In 1986, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” opened on Broadway, and 30 years later, it is the longest-running and most successful musical in history.
While the source material is unquestionably flawed, they don’t let pure crap on Broadway run for that many years. Well, excluding “Cats.” And “Rent.”
But in 2004, the long-gestating film version was finally released, to the bile of fans everywhere. Starring the wildly miscast Gerard Butler as the Phantom and Emmy Rossum as the object of his affection, Christine, this version of “Phantom” was directed by the infamous Joel Schumacher. Yes, the “Batman and Robin” Joel Schumacher.
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This film is so amateurish, so unambitious, so spectacularly incompetent that it makes the “Rent” movie, which came out the year after, look like a masterpiece. The issue most glaringly obvious to the layman is Butler and Rossum. Plain and simple, they can’t sing. Butler’s is worse at first — he’s really more screaming than singing.
During “Music of the Night,” one of the Phantom’s signature numbers, he desecrates one of the most beautiful songs in recent Broadway memory. There are too many problems with his singing to list, but the worst is his belting. Whenever he lets his chest expand and try to sing at full power, it comes out as a guttural yell. It sounds genuinely awful, especially when compared to people like Michael Crawford and Ramin Karimloo who lend their spectacular voices to the role.
Rossum is honestly no better. Though her voice is somewhat more aesthetically pleasing, her lack of training and confidence is painfully obvious. Rossum was only 17-years-old when this film came out, and it shows.
If you listen to “Think of Me,” Christine’s first real showcase, it falls massively flat in the movie. Rossum just does not have a voice on the level of Sarah Brightman or Sierra Boggess, and while she can marginally carry a tune, she brings very little to it.
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Looking beyond the disappointing Butler and Rossum, the rest of the film just does not work. Schumacher, in all his incompetence, cannot manage to consistently create compelling frames. Even with the miserable performances from the two leads, this film’s biggest failings come from the technical aspects.
John Mathieson, director of photography for the film, was nominated for an Oscar for his work, which is completely baffling. The cinematography on “Phantom” is abysmal. Virtually every set is overlit and miniscule, a bad enough crime in and of itself. But the use of different shots is mystifying. There are so many long takes where there should not be long takes, presumably to hide how pitifully tiny the sets are. And when a long take could impart some degree of emotion on a frame, Mathieson and Schumacher employ cuts instead.
While Mathieson has done some other good work, such as “X-Men: First Class” and “Gladiator,” the crap seems to outweigh the good. His résumé is also loaded with abysmal flops like “Pan” and “47 Ronin.”
Honestly, there are enough issues in this movie, including comparisons to the original show, the book it’s adapted from and the multitude of other adaptations to prattle on for thousands and thousands of words.
But for now, content yourself with the fact that you could probably sing “Music of the Night” better than Gerard Butler.
