I saw Constantine last night... good flick! by Hjermsted

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I saw Constantine last night... good flick!

POSTED BY: HJERMSTED
UPDATED: Tuesday, March 8, 2005 09:34
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Wednesday, February 16, 2005 9:14 AM

Full disclosure: I never read the DC/Vertigo series this is based upon.

The tone, the story, the characters and the special effects all worked for me. I didn't find myself losing interest like Vern at AICN did ( http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=19427 ... btw, we were at the same screening). Keanu did a good job, but I understand his character is supposed to be blonde and british and the city is supposed to be London.

[I blame Warner Brothers for all that crap and don't take it out on Keanu. WB needs to stop fidgeting with DC comic properties (Batman and Robin, Catwoman, etc.) and trust the material. WB does this for the animated adventures but for some reason cannot restrain itself from interfering with the movie properties.]

But analyzing the film for what it IS instead of what it isn't... it holds up and succeeds on its own. The blending of religious mythologies is intriguing and I want to learn more about how these characters play out their roles in this strange world the writers have created.

I recommend this film. If you're on the fence, ask yourself this: when will there be another rated 'R' comic book or horror film in our lifetimes? 'PG-13' rules the era! Constantine should be supported for daring to be rated 'R' alone!

more thoughts in a bit...

mattro

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Wednesday, February 16, 2005 9:54 AM

JADEHAND

I never read a lot of Hellblazer either. Most of my experience with the character comes from the original 4 "Books of Magic". Love the Character. I doubt the movie does it justice, however, I'm still very interested in seeing it. Maybe they should have called it Matrix:Revelations.

I'll still give it the chance it deserves. Though I still think Harry Potter is a complete rip of Timothy Hunter from the above mentioned BoM.

Visit WWW.Marillion.Com for a better way to live

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Wednesday, February 16, 2005 12:54 PM

HELL'S KITTEN

I love Hellblazer - have since issue 1 - and absolutely dread what they've done to the character. No, I haven't seen it, but I've read more than enough to know that it's the typical Hollywood slaughtered film. And Keanu? He sounds incredibly ignorant of the subject matter in all the interviews I've read. If you want some idea of how I'm feeling, just imagine if FOX was suddenly given permission and free reign to have their way with Serenity and added a few "unscripted" scenes, to name just one blasphemy.

I feel so bad for Alan Moore. "Constantine" looks like just another Hollywood bastardization. They did it to him with "From Hell" and "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", are planning on doing it to him again with "V for Vendetta", and nearly did it to him with one of the best books written in the medium, "The Watchmen". The best I've heard it put: "I'm constantly fascinated at how Hollywood can always find the hook of an Alan Moore work and then toss only that hook away."

If you're going to do a movie based directly on a very popular [comic book] character and even on a specific story arc, why not actually use the character and the story arc?? Otherwise, feel free to steal the ideas and concepts and call it something else. It's not the fans they're trying to please anyway, so the general public surely won't mind.

Yep. I'm judging the movie on how much it isn't like Hellblazer. I'm not saying it's a bad movie, since I haven't seen it and most likely won't; I'm sure some people will like it as it is. Nothing wrong with that....... But I will still hiss at them from afar.

Oh, also, "Constantine" is English, it's pronounced with the long "I" sound; ConstantIne, not ConstantEEn. Guh. One more thing Hollywood buggered up. That was an awful lot more opinion than normal. I better go lay down now.

无党派人士

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Wednesday, February 16, 2005 12:57 PM

HELL'S KITTEN

Quote:
Originally posted by Jadehand:
Though I still think Harry Potter is a complete rip of Timothy Hunter from the above mentioned BoM.

Heh, it doesn't get much more blatant than that, does it?

无党派人士

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Friday, February 18, 2005 6:47 PM

JADEHAND

Ok I saw this tonight. Pretty good actually. I ignored the reviews and gave it a chance. I think most reviewers just have no clue about the supernatural or the dark side of religion. Again, I'm not super familiar with the Character, but did have exposure to the character in the graphic novels prior to seeing the film. I can see how dedicated fans would take issue with a few of the things they did. Decent take on Satan, but nothing will ever compare to John Glover in the series 'Brimstone'. Anyone know if that's ever coming out on DVD???

