The Phantom of the Opera

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Quan Feel so lucky to be able to finally see this on the big screen! Beautiful movie. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/29/23 Full Review Stuart T Joel Schumacher’s 2004 adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera is a rare kind of film—one that seeks not to reinvent a classic, but to translate it into a cinematic idiom accessible to a wide audience. At its core, it is a movie for the people: lush, melodramatic, unapologetically romantic. Where Leroux’s 1910 novel employed the tools of Gothic horror and detective fiction, Schumacher and Webber channel its essence into something operatic in the truest sense, a spectacle of sound and image meant to overwhelm the senses rather than analyze them. For readers of Leroux, there is a certain pleasure in tracing the continuities. Christine Daaé’s background as the daughter of a wandering violinist, her deep innocence mingled with artistic ambition, is not softened but heightened in Emmy Rossum’s performance. The Phantom himself—played with tortured grandeur by Gerard Butler—retains the duality Leroux gave him: the monster who is also a genius, the murderer who is also an artist, the lover who can never be loved. While the mask in this adaptation conceals only part of his face (a departure from Leroux’s skull-like horror), this choice reflects a shift in emphasis: the Phantom here is tragic more than terrifying, Romantic more than grotesque. The movie is at once faithful and interpretive. The labyrinthine Opera Populaire, filmed with sweeping camera movements and sumptuous detail, evokes Leroux’s Paris Opera House as both stage and crypt, a place of beauty haunted by shadow. When the chandelier falls—a moment that Leroux built into legend—it does so not merely as spectacle, but as the symbolic collapse of illusion, the fragility of art before obsession. What makes this adaptation resonate with broad audiences is precisely its accessibility. Leroux’s novel is brilliant but eccentric, a fusion of mystery novel, gothic romance, and feuilleton. Schumacher’s film smooths these contradictions, presenting the tale as a straightforward love triangle against the backdrop of grand musical numbers. For some purists, this simplification is a loss. Yet one might argue it is also the fulfillment of Leroux’s original populist spirit: his novel was serialized for mass readership, not locked away in elite circles. Likewise, Webber’s score—arguably one of the most recognizable in modern musical theater—belongs as much to popular culture as it does to opera. To read Leroux alongside watching Schumacher’s film is to see two different cultural sensibilities grappling with the same myth. Leroux offers Gothic terror, labyrinths, and psychological grotesquerie; Schumacher offers beauty, spectacle, and heightened emotion. Between them lies a shared fascination: the idea that genius, deformity, love, and cruelty can inhabit the same soul, and that art itself becomes the stage on which such contradictions play out. In the end, this Phantom is not a definitive version—it is a populist one, a translation of Leroux’s eccentric classic into the visual and musical language of modern cinema. And that, perhaps, is its greatest strength: it brings a century-old myth to life in a way that both honors its origins and speaks directly to contemporary audiences. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/14/25 Full Review Hayden L. Horrendous movie. Snoozefest, was just waiting for it to end Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 09/01/25 Full Review Mariam J An angel of music, and a shadow of a person.. Together in love, or fear? A phantom who's hiding.. Wearing a mask of eternal pain.. A pain of solitude.. A pain of loneliness.. Until he found a girl who saw what's behind the mask.. And wasn't afraid of it! In that moment, love turned into dark obsession.. Some musical scenes could've been better delivered as dialogs. I wish there were stronger musical notes by the phantom.. But.. The phantom of the opera is there.. inside your mind.... And the movie stayed inside my mind in the most dramatic way... The slow build of the intensity of the phantom's character was genuis.. The music.. The performances.. The combination of fear and engagement we felt as audience was remarkable! The placement of the songs and soundtracks completed this masterpiece of tears and love.. And the result was.. Epic! And as soon as Christine showed him compassion.. he left! He tried to control her to force her to love him.. instead he pushed her away even more! So, was it love he craved? Or was it compassion? Did Christine love him? Or did she just empathize with him? And through these beautiful questions.. I am left speechless.. Passionate about the characters.. Fascinated by the ending scene! Breathless by the explosion of emotions ignited by this movie! I'd rate it 8/10! Absolute brilliance. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/31/25 Full Review Thomas M Well worth watching. Rossum, Butler and Wilson shine! I have seen the theater production twice and found the movie every bit as rousing and captivating. We streamed it on July 2, 2025. Emmy Rossum was exceptional and as the Phantom said, "she sings like an angel". But, the shock to me was Gerard Butler who handled the lead as well as he does one of his action movies - yet this is a musical love story in which he is required to sing more often than not. His performance is exceptional. And Patrick Wilson as Raoul is sensational as is Minnie Driver as Carlotta. The one advantage the movie has over the stage production is that it can take the viewer to scenes filmed in different locations where the theatre version depends on sets that allow the attendee to imagine those settings. Of course the story has a great plot, a good script, and sensational music. All of those aspects have been touched by the genius of Andrew Lloyd Weber. Others have criticized this version for being long and having unnecessary extra scenes like the sword fight between the Phantom and Raoul. But, that conflict fits into the movie perfectly and belongs. And enjoying it so much after fifteen years after my second attendance of the stage play makes me realize it will withstand the sands of time. It is certainly worth the streaming fee. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 07/06/25 Full Review Laureen Joy T Such a master piece. The casts were great! I love Gerard's voice. He portrayed the role very well. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/05/25 Full Review Read all reviews

The Phantom of the Opera

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