"Vanilla Sky"-A Movie of Many Psychotic Colors

From the moment Tom Cruise steps out into an empty Time Square we know we are in for a psychological ride of the mind. In the movie "Vanilla Sky" we are asked to question everything we know to be true and to take a look into our ourselves. "David," played by Tom Cruise, is running two parallel lives in which he can not tell which one is real and which one is his unreality.....and the results are far beyond our imaginings. The filmmaker demands us to be a smart audience and, therefore; challenges us to trust in his piece of artwork. I absolutely did and was not disappointed.

Tom Cruise, as the very screwed up "David," did a job far beyond what I thought his potential was. Naturally he was very good in "Interview With A Vampire," but he was also playing an extension of himself. In this movie is doing the same, but with the emotional range that I never thought possible for him. Penelope Cruz served her purpose beautifully as the love interest "Sofia." Usually I do not think all that much about Penelope Cruz, but after watching her performance in this I have to give her kudos. The point of her part is for us to believe that someone could be in love and stay in love with her. Her vulnerable sauciness definitely did that. One of the best performances has to go to Cameron Diaz. Again she is an okay actor, but when she performed in this film as "Julie" the psychotic stalker, I believed her. The move became more terrifying and intensified because of her role in this film.

Cameron Crowe who directed "Almost Famous" almost back to back with "Vanilla Sky" showed his range. His whole crew did (they carried over from "Almost Famous") His ability to drop clues that are not obvious, but are, throughout the whole film mystifies us and keeps us focused and intrigued by the situations and people. Not to mention it is completely different from the documentary style of "Almost Famous." Some more kudos go to his screenwriter Madeo Gil. It is hard in a movie that is so grounded in confusion to make the dialog play like he did (that is do in some part to the actors I must say). The way the plot slowly ascends to a climax is absolutely brilliant.....the conclusion was startling and unpredictable. Take it from someone who is usually very good at knowing what is going to happen in a movie before it happens. I was very surprised.

What we the audience, are to learn from the movie "Vanilla Sky" is the consequences of our actions. We learn that for every time we take action there is a consequence (sometimes bad, sometimes good), in the case of this movie, a bad consequence. The minute he stepped into that car with Julie he set himself up for all the heartache and hurt that he produced. Also, we learn about vanity. Although he didn't know he had it, the character "David" did from the very beginning. I don't think he realized it until the car accident. It is amazing when something like that happens to your appearance how you change. It is not because of how you look, but because of how you perceive yourself. Vanity has its serious consequences as well.

I would suggest going down to Blockbuster right now and picking up "Vanilla Sky." The only thing this movie closely resembles to the Monet painting is that one sequence has the sky from the painting in it. Otherwise, it is definitely not calm....artistic though. Anyways, from the moment you sit down get ready to be tested, terrified, and surprised.......oh, get ready to wonder if your life is real or unreal....its the consequence of your actions, but you knew that.