Visit WWW.Marillion.Com for a better way to live

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Saturday, February 19, 2005 7:49 AM

HJERMSTED

I learned last night that the character Constantine was created by Alan Moore and debuted in the Swamp Thing comics! So yeah, the film Constantine is another semi-mangled Alan Moore creation brought to the big screen (along with From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. coming soon: Watchmen and V for Vendetta).

Not sure if Alan Moore worked on any of the Hellblazer books, though. From what I can tell, it seems the character was popularized by other creators.

Just thought that was interesting. I wonder if Alan Moore will ever have a decent big-screen adaptation of one of his creations. The best adaptation I've seen was the "For the Man Who Has Everything" episode of Justice League. And From Hell wasn't TOO bad.

Perhaps Moore should get into screen writing. If he adapts his own material himself he can keep it intact!

Mattro

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Tuesday, February 22, 2005 6:52 AM

BLACKOUTNIGHTS

They're doing "The Watchmen"? Good God no!! Someone has to stop them.

I've seen Constantine also. Keanu actually did pretty good, surprisingly. The first 10 minutes are great, and the actress that plays Gabriel also did pretty good. Didn't care much for Rachael Wies (or however you spell it). Enjoyable flick. The Vertigo line of films could be enjoyable.

But they better keep their blasted hands away from the Watchmen!

"Keep Ted Turner and his goddamned Crayolas away from my movie!"—some of the last words of Orson Wells, referring to "Citizen Kane"

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Tuesday, February 22, 2005 7:35 AM

HJERMSTED

Yeah, if the producers can't pull off a high-quality (minimum) six hour mini-series of Watchmen, it's probably not worth doing.

mattro

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Tuesday, February 22, 2005 8:01 AM

UNCHARTEDOUTLAW

I've never seen the comic once, nor had my wife, but I enjoyed the movie. It held my interest and all that. However, it didn't push any envelopes and it didn't surprise me anywhere. What wound up happening...I kinda guessed would happen. If money's an issue, wait for video.

-Taylor

The Uncharted Outlaw!
Captain of Prosperity (99-K64)

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Tuesday, February 22, 2005 1:05 PM

HELL'S KITTEN

Quote:
Originally posted by BlackoutNights:
They're doing "The Watchmen"? Good God no!! Someone has to stop them.

I have a draft of the screenplay from September '88 (20th C.FOX, of course). It's bad... words cannot describe. But I haven't heard anything about moving forward since then. There are only a few sources I believe, and none of them have said anything about it. I'm under the impression that the V for Vendetta fiasco is in the money-gathering stages right now, so even that's not a certainty.

These atrocities wouldn't be nearly so bad if they changed the title and character names and didn't try to maintain any connection to the original comic.

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Tuesday, February 22, 2005 1:50 PM

CLEANER

Im looking forward to seeing the movie as I havent read any of the comics or books. Just like 99.99999% of the population havent.

"If wishes were horses we'd all be eating steak!!!"

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Tuesday, February 22, 2005 2:45 PM

ALTA

Already have been to see it twice. I've not read the comic either and really enjoyed the movie dispite all the bad reviews.

*****************************
There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity

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Tuesday, February 22, 2005 5:49 PM

ROCKETJOCK

Okay, for the record, Alan Moore created the character of John Constantine during his mid-1980's run on Swamp Thing; in these stories Constantine was more or less a narrative device, a means to introduce Swampy to his increased abilities and responsibilities following Moore's redefinition of him as Earth's plant elemental. Moore gradually developed Constantine past the spear-carrier level, but carefully left his past undefined, except for hints that he'd had a bad experience involving a botched exorcism, and an on-again/off-again romantic relationship with the Justice League's resident sorceress Zatanna.

After Moore left DC, the Constantine character was given to other writers, under the title Hellblazer. (The original title was to have been Hellraiser, but was changed to avoid confusion with the works of Clive Barker.) For the most part the later creative hands stayed true to Moore's original vision, but expanded on his backstory to the point of introducing an ancestral line steeped in mysticism.

