The tyranist's thoughts
I first read Interview with the Vampire years ago as a teenager and promptly went out and bought both of the other two books that were part of the series at the time(Rish: so did I!). I didn't read them (Rish: Wait a minute, did you write this review or did I?). Since then Anne Rice has added a whole shelf of novels to the series and I still haven't read anything but Interview. The first time that I felt really bad about that was when I sat down to watch Queen of the Damned.
So Lestat, who has stopped looking like Tom Cruise and started looking like that Aragorn could-have-been Stuart Townsend, has awakened from a 100 years sleep to become a rock star. Along his path to fame and glory he has empissened the entire vampire community as well as virtually enthralling a paranormal researcher. Eventually, he gains the attention of Akasha, the queen of all vampires and crisis ensues.
I enjoyed the movie, but felt that it hurt itself in all the confusion about which story it was telling. Sometimes Lestat is the clear protagonist, sometimes it is Jesse (played ably by Marguerite Moreau), and sometimes they seem to want Akasha to be the protagonist, but that never works. In addition to that they've obviously blended two stories and there are tons of details that are foreshortened. It's too bad. If I had read the books I might be even more upset by it.
The script is decent as well as the acting. The soundtrack is appropriate if sometimes grating. I didn't really feel that anything was left unresolved at the end of the movie, but I sure felt like things were omitted in the middle. Not even the deleted scenes on the DVD really filled anything in though. The movie suffers from just trying to cram too much into too short a time.
If you like the vampire movies, then you'll probably enjoy this one. It isn't terrible by any stretch. I wonder how someone who's read all the books would like it.