Constantine-Extra Extra! Reeves Plays God Once Again! Surpasses George Burns!
Movies based on comic books are scarey, because there is just no way to predict how they will be adapted, how much they will or will not wipe their ass with the original vision, etc. I am not familiar with the Constantine comic, but I know this, in a day and age when Hollywood is cranking out one remake, television show turned movie, and sequel after another, anything that is not in the aforementioned category is a plus. Constantine is weird and at times the script is confusing and periodically muddled. But, at least its new and at least I don’t already know the characters. So love it or hate it, let’s give it some points for that.
I’ll try to sum up the complete universe of Constantine quickly. Constantine is a part of a group of humans that can see the demons that walk the earth (don’t go to Washington DC Mr. Constantine) and as a result went nuts as a kid, killed himself, went to hell for a few minutes and now is working his ass off to get God to say, “no problem kiddo, welcome into Heaven.” Its more complicated than that, but you get the idea.
The visual effects and action sequences are really very good and the highlight of the film. Director Francis Lawrence, which to date has been mostly a music video director, brings his visually intense style to the film with some inspired shots that really add to a script that at times is out of focus. Lawrence deserves some credit for giving the film a memorable look and the CG team deserves a nod for their work on Hell. Creating Hell is tough you know.
The acting. Well Keanu Reeves does an okay job. Overall it may be his best performance. His acting doesn’t kill the film most of the time and the rest of the cast does a fine job. I am certainly not a celebrity butt kisser but Rachel Weisz and Tilda Swinton, who plays the angel Gabriel, rarely give bad performances. Weisz is a solid performer even in The Mummy movies. Peter Stormare as Lucifer is seriously top notch. One day Stormare may get that role that makes him a household word as the talent is there.
On the bad side there is the perplexing issue, which has been noted elsewhere to be sure, that once again Reeves takes a role where he plays a Christ like figure. It’s a little weird at this point how that keeps happening over and over again. Reeves doesn’t seem like that big of an ego-manic so what gives? My frequent readers know I have a theory on nearly everything, this one folks stumps me. But he should probably cut it out.
The long and the short are that this film may not leave you with a vivid lasting impression, but in this day of increasingly homogeneous action and horror films, its worth a look. It is the rare horror film, which to a large extent that is what Constantine happens to be, that is innovative in any way. Constantine is innovative to some extent in terms of plot, shots, style and the look of the effects. There is at least an attempt to delve into character development and that should be applauded for how often do we really see this in a defacto or non-defacto horror film? Not very often. In an era where so much of what Hollywood cranks out is bad this is worth a gander.
Story B
Acting B+
Visuals B+
Originality/Innovation B+
Enjoyability Grade B+
Home Theater/HD Factor A-
Overall Grade B+
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