Vanilla Sky a Fun-Filled Adventure

This film was a modern version of the film 'open your eyes' and it was unusual when I watched this how close the similarities were the only real difference is that Open your Eyes was all in Spanish whereas Vanilla Sky was all in English except for one or maybe two lines.

Both were very good yet maybe a little too much emphasis was put on confusing the viewer although when watched a second time or even if you watch them both it makes a lot more sense and is far easier to follow.

In both films the character Sofia is played by Penelope Cruz whereas Tom Cruise only plays David Aames in Vanilla Sky. Aames is a well off guy living a normal life who is 'friends' with Julie Gianni (Diaz) although she becomes jealous of Aames budding relationship with Sofia.

This leads to a moment in the film where Gianni confronts Aames about his relationship with Sofia; Aames then gets into the car with Gianni who comes to the realization that she is in love with David Aames. When his attempts to reject her prove unable to stop her from speeding the car up David begins to worry, at this point he begins to tell her that he loves her and still this does not work.

Gianni then drives the car off the side of a bridge and into a wall and floor below the bridge killing herself and also destroying the face and immobilizing the arm of Aames.

Throughout the film you are shown the confusion of Aames as he attempts to come to terms with what has happened to him however the one thing that is still able to flourish after a while is his relationship with Sofia.

During the film you see Aames confuse certain characters including Sofia and also including names of lesser characters which at first you assume is because of the trauma of what has occurred in his life, however it turns out to be a much deeper and in some ways darker reason.

You also see him trying to deal with times where he manages to confuse himself about the severity of his injury but again this is caused by reasons unexpected by the viewer however these reasons do become clearer through the course of the film.

Ok that is all I should say on the film plot as the rest of it contains many, many twists and turns that I should not divulge for the reason that this film contains such brilliant twists although the final and biggest twist is slightly obvious to the viewer although only when it draws near to this point in the film.

The acting is brilliant due to the quality of the actors used in this film such as Cruise, Cruz and of course Diaz as well as a smaller but still important role played by Kurt Russell.

Actually Russell does a very good job in his role as the character he has to play is one with a very original role in any film as you will understand if you have ever seen the film or of course if you choose to watch it, also the acting by the other characters in the film is also quite good and definitely contributes to the quality of the film.

Any fans of films which have a confusing plotline will probably be enjoy this film especially as it is all drawn together well at the end. This is my reason for my opinion that the directing in this film is very good as the way that a film which entails such confusing plotlines has been turned into a very watch able film is in my view quite an achievement.

I feel that this film is brilliant in certain ways although maybe slightly contrived in others although I would suggest that this should be given a break as it was based on a much lower budget film and concept, and in fact this is in no way a problem and only contributes to the style of the film.

I must say that I actually gave the film a lower mark than I would was I reviewing it specifically for fans of the genre but I feel that as a film for people in general this may be a little bit too confusing for some. As I have said the acting in this film is very good, as is the skill with which the Directing is done. It is a good film albeit a little bit contrived although this does not detract too much.

I would say that for fans of he genre this is a must see and for its genre I would give it eight or nine out of ten however for people wishing to just watch a film about some of the topics covered within such as love death except I would have to give the film slightly less this is why my final score for Vanilla Sky is...

Final Score: 7.5