This is a film for those who LOVE to think and ponder, to have stimulating thoughts and ideas running wildly through their mind triggered by what they're seeing--and actually find such stimulating thoughts MORE entertaining than mindless action. This is the OPPOSITE of a Marvel film. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, this movie is not for you. Don't bother with it.
In Vanilla Sky (the English language remake of "Open Your Eyes", re-imagined by writer/director Cameron Crowe), Tom Cruise begins the film as a multi-millionaire publisher being examined by a prison psychologist played by Kurt Russel while awaiting trial for murdering his girlfriend.
Cruise wears a mask to hide his disfigured face and claims to this psychologist that no such murder took place, that it is all a plot by the seven board members of his publishing empire (who Cruise refers to as The Seven Dwarfs) to eliminate him from the picture and seize control of the company.
He begins telling Russel the story of what he says happened, a story of mind-bending proportions.
After falling in love with Sophia (played by Penelope Cruze, who's playing the same role she played in the original Spanish language version), Cruise is tempted to get into the car of sometimes lover Julie (played disturbingly in her creepiest characterization by Cameron Diaz) who Cruise has treated carelessly, and who is so obsessed with him she has decided that if she can't have him, nobody can. She crashes her car in an attempt to commit suicide and take Cruise with her.
She succeeds in killing herself, but Cruise survives, terribly disfigured, metal plates holding his skull together, with cognitive issues, mind-splitting headaches in which he cannot even think clearly, a crippled arm and terrible damage to his body.
It is after this accident, that reality itself begins to shift all around him--and he is the only one who seems to notice.
Does reality truly constantly shift all around us all the time, but all our memories normally shift too so we aren't aware--yet his damaged brain no longer shifts like the rest of ours, making him aware of this happening while the rest of us aren't? Is what he's experiencing really a plot by The Seven Dwarfs to "gaslight" him and make him seem (and to believe himself) that he's gone insane in order to wrest control of the company away from him? Did he never really awaken from the accident and is this all a dream he's experiencing while actually lying unconscious in a hospital bed? Did he die in the accident and this is all some twisted form of hell he's being tortured within? Is he really insane and is what he's experiencing all his own hallucinations? Is he lying to the psychologist and making it all up? Is something even stranger than any of these theories happening here?
As your mind tries to solve the mystery of what's happening, you will either be entertained by the myriad of possible solutions your mind tries to manufacture to explain what you are seeing, or you will be bored and frustrated that the answers are not being spoon fed to you (until all is at last revealed in the very final scene of the movie).
The stimulation this film generates comes internally from your own thoughts and ideas triggered by what you are seeing, and if you don't find the process of thinking deeply, of exploring ideas internally within your mind, to be an entertaining and fun process (or are simply not accustomed to the practice, and find it to be drudgery), beware, because you won't be entertained by this film.
On the other hand, if you LOVE to think and ponder and explore ideas, this film will stimulate and entertain like no Star Wars or Marvel film ever could.
Some (not all) complain that the explanation offered at the end comes out of left field and seems "tacked on".
But, once you know what's really happening and see the film a second time, you will discover that this is not the the case at all, that clues to what's really happening abound constantly throughout the film, but the concept was so far from anything you could possibly have thought of that the plethora of unmistakable clues simply failed to register within your mind as such.
This is truly a mind-bending film that fits the definition of such a phrase perfectly. It is a mental exercise that will work up a mental "sweat" within your mind.
It is NOT a film for everyone!
But for the rare viewer who LOVES TO THINK and finds fertile internal mental stimulation fascinating and deeply entertaining, it is a fantastic film like few others you will ever encounter.
I liked the original very much and liked Cameron Crowe's version even more.
I found his script to be tighter and he filled in a couple of very, very minor plot holes of the original nicely.
Some prefer this version, some prefer the original. It is all a matter of personal taste, but this is by far the better made version from a purely technical filmmaking standpoint.
I recommend this film highly for deep thinkers who DO find mentally stimulating workouts FUN, and recommend against it for those who DON'T like to work their minds very hard when watching a movie. I have friends who say (with revulsion), "I don't go to a movie to THINK!"
This is NOT a movie THEY will like.
It will honestly be either a great movie or a terrible movie to you depending upon which type of viewer you are.
Nothing is more fun to ME than deep thinking, so I loved it myself. If you, too, LIKE to think, I recommend it highly.
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Reviews with images
A must buy!
This 4K restoration supervised by Cameron Crowe is simply beautiful! Crisp image, tons of extras! Just love it!!
Top reviews from other countries
Kevin
Vanilla Sky - 2023 4K / Blu-ray release
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2023
SILVIO OJEDA TABASCO
Buen título en 4K UHD
Reviewed in Mexico on November 14, 2023
SILVIO OJEDA TABASCO
Reviewed in Mexico on November 14, 2023
La imagen eso si es una mejora desde el blu-ray convencional, viéndose mejor en todos los apartados.
El sonido solo es en inglés DTS-HD MA 5.1 y subtítulos en español latino únicamente. El disco blu-ray no trae audio o subtítulos en español así que CUIDADO con eso.
El código digital es válido solo para iTunes USA.
Images in this review
