This is interesting: Brothers Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz have both directed teen action vampire movies that are being released this fall. Chris the second in a quadrant of hugely successful, teenybopper vampire movies based on a series of books this side of "Harry Potter," the "Twilight" series, and Paul "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," also based on popular kid reads; the movie is a more visual, Shakespearian-style freaky fun-fest for the Gothic, and though it looks great the show is not a very serious or dangerous piece as the first "Twilight," while that was mostly overly sappy, held well with the suspense.
Interestingly, rumors in the trades say Chris Weitz will direct the final in the "Twilight" movies, which never needed the numbers on opening weekend to green light the rest in the series; "New Moon" isn't even out yet and the last film is already in pre-production. We will see how "Cirque du Freak" handles, but I doubt it will be as popular and that any more movies will be made; just because the movie has vampires doesn't mean it will be as successful as "Twilight." Thankfully, the filmmakers of "The Vampire's Assistant" probably never intended that, but tell it to the execs at Universal.
I like Paul Weitz as a director. He has a more stylized approach than his brother (who is more laid back), and brings more humor out of the material. We saw this in "American Pie," a movie he was given soul credit for though it was co-directed by Chris. Actually, "The Vampire's Assistant" is the first movie Paul directed on his own without the help of Chris, and I think he's proven himself. The movie is a zippy, darkly comedic fantasy action film that is well thought out and has tremendous fun with the material. But.....the big problem is what does it in.
Why doesn't the movie become serious, or suspenseful, when it needs to be? When things go down, when a lot of black-clad, evil vampires come stomping out to taunt the good vampires, why don't they seem more menacing? Where is the tension between these two groups of vampires? Where is the sentimentality? Where is the relationship between Darren and Crepsley, or the relationship between Darren and Rebecca, or with Evra, or with his family? The movie centers on Darren and Steve too much, and though it's important, never spans out to Darren and the Freaks. I don't care anyway, really, the characters aren't all that interesting.
Chris Weitz directed "The Golden Compass," his first tackle at the big budget, CGI heavy fantasy genre that didn't play well when released a few years back. That film, despite being very bland of emotion or direction, had good characters, and was very character driven. "The Vampire's Assistant" has a lot of various, distinctive personalities: The Freaks and the zealous suburbanites, but I could care less about them.
Again, I like Paul as a director, and he gave "The Vampire's Assistant" a lot of good, stylized action, and a lot of dark humor toward the life of the Cirque du Freak. I even liked the script written by Paul and established screenwriter Brain Helgeland (I didn't like that John C. Reilly had all the best lines, who, by the way, does a great job here).
But, if the movie was meant to become dangerous, why doesn't it?
"Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" is, sadly, another throw away fantasy series opener I'm sure won't extend to the rest of the books. But, it deserves to. I liked "The Vampire's Assistant," alright, and the series has potential and should continue, maybe even try harder and better for the next installment. If it gets the chance.
Again, we will see.
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