I saw Constantine last night... good flick!

POSTED BY: Hjermsted
UPDATED: Tuesday, March 8, 2005 19:34
VIEWED: 5577
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HJERMSTED

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 7:14 PM

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

JADEHAND

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 7:54 PM

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.

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HELL'S KITTEN

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 10:54 PM

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

HELL'S KITTEN

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 10:57 PM

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

JADEHAND

Saturday, February 19, 2005 4:47 AM

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

HJERMSTED

Saturday, February 19, 2005 5:49 PM

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

BLACKOUTNIGHTS

Tuesday, February 22, 2005 4:52 PM

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"

HJERMSTED

Tuesday, February 22, 2005 5:35 PM

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

UNCHARTEDOUTLAW

Tuesday, February 22, 2005 6:01 PM

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

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HELL'S KITTEN

Tuesday, February 22, 2005 11:05 PM

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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