I saw the movie a couple of days ago; I went in prepared to dislike it, and found myself disliking just parts of it, primarily the Americanization of the setting and characters -- John Constantine is not just British, he's a Londoner, a street punk so ruddy lower-class he bleeds malt vinegar. I mean, it's like 007 saying "I'm Bond. Jimmy-Bob Bond" in a west-Texas accent.

That out of the way, I found the film's general style and tone consistent with the comics, including Constantine's contempt for both sides in the Heaven/Hell war. (John's attempts to buy his way into Heaven were taken from the comic's cancer story arc, but were remarkably out of character even then -- still, to quote Larry Niven, "You'd be surprised how fast you can get religion; just let one demon tell you you're damned...")

I've never seen or read From Hell, so I can't comment on it. I loved the graphic version of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but am considerably less enamored of the film -- although I think it caught the book's visual style fairly closely. My biggest complaint is that Tom Sawyer (not even a character in the book) was too damned young! He was a kid in the antebellum south, for Christ's sake, which would make him Quatermain's rough contemporary, if not a bit older.

I don't have any great hopes for a film version of Watchmen, although I think V for Vendetta has cinematic possibilities. I'm not going to hold my breath though.

Still, if the attempts to adapt Moore to the big screen have proven creatively bankrupt, well, at least they've earned him wonderfuly obscene amounts of money. As Phil Foglio pointed out, the proper way for an author to negotiate with Hollywood is for the author to stand on one side of the San Andreas Fault with a manuscript, while the studio reps stand on the other side with a bag full of thousand-dollar bills; at a prearranged signal, both sides toss their item to the other. The Author should then go right to his bank, and for God's sake never see the film!

"Hermanos! The Devil has built a robot! Andale!" -- Numero Cinco

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Sunday, February 27, 2005 3:20 PM

CHRISTHECYNIC

Quote:
Originally posted by Hell's Kitten:
These atrocities wouldn't be nearly so bad if they changed the title and character names and didn't try to maintain any connection to the original comic.

Tell me about it, ever seen Starship Troopers? As the genre of funnily crap sci-fi goes it's on top of its game, but even suggesting it is in any way related to the book is an atrocity.

What, some of the characters have the same names, one of the characters shares the same hometown as his namesake in the book, and there are bugs. Oh so much connection.

Even in that rare moment that the plots do coincide, I only remember one, the results and causes are completely different.

I have no problem with The movie, but every time someone mentions it I feel morally obligated to tell them, loudly, that it is nothing like the book.

-

By the way, watch the movie (Constantine I mean), it is good, just pretend that the names are different.

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Sunday, February 27, 2005 6:03 PM

SIKKUKUT

I sense a pattern here: Those who are vaguely familiar with the character seem to have enjoyed this film the most. I know Constantine only from his appearances in Gaiman's Sandman comics, and the movie was much better than I expected.

Yes, the Americanization was very unfortunate, and Keanu really is terrible when you ask him to portray... well, really anything. That aside:

The script was surprisingly good, and there were a lot of good lines even Keanu's delivery couldn't ruin.

I loved the visual style of the movie, both the noir grit of the "real" stuff and the bizarrity of the effects shots. Really just an extremely well-shot film. Excellent vision of Hell, too.

Tilda Swinton was a brilliant Gabriel. Wow.

Easily the weirdest spin on Satan I've yet encountered. I found him sort of off-putting, and then I thought... well, it's Satan, eh? It worked surprisingly well.

Agreed about John Glover in Brimstone! Man, that was a good show. A good show that didn't make it out of F*X's Friday night Death Slot.... huh.

And yeah, one must increasingly watch movies pretending that they and their characters have different names. I, Robot comes to mind, as does, I fear, the impending War of the Worlds. It is a trend I am weary of.

But yeah, I actually really liked this movie, and I didn't expect to. I wasn't even going to go see it, but a friend wanted to.

Did anybody else feel that the little bit of printed exposition at the very beginning was unnecessary and distracting?

