临床试验研究特点:电影"sleep hollow" 英语影评

Sleepy Hollow

Opens in Britain: Jan 7th 2000.

Ten years after Tim Burton made the blockbusting Batman he returned to British shores to make Sleepy Hollow, one of the greatest gothic horror fairytales ever committed to celluloid.

Based on the Washington Irving story of the same name and the subsequent Disney cartoon, Burton's vision is a sumptous affair, filled with some very dark images and a very much non-Disney vision of the headless horseman who terrorises the eponymous town and nervous copper, Ichabod Crane (a sublime performance from Johnny Depp).

Christina Ricci (a woman with the face of a child even after nine years since her big screen debut in Mermaids) is perfect as the wide-eyed love interest Katarina Van Tassell while some fully rounded support comes from Christopher Walken, Michael Gambon, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gough, Jeffrey Jones, Ian McDiarmid (The Phantom Menace) and the usually wooden Casper Van Dien (from Starship Troopers).

Sleepy Hollow is a full blooded affair which boasts a fine screenplay from Seven's Andrew Kevin Walker - unsurprisingly there are familiar themes of severed heads and murdered expectant mothers - and it's this, together with Burton's assured direction and some breath-taking editing from the always reliable Chris Lebenzon (Crimson Tide, Batman Returns) that elevates this high above the usually anaemic gothic horror of, say, Bram Stoker's Dracula (SH was exec produced by Francis Ford Coppola).

A special nod should also go to Danny Elfman's thunderous, operatic score. It was no surprise that the veteran composer of most of Burton's work would be back on board, but while many composers such as James Horner or Jerry Goldsmith tend to fall into ruts after a while, Elfman has proved himself again to be one of the most versatile and dynamic musicians working in Hollywood today.

The special effects are well up to par, the fight scenes choreographed by none other than Ray (Darth Maul) Park, are fantastic and by the time the closing credits roll, you will not feel short changed.

Having grossed over $74million across the pond in just three weeks, it's nice to see Burton has a hit on his hands again after the glorious flop that was Ed Wood and the disappointing turkey that was Mars Attacks.

As it was the first film I saw of the new millennium, it's very easy to say this is the best of the year so far, but in 12 months time, I doubt it will have slipped out of my personal top 10.