Dark Shadows was a bit of a weird film to watch. It seemed like it had a lot of elements that should have made it a good movie. However, the execution leaft allot to be desired as it feels like it jumps between themes and keeps shooting itself in the foot when it comes to a cohesive narrative.
Directed by Tim Burton, Dark Shadows stars Johnny Depp as an immortal vampire who has been buried for 200 years. He was turned into a vampire and buried by Eva Green, a witch who he had an affair with but did not love. When he awakens, he finds his descendants living in his mansion but living as a very dysfunctional family, the family business (of fishing) in ruins, Eva Green still alive and running a competing fishing business and a girl with a hidden past who he falls in love with again, apparently.
At the start, it feels like the love story was meant to be the central plot of the movie. However, Dark Shadows tries to keep allot of plates spinning. This includes Depp's rivalry with Green, Depp trying to make sense of the world around him, Depp's love story with the girl (who is his descendant's family's governess), Depp trying to re-establish the family business, and Depp getting to know his family and fitting in with them (it is a wonder anyone managed to do anything without Depp's character for 200 years). Unfortunately, it never really solves this problem. Instead it just sort-of jumps between the plots, each with (at best) a flimsy connection to eachother.
So while each plot, when viewed individually, works, once they are combined, the whole movie becomes a thematic mess. You immediately jump from what is meant to be a dramatic, romantic scene (between Depp and the governess) into a comedic scene (such as Depp trying to figure out how a television works). Some plot threads are just dropped or left alone in what feels like a cheat when they realized there wasn't a good way to work them into the story of Depp being the good guy. For example, Depp murders a bunch of innocent teenagers/young adults out in the woods having a camping trip, but when it comes time to the showdown between Depp and Green, the town just kind-of forgets about the murders he has committed and hail him as a hero.
Overall, this movie feels like a collection of short scenes stitched together after being put through a blender. And overall it doesn't work. The movies theme jumps around too much without any clear direction. Eventually, I got tired of trying to figure out whether a scene is meant to be serious, comedic or would even matter in 10 minutes times and lost interest.
1 out of 5 Dark Waffles.
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