____________________________
"You're mean. Firefly's making me reconsider my lifelong devotion to Star Trek." --My mother

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Sunday, February 27, 2005 7:08 PM

SMITH

Constantine's only just been released in Australia this past week, so I've finally been able to see what people are talking about. I've read a few issues of the 'graphic novel' and enjoyed them, I planned on reading more but they're kinda hard to come by here. Anyway, after being introduced to the character I thought I'd go see the film, and I have to admit, I don't regret it. I found it a little hard to get into at first, admittedly Keanu seemed a tad wooden at times, but as the movie progressed I found his laid back character went well with the original John Contantine's devil-may-care personality. The Americanisation was a little off-putting though. Overall I found the movie to be enjoyable...I loved being able to pick up the little references to the comic within the text (eg. flipping off the First Fallen). I think it's worth a look, though fans of the comic may tend to be harsher critics than others. But just to put things in perspective... we could have ended up with another "Batman and Robin" on our hands, so let us be thankful!

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Monday, February 28, 2005 2:07 PM

CHRISTHECYNIC

Quote:
Originally posted by Sikkukut:
Easily the weirdest spin on Satan I've yet encountered. I found him sort of off-putting, and then I thought... well, it's Satan, eh? It worked surprisingly well.

There are all of these different interpretations of the fall, right? But I thought that they all agreed Satan (Lucifer, Lord of Dis, Lord of the Flies, Prince of Hell, The Morning Star, whatever other name they’re using today) was full of pride. So he should be vain right? In fact some say that it was vanity alone that cause him to fall.

Why does he never seem to be portrayed as such? I suppose that he might have become depressed and unconcerned with appearance after such a long exile, but most of the literature seems to imply that he is strong, almost heroic in a evil kind of way, and that he’d never allow himself to become what we saw in the film, if only to spite god.

Also, did I miss a memo? When did people start saying that demons looked ugly? I know it’s been around for longer than Christianity, but if it’s going to be original, which I think it was, why not be semi accurate? Demons, with few exceptions mentioned only in almost universally rejected apocrypha, are angels or the descendants of angels.

The son of Satan must either be a full angel or a half angel, nowhere does it say that Nephilim look like that. I know it’s minor, I know it’s tradition, but it gets on my nerves

Did anybody else feel that the little bit of printed exposition at the very beginning was unnecessary and distracting?

I must have, I don’t even remember it.

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Thursday, March 3, 2005 12:42 PM

HELL'S KITTEN

Quote:
Originally posted by Sikkukut:
I loved the visual style of the movie, both the noir grit of the "real" stuff and the bizarrity of the effects shots. Really just an extremely well-shot film. Excellent vision of Hell, too.

The mere fact that you used the "word" bizarrity almost makes me want to see the movie.

I guess it's the whole Keanu thing I can't seem to get past. I very much dislike him (read: loathe), and seeing him portray a character that I dearly love is somewhat disturbing.

Quote:
Originally posted by christhecynic:
There are all of these different interpretations of the fall, right? But I thought that they all agreed Satan (Lucifer, Lord of Dis, Lord of the Flies, Prince of Hell, The Morning Star, whatever other name they’re using today) was full of pride. So he should be vain right? In fact some say that it was vanity alone that cause him to fall.

(They agreed, eh? No matter.) Have you ever read "Murder Mysteries" by Neil Gaiman? If you're at all interested in a different take on Lucifer, it's a great short story. My favorite, in fact.

无党派人士

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Tuesday, March 8, 2005 8:17 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Constantine.... never read the comic.

Let me tell you why the movie works, where so many other special-effects laden superheroic horror dramas might fail...

It doesn't take itself too seriously.

You've got demons and angels and magic artifacts... and the necessary smirk.

The smirk makes all the difference.

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

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Tuesday, March 8, 2005 9:34 AM

WELLHEREIAM

a few thoughts:

1)though not wanting him to be type-cast, James Marsters would have been more than perfect for a Hellblazer film and would have instantly fixed the need for a location and title change.

2)last i heard Terry Gilliam (Brazil, 12 monkeys, Fisher King), is planning (sometime, this is an old fact) to do the Watchmen movie. I think he could do a splendid job.

3)traditionally, all of the Beauty Lucifer took so much pride in was infact just God's reflected glory (like moon/sun), so when he fell he lost the Beauty. But he was considered a master of deception and could fake beauty (lowercase b).

4)Murder Mysteries rules!

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