The Phantom Of The Opera (2004)

Set in 1870, a Paris opera house is haunted by an opera "ghost" who is said to live in the bowels of the theatre. A young soprano (Emmy Rossum) has been taken under the wing of the opera's mysterious phantom (Gerard Butler) who mentors her. But he soon has a rival when a man (Patrick Wilson) from the singer's childhood returns. Based on the smash Broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber by way of the 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux and directed by Joel Schumacher (THE LOST BOYS). This is one heavy handed musical and if I'm to be honest, Webber's musical spectacle should have stayed in the theatre where it belonged. It's just not very good and the film can't improve the material. Has a good movie ever been made from a bad stage musical? It has two good songs and Schumacher's staging of Masquerade is impeccable but it's overwhelmed by spectacle which in retrospect is a good thing because without it, this would be a thumping bore. The film makers have denuded the horror of Leroux's tale. When the phantom is unmasked, it's just some scarring and nothing to scream about. Butler (who's not a singer) is woefully inadequate as the phantom, Rossum gets by and Wilson, who I normally find appealing, is a cipher. With Miranda Richardson, Simon Callow, Minnie Driver and Murray Melvin.