Gerard Butler’s 2004 Musical With 33% Tomatometer Is Actually Not That Bad

Summary:

• Gerard Butler may be known to the world as an action movie guy, but back in the 2000s he starred in a musical adaptation in a role of one of the most iconic characters in the musical theater.
• Despite a star-studded cast and an ambitious idea, the film didn’t receive good reviews from critics, but instead was praised by the audience.
• Though Gerard Butler may have not been that experienced as a singer, he still managed to deliver a powerful and versatile performance as an actor.

You probably never expected to hear anything like this, but action film expert Gerard Butler once got to portray one of the most iconic characters in the history of musical theater.

Alongside Emmy Rossum, Butler starred in Joel Schumacher’s 2004 drama The Phantom of the Opera based on Gaston Leroux’s famous novel.

Despite obviously high expectations from the idea of bringing one of the world’s most popular musicals on the cinema screen with Hollywood's big stars in the leading roles, the film didn’t manage to impress the critics who left it with a disheartening score of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Is Butler’s Phantom of the Opera Worth Watching?

But even so, Gerard Butler’s Phantom of the Opera is far from being the worst interpretation. And though singing may not be the actor’s strength (he still did his best), he does have another one, which is, obviously, acting. Butler brought to the screen one more versatile and dramatical performance that fairly aligned with all the previous ones delivered by other actors.

The plot initially follows a mysterious creature that horrifies the staff of the Parisian Opera House while living somewhere in its basement, but, as soon as he sees one of the dancers Christine Daeé on stage, his vile temper suddenly softens as he develops romantic feelings for her.

Such a specific role does seem quite a challenge for any actor as the latter has to juggle with constantly changing emotions depending on who he appears with on the screen. Yet Butler clearly succeeds in this by delivering a diverse performance where he appears as both villainous phantom for the Opera’s staff and vulnerable and hurt person for Christine.

The Phantom of the Opera with Gerard Butler in the leading role seems to be continuing the weird trend that’s been around for a while already — apart from the critics that called the film boring and romance-lacking, there are also viewers who actually liked it, right up to the point that the movie got 84% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Just one more proof that not everything is about professional reviews.