Review: Cirque Du Freak Vol 2 by Darren Shan And Takahiro Arai
In The Vampire’s Assistant, Darren returns to the old-fashioned freak show where, thanks to Mr. Crepsley, he became a "half-vampire." Darren once again struggles against the urge to feed upon the human blood his health requires.Darren Shan was born in London but at an early age he moved to Limerick, Ireland, with his parents and younger brother. He grew up watching old Dracula horror movies and reading spooky comics, which were the inspirations for this series.
Review:
I am rather indifferent to this series so far, but I can see the appeal for younger readers who crave an action packed story. There’s just enough gore to hook those looking for a slightly scary, fast paced adventure that doesn’t require much thought. Darren’s struggle to avoid drinking human blood makes the young half-vampire a more sympathetic character, and his confused feelings for Lartan make for a suspenseful read. The freak show setting offers up the opportunity to introduce a cast of creepy and dangerous characters as well.
Darren is struggling to accept his new reality. He’s a vampire, and in order to thrive and stay alive, he has to drink human blood. He refuses, insisting instead on consuming only animal blood. His master, Lartan, is at a loss. How can he convince the stubborn boy to drink human blood? Darren refuses, even knowing that he will eventually weaken and die. In his mind, drinking human blood will truly make him a monster.
Darren is surrounded by monsters, some menacing, some not so intimidating. With his ability to control Madam Octa, he’s put to work for the circus. Soon he’s battling his desire to kill Lartan. This struggle with his inner darkness was fraught with suspense. Will he give in to the murderous longing in his heart? Lartan is responsible for Darren’s present condition – shouldn’t he pay the price for turning him into something so vile? These thoughts torment him, but by killing Lartan, doesn’t he descend into an abyss from which he’ll never emerge?
Despite a rather generic plot, I couldn’t put this volume of Cirque Du Freak down. It offered up just enough thrills and excitement that I wanted to see where the story went. Darren’s insistence on having a human friend leads to disaster, and a new menacing addition to the freak show crew promises more danger in the vampire’s future.
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant
Like Twilight, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant hopes to capitalize on vampire chic, but this tale’s turn to the dark side is as anemic as a victim of the film’s fanged teen. Based on the first three of English writer Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak tween novels, this horror comedy is neither very scary nor particularly funny. It also plays less like a self-contained story than one long set-up for a sequel, which is awfully presumptuous as box office returns may be too mild for such a follow-up. The books have a following and so do the stars, and the movie is opening just in time for Halloween thus auguring a decent opening weekend, but Universal may find scaring up business quite a chore once word of mouth gets around.
Best friends Darren Shan (Chris Massoglia) and Steve (Josh Hutcherson) could not be more different from one another. Darren is a good kid (at least when grownups are around) with a passion for spiders. Steve is troubled and so obsessed with vampires that he would like to become one. Steve is understandably bitter when Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly), the vampire magician they meet at the Cirque du Freak, refuses to turn him but transforms Darren into a "half vampire" ("half" meaning he can still thrive in sunlight). Darren only agrees to the metamorphosis to save Steve's life after Crepsley's spider, Octa, bites him, but in his pique Steve takes up with the diabolical Mr. Tiny (Michael Cerveris), a supernatural troublemaker who is trying to start a war by forcing an end to a 100-year truce between vampires like Crepsley—who drink human blood but are careful not to harm their victims—and their stone-cold killer counterparts, The Vampineze.
This is a special-effects movie in which the effects are not very special. Neither are the freaks—among them are a bearded lady psychic (Salma Hayek), a snake boy (Patrick Fugit) and a woman who can instantaneously grow back missing limbs (Jane Krakowski). Further sinking the film are the two kids, a combination of characters that are simply unpleasant—Darren is unctuous and Steve is bratty—played by young actors who are at sea trying to connect with their roles. Hutcherson, a likeable performer who starred in Journey to the Center of the Earth and Bridge to Terabithia, is particularly ill suited to his part. He may have a villain in him, but not one this underwritten.
That leaves the grownups to pick up the slack—when the week script lets them. Most of them, including Hayek, Fugit and Krakowski have little to do other than decorate the frame. Poor Cerveris, a Broadway star and perennial Tony nominee (and winner for Assassins ) is stuck playing a Snidely Whiplash character in a prosthetic fat suit. Only two actors truly get the opportunity to shine and they are the sole reasons to see this movie. Reilly brings genuine humor and soul to the part of well-meaning vampire Crepsley. Decked out in a painted on mustache, Willem Dafoe shines as Crepsley's pal, Gavner Purl. A buddy movie revolving around those two characters would have been infinitely more satisfying than this pallid production.
The talents behind The Vampire's Assistant make the film’s mediocrity shocking. Directed by Paul Weitz ( American Pie, In Good Company ) and co-written by Weitz, an Oscar nominee for About a Boy and Brian Hegleland, an Oscar winner for L.A. Confidential and nominee for Mystic River, these filmmaker’s involvement promises so much more than the film delivers. With these writers one expects a compelling story and full-bodied characters, at the least. Yet, The Vampire's Assistant has neither. Perhaps Weitz and Hegleland faced their own encounter with a vampire that sucked the life right out of their screenplay.
Distributor: Universal
Cast: John C. Reilly, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Massoglia, Salma Hayek, Willem Dafoe, Michael Cerveris, Ray Stevenson, Patrick Fugit, Jane Krakowski
Director: Paul Weitz
Screenwriters: Paul Weitz and Brian Helgeland
Producers: Paul Weitz, Ewan Leslie and Lauren Shuler Donner
Genre: Horror/Fantasy/Comedy
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense supernatural violence and action, disturbing images, thematic elements and some language.
Running time: 108 min.
Release Date: Oct. 23, 2009
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