he is always in search of kindred spirits to share eternity with.

Lastly, the filmmakers have taken some artistic license with the other characters. They eliminated the character Maharet's mad sister. They do not actually tell you in the movie the names of the vampires that band against Akasha, Queen of the Damned, other than Maharet and Marius. The decision to de-emphasize the ancient vampires was a good idea because their own stories are irrelevant to this movie. It doesn't affect the outcome of the story. They destroy Akasha less brutally than in the book but again, the outcome is basically the same.

Then there is the character of Jesse, Maharet's human descendant. Jesse becomes Lestat's love interest in the movie whereas in the book she ended up with a broken neck at the rock concert and Maharet is the one who turns her into a vampire. This piece of artistic license is an interesting twist and works quite well. Lestat in Anne Rice's novels does have a tendency to become enamoured of an individual for a variety of reasons and the way they weave Jesse into this slightly different role for the movie is not out of keeping with the characters.

One last thing people may find criticism in is the filmmakers did not attempt to make Stuart Townsend a blonde for his role as Lestat. It doesn't matter. Townsend BECOMES Lestat for this film and it beats the heck out of the horrible dye job they did on Tom Cruise. Townsend has the delicate, aristocratic features Lestat is supposed to have and emanates the raw physical attractiveness that the "Brat Prince" Lestat is supposed to possess. I would personally love to see him play Lestat opposite Brad Pitt as Louis. He is the first actor in a long time I've seen that could hold his own next to Pitt.

Having established what somebody who has read Anne Rice's books may notice or even find to be a shortcoming, let me address the film itself. The story is about the vampire Lestat who decides to become a rock star to stir up the world of the vampires. In the process he awakens Akasha, the "Mother" of all vampires who has been in a trance-like state for centuries. Akasha comes for Lestat, saving him from the angry vampires and it quickly becomes apparent she is completely insane. It is then up to the ancient vampires that know of her existence to destroy her.

The actors are wonderful. Aaliyah plays the queen to perfection, evil and immoral. Stuart Townsend IS Lestat in this movie, bold, beautiful and constantly at odds with everything. The movie does the seemingly impossible. It weaves two of Anne Rice's wonderful books together into one visually spectacular piece. The songs written specifically for the soundtrack are exactly what one would imagine Lestat would write, raging against everything while giving away the vampire's deepest secrets.

Overall, if you like vampire movies you're going to love this one. If you're an Anne Rice fan with an open mind for some artistic license you should love the film as well. It doesn't follow her books EXACTLY like "Interview With the Vampire" did but the end result is wonderful. While Tom Cruise did a surprisingly good job as Lestat in "Interview" Stuart Townsend BECAME Lestat for "Queen of the Damned". As a writer myself I understand that rarely if ever does an author have any input on a film once the screenplay is sold. If I were Anne Rice, I would be very happy with the way they treated my characters and brought them to life.

Summary of Queen of the Damned